Truffle Cake

Ingredients

500g plain chocolate , broken into pieces 

75ml brandy or rum

175g unsalted butter softened

175g caster sugar

4 eggs

150g self-raising flour

75g ground almonds

TO FILL AND DECORATE

175ml double cream 

50g cocoa powder , plus extra for coating 

5 tablespoons apricot jam

450g white almond paste

1 tablespoon liquid glucose

125g plain chocolate

several sheets gold leaf , or gold foil foil from plain chocolate

cocoa for dusting

1- Preheat oven to mark 160' .Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin . Put 250g of the chocolate in a bowl with brandy or rum . Melt over a pan of simmering water , stirring until smooth .

2- Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy . Gradually beat in eggs , adding a little of the flour to prevent curdling . Stir in melted chocolate , stir remaining flour into bowl and add the ground almonds . Fold the ingredients together 

3- Turn into tin and level surface bake for 1-1 1/4 hours until firm , and a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean . Leave to cool in tin 

4- Bring cream just to the boil , add remaining chocolate and remove from heat . Leave until chocolate has melted , stirring frequently transfer to a bowl and chilli until firm to create truffle mixture

5- Halve cake and sandwich with remaining truffle mixture . Heat jam and press through a sieve . Spread over top and sides of cake 

6- Grate almond paste into a food processor , then add cocoa powder and liquid glucose . Blend until smooth then knead to make a firm past . Cut in half . Roll out one half on a sheet of non-stick baking parchment , making a semi-circular shape to cover half cake . lifted paste from paper after each roll . Trim off a straight edge , about 12cm long

7- Lay past over cake to half cover , working from center of cake to edge , push up past from underneath with one hand and pinch into little folds with the other . cover other half of the cake with remaining past , then smooth past flat around sides and trim off excess . Dust cake with cocoa powder