MAKE OUR COVER RECIPE Vanilla & spice chocolate drip cake

Vanilla & spice chocolate drip cake

We’ve dyed two layers of this sponge a vivid red colour for a hidden slice of festive magic, but you can skip that step, if you like. If you are dying it red, add food colouring gel to the sponge mixture – a natural liquid colouring won’t work as the colour will fade as it bakes.

SERVES 20 PREP 1 hr plus cooling and 1 hr chilling COOK 30 mins MORE EFFORT V G sponges only

225ml vegetable oil, plus extra for the tin 375g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

375g golden caster sugar

1 ½ tsp mixed spice

½ tsp fine salt

300ml buttermilk

1½ tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

5ml red food colouring gel, we used Dr Oetker (optional)

For the icing

250g pack slightly salted butter, at room temperature

900g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

500g tub full-fat soft cheese edible gold spray (optional)

For the chocolate drip

200g white chocolate, chopped or grated

MAKE THE CAKE

1 Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base and sides of three 20cm cake tins with baking parchment – if your cake tins are quite shallow, line the sides to a depth of at least 5cm.

2 Mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, mixed spice and salt in a bowl. 3 Whisk the buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract and 75ml water with the eggs until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until well combined. Scoop about a third of the cake mixture into a tin. If using, mix the food colouring into the remaining batter and divide this between the other tins. Bake for 25-30 mins, or until the cakes have risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 4 Cool in the tins for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack, peel off the parchment and cool. The sponges will keep, wrapped tightly in cling film, for three days, or wrap and freeze for up to two months.

NOW MAKE THE ICING

5 Beat the butter with half the icing sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar and the cream cheese, and beat again until combined – don’t overmix or the icing may become runny.

NEXT, ASSEMBLE THE CAKE

6 Put one of the red sponges on a cake stand or cake board, sticking it down with a small blob of icing. Sandwich with the gold sponge, being generous with the icing. Top with more icing and the final red sponge, flat-side up. When assembled, use a palette knife to cover the entire cake with a thin layer of the icing, filling any gaps between sponges, but don’t worry about completely covering the sponges at this stage (see pic A). This is called a crumb coat and ensures that your final layer is crumbfree. Make space in the fridge and chill for 30 mins to allow the icing to firm up.

ICE THE CAKE

7 Once the crumb coat is chilled, use the remaining icing to completely cover the cake (pic B). This is easiest if you pile the icing on top of the cake, then use a palette knife to ease it over the edge and down the sides. You can make it as smooth or as rough as you like. Chill for another 30 mins.

8 Meanwhile, for the chocolate drip, melt the white chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of lightly simmering water or in the microwave in short bursts. Pour into a disposable piping bag and set aside to firm up a little – you want it to be pourable but not too runny.

9 Remove the cake from the fridge. If you like, you can use an edible gold spray to cover the surface in a thin layer of shimmer (pic C). When the white chocolate is the correct consistency, snip off the end of the piping bag and pipe drizzles down the side of the cake (pic D). Fill in the top with the remaining chocolate (pic E). Top with your choice of decorations (see opposite).

PER SERVING 655 kcals • fat 32g • saturates 13g • carbs 85g • sugars 70g • fibre 1g • protein 6g • salt 1.0g