Honey and orange cake with honeycomb

Serves 8

For the cake

— 180g butter, plus extra for greasing — flour, for dusting

— 180g runny honey — 180g light muscovado sugar — 3 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice, plus the grated zest of 1 orange — 3 eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt

— 375g ground almonds

For the honeycomb

— 200g caster sugar

— 5 tbsp golden syrup

— 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda Preheat the oven to 150C/ 130C fan/gas mark 2. Butter a 20cm round, 10cm-deep loose-bottomed cake tin, then dust with flour.

Put the butter, honey and sugar into a large saucepan with the orange juice and zest, and melt over a low heat. Bring slowly to the boil and simmer for three minutes. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Quickly beat in the eggs, then fold in the ground almonds. Turn the mixture into the tin and bake for 1½ hours or until risen and springy to the touch. Check after an hour and cover with foil if it’s getting too dark. Leave to cool in the tin.

Meanwhile make the honeycomb. Butter a 20cmsquare fixed-based tin.

Use a saucepan that seems too large for the ingredients, so that the candy does not overflow when the bicarbonate of soda is added.

Put the sugar and syrup into the pan and melt slowly over a low heat. When the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and boil until the mixture darkens to a deep amber colour, about five minutes.

Remove from the heat, add the bicarbonate of soda and beat with a wooden spoon. As soon as it foams, pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Allow to cool until hard.

Turn out the cake on to a plate or board. Break the honeycomb into pieces and scatter them over the cake.