Servings: 8-10

Cooking time: 35 minutes

What you’ll need

8″ square cake tin with deep sides or an 8″ round tin with deep sides

Ingredients

Cake

• 4oz self-raising flour
• 1oz cocoa powder
• 5oz very soft butter
• 5oz caster sugar
• 3 eggs small or medium

Chocolate Ganache Buttercream

• 4oz very soft butter
• 1oz good quality dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons double cream
• 4oz icing sugar, sifted

Decorations

• 1 box chocolate fingers or chocolate match sticks
• 2 small chocolate cookies bashed into fine crumbs
• 3 or 4 small shortbread biscuits
• red or black piping icing

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Line and butter 1 x 8 inch square tin or use an 8” round tin with deep sides.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a large bowl.
4. Add the butter, eggs and sugar and using an electric whisk, beat until well combined. Do not over beat.
5. Put the mixture into the tin and level out.
6. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until cooked (should feel firm and spring back in the centre). Do not open the oven for at least 20-25 minutes or your cake will collapse!
7. Remove from oven and after about 5 minutes, remove from the tins and cool on a wire rack.
8. To make the filling, gently melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and allow to cool slightly.
9. Add the cream and mix in.
10. Meanwhile beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy and smooth, (this will take at least 5 minutes) then add the chocolate mixture and beat again until smooth.
11. place the cake upside down on a board or plate.
12. Ice the top and sides with the buttercream.
13. Randomly stick the chocolate fingers or matchsticks around the sides to create a fence.
14. Ice spooky letters or crosses on the shortbread biscuits.
15. Sprinkle the crushed cookies over the top ( this is the soil ).
16. Make a little slit with a knife and stick the iced shortbread biscuits into the top at random.

Notes

This cake will well for up to a week.