Chocolate Field Mice Cake

Behold, my first successful decorating of a cake. To be honest, I don't know why this bizarre formulation came to me- I imagine it was some combination between my sudden onset admiration for simple and original cake decoration and coming across the chocolate mouse mold I bought when I was about 10. The idea first came to me in the carnation of adorning a chocolate cake with the mice, and then came to me the idea of incorporating cream cheese. Yes, I know what you think- why not just make it a cheesecake? I actually thought far too long and hard about that dilemma- for one, I don't like cheesecake enough to consider adorning it with tempered chocolate (yes, I did even go through the arduous process of tempering the chocolate) and two, I consider a cheesecake (a proper baked one) a thing of simple beauty that when embellished becomes blurred. Therefore, this cake has cream cheese beaten into it and is covered with a thick chocolate cream cheese frosting. After the mice inhabited the cake, they looked rather lonely so to add dimension and a field theme, I added sugar flowers. It was still too 2D, but green peeled pistachios added enough colour and activity to make this cake, if I do say so myself in a fit of excitement, a simple, messy but effective piece.
This cake method is very classic and easy, simply beat butter and sugar, add eggs and fold in dry ingredients. Same with the frosting, an easy cream cheese frosting with melted chocolate incorporated. Probably the two hardest elements are tempering the chocolate although I did find a thermometer-free method on t'Internet and frosting it is easy provided you have the insanely useful large palette knife.
1)Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and ensure it is not on the quick fast cook setting (that mistake has been made many times) and grease 2 sandwich cake tins and line them with just a circle of greaseproof paper. I find lining the sides too just increases the difficulty of removing the cakes, but it's up to you.
2)Briefly combine 165g plain flour, 25g cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. No need to sieve.
2)Beat 150g soft unsalted butter or baking margarine and 50g soft cream cheese with 200g caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, 2 tbsp of the dry ingredients, beat more then add 2 more eggs and 2 more tbsp of dry ingredients. Finally fold in the remaining dry ingredients.
3)To thin the mixture add about 3 tbsp boiling water and fold in thoroughly.
4)Pour into the prepared tins and bake for about 25 minutes, checking at 15.
5)When a skewer inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean, the cakes are ready. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then invert onto a wire rack and peel off the paper.
6)While the cakes are cooling, make the mice. Chop 200g dark chocolate finely then place in a food processor. Blend until it clumps together in a ball (this takes a long time). Break the ball apart with your fingers and continue to blend. It's worth blending at intervals so the motor doesn't get overworked. Whilst blending, fill a glass bowl with boiling water, leave for 5 minutes and pour the water out. When the chocolate looks very smooth and thin, like a ganache, pour it into the bowl and stir. It should now be at around 90 degrees. Pour into your chocolate mouse mold (because everyone has one of those) and leave to set in the fridge.
7)Instead of the utterly laborious and hateful task of sieving 500g icing sugar and 2 tbsp cocoa powder, simply blitz it in the food processor (no need to wash either because a bit of melted chocolate should be fine). In the meantime, set a bowl of 110g good dark chocolate over a pan of simmering water (but the bowl shouldn't touch the water) and melt it. Blend 250g soft cream cheese and 50g soft unsalted butter together, then add the melted chocolate slowly and then very slowly and gradually incorporate the icing sugar and cocoa powder. When smooth and very fluffy, you can ice the cold cakes.
8)Set one cake on the bottom of the stand, and add a generous dollop of icing in the middle, then use a palette knife to spread it all over. Set the other cake on top of that, then dollop the rest of the icing on the top and sides of the cake. Start by using the palette knife to spread the icing evenly, then use it to accentuate peaks and swirls all over. Set the set mice over the top, then in juvenile fashion decorate with sugar flowers and peeled pistachios.