unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra to grease
250g
self-raising flour, plus extra to dust
200g
caster sugar
3
large eggs, room temperature, beaten
11/2tsp.
baking powder
50ml
milk
1tsp.
vanilla extract
125g
white chocolate
125ml
double cream
½-2 tbsp espresso coffee, cooled
75g
icing sugar, sifted, plus extra to dust
50g
plain chocolate, grated
40g
hazelnuts, roasted and finely chopped
Directions
Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Grease a deep non-stick 8in (20.5cm) cake tin and dust with flour
Step 2
Beat together caster sugar and 175g butter until pale and creamy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Add 1tbsp flour if the mix looks like curdling. Fold in remaining flour and the baking powder, followed by milk and vanilla. Spoon into tin and level surface. Bake for 40-50min or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5min, then remove cake and cool completely on a wire rack.
Step 3
Cut cake in half horizontally. Grate 25g white chocolate, then beat together with cream and coffee until mix holds its shape. Use to sandwich halves together
Step 4
Melt remaining white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Leave to cool for 10min. Beat together remaining butter and the icing sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in cooled white chocolate, then spread over sides and top of cake.
Step 5
Mix together plain chocolate and nuts and press around side of cake. Decorate with small roses dusted with icing sugar.
Get ahead: Make to the end of step 2 up to 24 hours ahead. Return to tin when cool and wrap in clingfilm. Complete recipe to serve.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
