Mother’s Day

Mud cake

CARAMEL MUD LAYER CAKE

SERVES 12 PREP 25 MINS + COOLING COOK 1 ½ HOURS 500g unsalted butter, softened 500g white chocolate, chopped 2 ½ cups firmly packed dark brown sugar 2 cups hot water ¼ cup golden syrup 6 eggs 1 tbsp vanilla extract 2 ½ cups plain flour 2 ½ cups self-raising flour Vienna almonds (see tip), edible flowers, to serve BUTTERCREAM 250g unsalted butter, softened 3 cups icing sugar mixture, sifted ¼ cup milk 2 drops pink food colouring

1 Preheat oven to slow, 150°C. Lightly grease 2 x deep 20cm round cake pans. Line bases and sides with baking paper. 2 In a large, heavy-based saucepan, combine butter, chocolate, sugar, water and syrup. Stir over a low heat until smooth and combined (do not boil). Transfer to a bowl. Allow to cool. 3 Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and vanilla into mixture. Fold in combined sifted flours. Divide mixture evenly between pans. 4 Bake 1 hour and 30 minutes until cooked when tested. Cool in pan 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely. 5 Use a serrated knife to level the cakes. Halve each cake horizontally. 6 BUTTERCREAM In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter until pale. Gradually add half icing sugar until combined. Beat in milk and remaining icing sugar until smooth. Transfer half icing to a bowl and tint pale pink with a little food colouring. 7 Sandwich cakes with untinted buttercream. Using pink buttercream, roughly ice around top and sides. 8 Serve cake topped with Vienna almonds and edible flowers.