Christmas chocolate cake

Prep time: 40 minutes, plus chilling time Cook time: 35 minutes

Serves 10

If you’d like to make chocolate trees to decorate, melt 150g finely chopped dark chocolate and stir until very smooth. Spoon into a small freezer bag and snip one corner to make a tiny opening. Pipe trees (or any shape) on to baking paper, making sure they are thick enough or they will break. Allow to cool and set. Carefully detach from the paper with the tip of a knife, spread the back with a little golden syrup or honey, and place delicately around the side of the cake.

INGREDIENTS

– 110g butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing – 90g dark chocolate,

broken into pieces – 325g soft light brown

sugar

– 290ml whole milk

– 2 tsp finely grated

orange zest

– 2 eggs, lightly beaten – 225g plain flour

– 1 tsp bicarbonate

of soda

– ½ tsp cinnamon

For the filling and buttercream

– 25g mixture of raisins

and sultanas

– 12g candied peel

– 4 tbsp whisky

– 230g butter, at room

temperature

– 450g icing sugar

– 3 tsp finely grated mixed lemon and orange zest

– chocolate trees or other treats to decorate

METHOD

Heat the oven to 180C/170C fan/gas mark 4 and butter and line the base of two 20cm cake tins.

Put the chocolate, half the sugar and half the milk into a saucepan. Heat gently until the chocolate has melted. Take off the heat, add the orange zest and leave to cool.

Cream the butter and the rest of the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs a little at a time. Gently beat in the cooled chocolate mixture. Sift the flour and add the bicarbonate of soda and the cinnamon. Start adding this to the mixture, alternating with the rest of the milk. Divide the batter between the two tins and smooth the tops. Bake for 30 minutes, or until you can see the cakes coming away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven and leave the cakes in their tins for 15 minutes, then turn them out on to a wire cooling rack and carefully remove the paper. Leave to cool completely.

Meanwhile, put the raisins, sultanas and candied peel in a small saucepan with 2 tablespoons of the whisky. Heat until you can see the alcohol bubbling at the edges, then take the pan off the hob and leave the fruit to plump up for a couple of hours.

To make the buttercream, put the butter into a food mixer and beat until pale and fluffy. Slowly add the icing sugar (you will get a big sugar cloud if you add it all at once). Beat in the grated zest.

Divide the buttercream in two. Put one half of the buttercream into the bowl of the food mixer. Slowly add the fruit and its soaking liquid, beating all the time

(if you add this too fast the butter will split). Scrape this into a bowl and put the rest of the buttercream in the mixer. Slowly add the remaining whisky.

Place one sponge on a serving plate. Spread the fruity buttercream over this using a palette knife. Set the other sponge on top. If it is slightly domed, slice the dome off so that the top lies flat. Spread half of the rest of the buttercream on the top then all around the sides, smoothing it as well as you can (a small palette knife will help you if you have one). Put the cake in the fridge for 15 minutes so the buttercream can firm up, then apply another coat with the rest of it so you can’t see any crumbs. Decorate with chocolate trees or any other treats you like.