Honey layer cake with orange mousse

The zesty festive cake

Forget heavy, fruit-laden Christmas cake that’s solid enough to use as a doorstop. The Scandinavian food revolution is dessert-shaped this week – coming to you in the form of this zesty Christmas favourite from Nordic food guru Trine Hahnemann.

Kcal: 370 per serving

Saturated fat: 14.3g per serving

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients (Serves 12):

For the cake:

Salted butter, for greasing the tin
3 eggs, separated, plus 1 whole egg
100g caster sugar
225g honey
250g plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground ginger

For the orange mousse:

6 gelatine sheets
50g icing sugar
200ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp finely grated unwaxed lemon zest
3 tbsps finely grated organic orange zest
500ml double cream, lightly whipped

To serve:

5 oranges
4 tbsps Grand Marnier
Finely grated zest
1 organic orange

Method

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 150˚C/300˚F/gas mark 2. Grease the sides of a 24cm round springform cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.

Step 2: Beat the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar and honey until the mixture holds together smoothly. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and spices, then fold this into the batter. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the batter, too. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool.

Step 3: Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water for 5-10 minutes. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl then mix in the freshly squeezed orange juice and lemon and orange zests.

Step 4: Remove the gelatine from the water and squeeze dry. Place in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (but don’t let the bowl touch the water). Heat until melted, then stir into the orange mixture before pouring through a sieve. Fold it gradually into the whipped cream, then refrigerate for an hour.

Step 5: Cut the five oranges into segments. Slice the cake into three horizontal layers and sprinkle the bottom and middle layers with Grand Marnier. Place the bottom layer on a serving plate. Spread with a third of the mousse, then a layer of orange segments. Repeat with subsequent layers. Spread the remaining mousse on top, pile with the rest of the orange segments and sprinkle with the orange zest. Let the cake rest for 30 minutes before serving.