Alastair Hendy's Cardamom Coffee Mud Cake

Lightly butter a 20cm loose-bottom or springform cake tin 7cm deep and line the base with baking paper. Heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/310F/gas 2½. Lightly crush the cardamom seeds, place in a small pan with the coffee, heat gently for 10 minutes, until reduced to around 120ml.

Chop or break up the chocolate and gently melt it with the butter in a pan set over a little simmering water. Sieve in the 120ml of cardamom-flavoured coffee.

Whisk the eggs with the sour cream and sugar until combined, then stir in the chocolate mixture. Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa and fold everything together with a spoon until combined.

Spoon the mixture into the buttered tin and level the surface. Bake in the oven for 90 minutes. Remove the tin from the oven, allow the cake to cool a little in the tin then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

To assemble: melt the chocolate for the coating as above, mix in the butter and golden syrup, remove from the heat and leave to cool until spreadable.

Slice the cake horizontally into 2 layers. Spread one cut surface with about 3 tbsp of the coating mixture and sandwich together. Brush any surface crumbs off the cake, then spread the remaining coating around the sides and top.

Makes 1 x 20cm cake.