Spider web chocolate cake

• For the chocolate cake:
• 200g plain flour
• 200g icing sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 40g cocoa powder
• 175g softened butter
• 2 large eggs
• vanilla extract
• chocolate extract (optional, for extra oomph)
• 150ml soured cream
• For the topping:
• 60g good quality dark chocolate
• 50g double cream
• a little knob of butter
• For the spider web drizzle:
• 30g white cooking chocolate
• 10g double cream

METHOD

1. Line a 20cm round cake tin with baking parchment and preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.

2. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well until all the lumps disappear. Pour the cake mix into the tin and bake for about 30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a cake rack.

3. Prepare the dark chocolate glaze: chop the dark chocolate as finely as possible. Place the cream and butter in a microwaveable bowl and microwave for 30 seconds until boiling. Immediately add the chopped chocolate and leave to stand for a couple of minutes, then whisk until smooth. Spread over the cooled cake with a palette knife.

4. Make the white ganache in a similar way but because there’s so little cream this time, microwave it with the chopped white chocolate for 20 seconds, then let it stand for a minute. Whisk together, put into a piping bag and drizzle the spider web pattern over the cake: drizzle a spiral starting from the centre, drag lines across the spiral from the middle outwards and pipe more ganache along those lines. Leave to set.

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See also

Morticia's cake

Zombie fingers