Nadiya Hussain's white chocolate crown cake recipe

Nadiya Hussain's white chocolate crown cake really is a showstopper! This stunning cake with raspberry frosting would make a seriously impressive birthday cake; it'll make both kids and grown-ups very happy. The white chocolate shard decorations are really easy to make and make it extra special. This added touch looks like you've gone to a lot of effort, when really, they're so simple! Raspberries and white chocolate are a match made in heaven. This cake is not only delicious, but it's also so pretty with its beautiful pink colour that it gets from the raspberries. The perfect summer cake!

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 225g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs, lightly beaten
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 125g plain flour
• 100g wholemeal plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder

For the raspberry buttercream:

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 700g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 x 290g pack full-fat cream cheese
• 9g freeze-dried raspberries, small pieces
• a few drops pink food colouring

To finish :

• 1tbsp raspberry jam
• 150g raspberries, plus 300g to decorate
• 300g white chocolate

Method

1. Grease and line the bases and sides of 2 x 16cm tins. Heat oven to 160C fan, gas 4. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, followed by the vanilla. Fold through the flours and baking powder, then divide between the tins. Cook for 25-30 minutes, until springy. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.
2. For the buttercream, beat the butter with half the icing sugar until smooth, then add the cream cheese, the rest of the icing sugar, the freeze-dried raspberries, pink colouring and mix until smooth.
3. Line a sheet of foil with baking paper and fold the edges to make a rectangular mould approximately 20cm x 28cm. Melt the chocolate, pour into the mould and spread to make an even layer. Chill until set. With a hot, dry knife, cut zig-zags across the width of the chocolate to make 8 tall, equal-sized triangle shards.
4. Sandwich together the two cakes with jam, a third of the buttercream and 150g raspberries. Cover the whole cake with most of the remaining buttercream. Use the buttercream to secure the shards to the sides of the cake and add raspberries to the centre.