Serves 12-16

Prep time: 50 mins

Cooking time: 1½ hours

– Chocolate liqueur, for brushing.

– Chocolate curls (optional),to serve.

Chocolate buttermilk cake

– 140 gm unsalted butter, diced.

– 240 gm Lindt Dessert Premium Dark.

– chocolate, coarsely chopped.

– 420 gm plain fl our, sifted.

– 2 tbsp Dutch processed cocoa.

– 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, sifted.

– 600 gm caster sugar.

– 3 eggs.

– 180 ml buttermilk.

Milk chocolate truffl e mousse

– 300 ml pouring cream.

– 80 ml chocolate liqueur.

– 720 gm Lindt Dessert Premium Milk.

– chocolate, fi nely chopped.

– 6 egg yolks.

Chocolate glaze

– 165 gm (¾ cup) caster sugar.

– 250 ml (1 cup) pouring cream.

– 300 gm Lindt Dessert Premium.

– Dark chocolate, fi nely chopped.

Step 1:
For chocolate buttermilk cake, preheat oven to 160°C and butter and line two 20cm-diameter cake tins with baking paper. Stir butter, chocolate and 350ml water in a saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients, then whisk in eggs, buttermilk and a pinch of salt until smooth. Divide among prepared tins and bake until a skewer inserted withdraws clean (40-50 minutes). Cool in tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Step 2:
For milk chocolate truffle mousse, bring cream and 60ml liqueur to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Place chocolate in a large bowl, add hot cream and stand for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Whisk yolks and remaining liqueur in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until thick and pale (3-4 minutes). Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate mixture, then whisk in an electric mixer until cooled to room temperature (4-5 minutes). Refrigerate and whisk occasionally until thick but spreadable (4-4½ hours).

Step 3:
Meanwhile, for chocolate glaze, stir sugar and 60ml water in a saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, then boil until dark caramel (4-5 minutes). Remove from heat, carefully add 125ml warm water (be careful, caramel will spit), then add cream, return to heat and bring back to the boil. Add chocolate and a pinch of salt, remove from heat, stand for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Set aside at room temperature.

Step 4:
To assemble, trim the top of each cake flat, then cut in half horizontally. Place a cake round on a cake stand or serving plate, brush with a little liqueur, spread with a fifth of the truffle mixture, then top with another layer of cake. Continue layering, finishing with a layer of truffle mousse, then spread remaining truffle mixture around the sides of cake with a palette knife to neaten. Refrigerate for 1 hour to set.

Step 5:
Pour a little chocolate glaze over the cake, allowing it to run over the edges and drip a little. Refrigerate to set (20 minutes), then serve topped with chocolate curls and extra chocolate glaze.

Step 6:
Chocolate curls: temper milk chocolate by warming coarsely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water until molten. Stir frequently until the chocolate reaches 48°C. Cool and crystallise to 26°C using the tabling method or by seeding. Then gently warm to working temperature of 30-31°C and pour som tempered chocolate onto bench, spread into a thin, even layer with a palette knife, then allow to just set (1-2 minutes). For chocolate curls, use a scraper, at a 45 degree angle, to scrape in a smooth motion to form curls. Set aside until serving.