Need solid-ish chocolate icing

[notasize10yetbutoneday]

I'm making a graveyard cake for Halloween like this one

but would like to use a different icing as the one in this recipe doesn't get great reviews and also sounds a bit wierd- made by boiling cream?

I experimented with a buttercream one last week but it wasn't really solid enough- was a bit messy both to work with and to eat.

Does anyone have any tried and tested recipes for an icing novice? Also- what quantities would I need please for a traybake sized cake?

TIA

Hi

I found a recipe online which i love called Swiss Meringue Butter Icing - it comes out quite thick.

Pretty sure you can make it chocolate flavoured, but if not you can make it coloured?

lifewithcake.com/recipes/swiss-meringue-buttercream/

I use Delias chocolate fudge topping, as seen here as part of a cake recipe. Is really yummy

My Mum used to just top chocolate cakes with melted chocolate cake covering, and it was lovely (as I remember!) Would that work?

A ganache icing is hard'ish on the outside, especially if you put it in the fridge.

You just need same amounts of melted chocolate and double cream. Melt the chocolate, then add roughly the same amount in cream and mix like crazy. Slap it on the cake and put it in the fridge to set.

Thanks everyone for all these. Maureen that does sound really easy and the firm-ish set I'm looking for! Hard to decide though- guess I will just have to road-test the different recipes this week. Its a hard life...

Plain choc and butter in the proportions of 65g butter to 150g chocolate. Melt and then whip until the colour lightens and the mixture is cool. It can be spread with a palette knife and dries out on the cake. It has a texture a bit like a frosting. If just allowed to settle and mixed and poured over a cake, it's more like roll out icing.

I second the ganache idea! Tastes like truffles, sets hard and looks glossy. Yum!