This is a gorgeously rich cake with great flavours. I actually made two at the same time, both to give away, so the recipe is for two cakes. Neither was made to impress visually, so there’s nothing elaborate here. The texture and taste more than make up for any lack of prettiness.

Makes: Each cake gives about 10 – 12 slices

Level: A very small step up from “Easy”

Time: 30 – 40 minutes hands on prepping; 30 – 35 minutes baking + cooling; about 30 minutes for filling and topping

Equipment: 2 x 20cm/8” loose bottomed round tins

Ingredients for the Sponges

50g/1¾oz butter + some to grease the tins
200g/7oz white chocolate
6 eggs
200g/7oz caster sugar
175g/6oz plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp fine salt
60g/2oz ground hazelnuts

For the Filling/topping

225g/8oz full fat cream cheese
150g/5½oz softened butter
175g/6oz icing sugar
100g/3½oz white chocolate
30ml/1fl oz double cream
3 – 4 passion fruits
60g/2oz chopped hazelnuts

Method for the sponges

1. Oven 180°C / Fan 160°C / 350°F / Gas 4. Line the base of the two cake tins with baking paper and grease the sides with butter. Melt the chocolate and the butter over a very low heat or a bain marie or carefully in your microwave. (20 – 30 second blasts on high with lots of stirring.)

2. Put the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until tripled in volume (5 – 10 minutes with an electric mixer). Stir in the melted butter and melted white chocolate.

3. Carefully sift in the flour, baking powder and salt then add the ground hazelnuts and gently fold it all in using a large metal spoon or spatula. Take care not to knock out the air. Scrape the bottom to ensure all the flour has been fully mixed in.

4. Bake the sponges for 30 – 36 minutes, until shrinking away from the sides of the tins. Remove from the oven and leave in the tins to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully. Once cool, slice each cake in half horizontally.

NB If the top of either cake is very crumbly you may need to invert it.

Method for the filling & topping

5. Melt the white chocolate over a bain marie or in your microwave.

6. Whisk the butter and cream cheese together then sift in the icing sugar and beat well.

7. Stir in the melted white chocolate and the double cream then whisk for a few minutes. Stir in the passion fruit. Set aside about a third of the mixture to use as a topping (or put a dollop on each top cake now.) Stir two thirds of the chopped nuts into the remaining mixture.

NB I’ve occasionally had melted chocolate go a bit lumpy when added to a butter cream mixture, so I now add it a spoonful at a time, whisking as I do. It seems to work.

8. Place the lower half of one cake on a turntable and use half of the filling to attach the top half. Repeat with the other cake. If you haven’t already done so, cover the tops of each cake with the remaining mixture and sprinkle over the remaining chopped nuts. Put the cakes in the fridge for at least 30 minutes

NB An alternate or extra topping would be grated white chocolate or chocolate shards.

Gallery

I hope you enjoy this lovely cake. If you want more cake recipes click this link, or have a look at my site for lots of other great recipes, both sweet and savoury. Below are a few that I’d love you to try:

Golden Chocolate Cake