It’s almost the most spookiest time of the year, and to celebrate, I thought this recipe would make the perfect treat if you’re entertaining on 31st October. Layers of chocolate brownie mixture covered in marzipan, you could also serve it up as part of an edible table decoration for Christmas or New Year.

If you like the idea but time is short, you can use rounds of a readymade chocolate cake or chocolate Swiss roll. The brownie recipe alone is rich and delicious and makes a great bake by itself if you don’t want to make the candle. Time to bring on the cake recipe, I hope you like it 🙂

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 100g free-from dark or plain chocolate
• 100g lightly salted plant butter
• 7tsp ground flax seed
• 125g caster sugar
• 1tsp natural vanilla extract
• 125g gluten-free plain flour blend
• ¼tsp xanthan gum
• 75g free-from chocolate frosting or apricot jam, softened
• 200g natural marzipan
• 50g free-from white chocolate
• 1 x tea-light candle

1. Grease and line an 18cm straight sided square cake tin. Melt the plain chocolate and butter together over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Remove from the water and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, mix the ground flax seed with 110ml cold water and leave to stand for a few minutes until thickened. Preheat the oven to 180°C, 160°C fan, gas mark 4.

3. Stir the sugar and vanilla into the warm chocolate mixture, then mix in the flax “egg”. Add the flour and xanthan gum and mix well.

4. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for about 45 minutes until the top looks papery and shiny and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin before removing.

5. Use an 8 to 8.5cm round cookie cutter to cut out 4 neat rounds from the brownie square. Use a small round cutter the same size as the tea-light candle holder (approx.3.5cm) and cut out the centre from one round. Keep the trimmings to make truffles or cake pops.

6. Spread a little frosting or jam on each round and stack them neatly on top of each other, putting the cut out round on top.

7. Measure the height and circumference of the brownie stack. My cake was 9.5cm tall, and 27cm round the middle.

8. Knead the marzipan to make it more pliable, then roll out to a thickness of about 0.5cm and a little larger than the cake dimensions, then trim to the size of your cake. Gather up the marzipan trimmings, re-roll and cut out a ring of marzipan using the same cutters as before, to fit the top of the cake.

9. Spread the outside of the cake with a little more frosting or jam, then lay the cake on the marzipan and roll it up so that it is completely covered. Stand the cake upright and smooth the ends together. Spread the top with remaining frosting or jam and place the marzipan ring on top. Pop the candle holder inside. If the marzipan is a bit uneven, gently roll the cake back and forth on the work top to smooth.

10. Melt the white chocolate. Put the candle into the holder and carefully spoon warm chocolate round the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides to resemble melting wax. Try and keep the edge of the candle holder free from chocolate so that you are able to remove it with ease when you want to slice the cake. Leave the cake in a cool place to set. To serve, put the cake on a heat resistant plate and light the candle.

When you are ready to cut the cake, extinguish the flame and carefully remove the candle holder, remembering that the candle wax will be very hot – I used a pair of tweezers to grip the candle holder for easy removal. Cut the cake in half and then into smaller portions.

If you are celebrating this Hallowe’en, I hope you have a great time. I look forward to sharing some exciting news in my next post early in November. Until then, stay safe 😉