Malted Chocolate Halloween Cake

Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature before starting.

Grease and line two 18cm cake tins with parchment paper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 180°C and start the sponge mix. Get a large bowl and have a mixer or a stand mixer with paddle attachment ready.

FOR THE CAKE: Beat the two sugars and veg spread / shortening on a high speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth and airy.

In a medium bowl mix the following: buttermilk, malt extract, eggs. Then sift the following into a clean dry bowl: spelt flour, Ovaltine / malt powder, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt.

Now, reduce your mixer's speed and start adding the wet mix and the dry sifted flours alliterating them by little bits at a time until all are well mixed and incorporated. Mix should be smooth and velvety. Divide the mix evenly between the 2 prepared tins and skater 50g dark chocolate chips, or even broken chocolate pieces on top.

Bake in a preheated to 180°C oven for 30-35min or until a skewer will come out clean. Whilst the cake is baking we can prepare the fudge sauce.

FUDGE SAUCE: Place the Dark Chocolate Chips in a heatproof bowl. Take a heavy based saucepan and add sugar, salt, glucose and cream and malt. Place on a medium heat and bring slowly to a simmer. Pour over the Chocolate Chips and leave for a minute. Then give it a mix until they are melted and smooth. Set aside to cool down until needed to use.

Your cake should be done now. Remove it from the oven and leave in the tins for a couple of minutes. Then place on the wire rack and cool down completely before assembling.

HAZELNUT MOUSSE LAYER (this needs to be made immediately before assembling)

Soak the gelatine in water until it blooms, for around 5 minutes. Then place in the microwave for a couple of seconds to melt the gelatine. Set it aside to cool whilst doing the following step.

Place the hazelnut butter, whipping cream and sugar into a large bowl and mix with an electric whisk until smooth.

Whilst the whisk is working, start adding the gelatine by pouring it at slow stream. Give another whiz around the bowl and you are good to go and assemble.

Transfer the mousse into a piping bag and cut the tip. You can use a spoon if you want, but for a neater finish, it's best to pipe the mousse.

ASSEMBLE: Place one cake on the serving plate, pipe a ring of mousse around the edge, then add another ring on top of it to create a border. Pour the fudge sauce in the ring and pipe the remainder of the mousse in a spiral pattern. Place the second sponge on top and put the cake in the fridge whilst you prepare the buttercream.

MALT BUTTERCREAM: Place all ingredients into a mixer bowl and beat well until smooth and fluffy.

To make the first uncoloured crumb coat coverage of the cake, spread a thin layer of buttercream on the sides and top of the cake. Scrape to make it even, then place the cake in the fridge to harden.

Add the desired food colouring to the remaining butter cream, mix well, then add a bit more until it reaches the colour you want. Cover with cling film until you need to use it.

Coat the cake with the remaining buttercream (you can go crazy with colour combinations or just leave it plain if you don’t want or have food colouring) and place it in the fridge to set for at least 30 minutes.

MARSHMALLOW WEB: Put the marshmallows in the heat-prove bowl and heat in the microwave in 20sec intervals, mixing in between until they melt. Take a bit of the marshmallow melt and pull it apart using your fingers to create thin strands. Have your cake next to you so you can pull it around the cake creating messy web.

You need to work quickly and keep reheating the marshmallows as once they cool down it is hard to stretch the strands. Decorate with more marshmallow and sweets. You can even use a blow torch to toast the marshmallows and strands to give the cake a WOW effect