Burnt Honey and Caramelised White Chocolate Cake Recipe, by Edd Kimber

How to Make Burnt Honey and Caramelised White Chocolate Cake

1. To make the honey cream, pour the cream into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and set aside. 
2. Add the honey to a large saucepan, place over a medium heat and cook for 6–8 minutes or until it has darkened a couple shades and is starting to smell toasty, almost a touch bitter. Add the salt and a third of the hot cream. The mixture will bubble up aggressively and create a large amount of steam, so take care. Once the bubbling has subsided slightly, slowly pour in the remaining cream. Remove the pan from the heat and cool for a couple minutes. Add the chocolate to a large bowl and pour over a third of the honey cream mixture, stirring to combine. Add the remaining honey cream in two additions, stirring until smooth. Add the sour cream and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before using, preferably overnight. 
3. To make the cake, place the honey into a large saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 6–8 minutes or until it has darkened and smells toasty, as for the filling. Add the butter and sugar and stir to combine, continuing to cook for a further 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Once cool, whisk in the eggs and vanilla until fully combined. Finish by adding the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon and stirring together to form a soft cookie-dough like batter. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough until firm, about 30 minutes. 
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan. Cut six pieces of baking parchment so that they fit the base of a 23 x 33cm rimmed baking tray (quarter sheet pan), of which you’ll need three. Line the bases of these three trays with the baking parchment. 
5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into three equal portions. Roll out each piece of dough between two sheets of baking parchment, so that they fit your prepared baking trays. Remove the top piece of parchment and place on the trays. 
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 8 minutes or until the cakes are golden around the edges and spring back to a light touch. Remove the cakes from the trays and cool on wire racks. Once cooled, use a serrated knife to trim away about 5 mm from each side of the cake. Place the trimmings on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake for 6–8 minutes or until dry and crisp. Set aside to cool. Once cool, crumble into a powder. 
7. To assemble, cut each rectangle of cake in half, so that you have 6 smaller rectangles. Remove the honey cream from the refrigerator and in a large bowl whisk until it holds soft peaks. Place one of the cake layers onto a serving plate and brush with a little of the milk. Top with a little less than a fifth of the cream and spread to cover the entire cake. Repeat this process until all the cake layers have been added. Spread the remaining cream across the outside of the cake, in what will be a very thin layer. Gently press the cake crumbs over the entirety of the cake and then refrigerate overnight. This may seem like a long time to wait but the cake needs time to absorb some of the moisture from the cream and milk to soften up so don’t rush the process. 
8. Kept in the refrigerator the cake will keep for 3–4 days.