Hungry hungry hippo/Almond, orange and chocolate cake

By Isaac Cameron

Ingredients

for the cake

200g softened unsalted butter380g caster sugar4 tangy clementines (or any tangy small orange) zested280g ground almonds5 medium free range eggs, beaten100g plain floura pinch of salt

for the syrup

80g caster sugarjuice of 4 clementines

for the icing

90g unsalted butter150g dark chocolate½ tbsp honeykinder hippos (optional)lime zest (optional)orange zest (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4, grease the base and sides and line the base with greaseproof paper.

Put the butter, 300g of sugar and the clementine zest in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric whisk until all is incorporated and smooth.

Next add half of the ground almonds to the bowl and mix in. Gradually add the beaten eggs making sure they are fully mixed with the other ingredients.

Add the flour, salt and remaining almonds and beat until smooth.

Spread the cake mix inside the tin, level out and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 50-60 minutes. To check if the cake is ready insert a skewer, or sharp knife into the middle of the cake. It should come out a little moist when ready.

When the cake is about ten minutes from being ready make the syrup by squeezing the Clementine juice in a saucepan with the 80g of remaining sugar then bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes.

As soon as the cake is ready prick it all over with a skewer, making sure to go all the way down, then pour the hot syrup over gradually until the cake has soaked up as much of it as it can.

When the cake is cool make the icing by melting the chocolate, butter and honey in a bain marie and stirring to mix it all together. When this is done pour the icing over the cake and spread evenly.

If you like you can add the hippos, lime and orange zest at this point so it looks like a scene straight from the African plains. Also those hippos are really tasty.