The layer cake

The layer cake–a cake made up of five different elements: a brown butter blondie lies at the bottom, studded with roasted almonds, milk chocolate and raspberries; a ganache of milk and dark chocolate, sprinkled with flaky sea salt and freeze dried raspberries; a tender vanilla sponge is halved and sandwiches a creamy layer of vanilla cheesecake, drizzled with a nutty almond butter and sprinkled with chopped raspberries. The cake is finished with a layer of raspberry jam, vanilla whipped cream, chopped roasted almonds and fresh raspberries.

An impressive cake to look at, and to eat, but honestly easier to make than it may seem. Each layer is quite straightforward to make, and the job of making the whole cake can be broken up across a couple of days.

Each layer is made in the same cake tin, so we begin the recipe by baking the sponge, removing it from the tin to cool and thus allowing the tin to be used for the rest of the elements, and ultimately to build the cake in. The sponge can be made up to 2 days in advance of building the cake. The recipe is written in the order that the elements should be made.

The second layer we make is the blondie which is allowed to cool in the tin before making the ganache that is poured on top, then allowing that to set for an hour or two. The sponge layer is halved, with one half going on top of the ganache, followed by a very easy but deliciously creamy vanilla cheesecake with more elements of almond and raspberry. We then place the other half of the sponge on top, cover the cake and allow it to chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours, or overnight, to let the cheesecake set. The next day, before serving, the finishing touches of the jam, vanilla whipped cream, nuts and fresh raspberries adorn the top.

A showstopper cake of many flavours and textures that all work in harmony–a weekend project, perhaps, and also an incredible celebration cake.