Spiced chocolate cake

Chocolate for easter with hints of spice and fresh orange. When the warmer weather comes, this is fabulous just with whipped cream and fresh berries.

Easy/prepare ahead/freeze (sponges only) • ready in 2 hrs, plus cooling • serves 12+

for the cake zest of 2 large oranges

4 large free-range eggs

350ml sunflower oil

250g caster sugar

180g brown sugar

240ml buttermilk

1tbsp vanilla extract

280g plain flour

180g cocoa powder

2tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

3tsp mixed spice

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

200ml stout for the honeycomb butter, for greasing

200g caster sugar

5tbsp golden syrup

2tsp bicarbonate of soda for the ganache

250ml cream

3tsp ground cinnamon pinch of ground cloves zest of 1 orange

1tsp vanilla extract

300g dark chocolate

40g butter for the salted caramel buttercream

200g butter, softened slightly 200g icing sugar

2tbsp dulce de leche or salted caramel

2 large pinches sea salt rind and juice of ½ lemon

1tsp vanilla you will need

3 x 22cm springform cake tins, oiled and lined with baking parchment, a 20cm square tin, for the honeycomb, and 2 disposable piping bags

1 Heat the oven to 180C, gas 4. beat together the orange zest, eggs, oil and sugars. add the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Fold through the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda. add the stout, mix gently and pour into the prepared tins.

2 bake for 18-20 mins, or until the cakes are cooked through when tested with a skewer. remove from the cake tins and allow to cool completely before icing.

3 to make the honeycomb, butter the tin. Melt the sugar and syrup on a gentle heat until the sugar dissolves. once smooth, turn up the heat and simmer until it turns golden. turn off the heat, add the bicarbonate of soda and beat. scrape the mixture into the tin and leave to cool. once it’s hard, break the honeycomb into large shards, reserving 1tbsp – and blitz this in a food processor to make a dust.

4 to make the ganache, heat the cream in a pan with the spices, orange zest and vanilla extract. Just before boiling, remove and allow to stand for 15 mins for the

flavours to infuse. Put the cream back on the heat and, once hot (but not boiling), remove and stir in the chocolate and butter. Mix until completely melted. Pour the mix into a piping bag and leave to cool slightly. 5 to make the salted caramel buttercream, beat all the ingredients together until smooth. Fill another piping bag with your buttercream, and cut the end.

6 to decorate, pipe dots of buttercream round the edge of one of your sponges and fill the centre with a swirl. smooth the middle with a palette knife. Cut the end off your ganache piping bag, and pipe the mixture in between the buttercream to get a drizzle effect. top with another sponge and repeat. Finally, top with the third sponge. Pipe on a layer of buttercream and smooth with a palette knife. Pipe on a layer of ganache, leaving a 3cm gap around the edge. Cover this in your honeycomb dust and arrange the rest of the shards upwards, around the edge. add a final drizzle of ganache over the edge to match the bottom 2 layers. w&h