This is a lovely Easter cake recipe.

Ingredients

For the cake
100g Green and Blacks chocolate, broken in pieces
100g caster sugar
100g softened butter, plus extra
3 eggs, separated
50g ground almonds
50g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp apricot jam

For the Marzipan
50g caster sugar
100g ground almonds
50g  icing sugar
1-2 drops of almond extract
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

For the Icing
175g Green and Blacks chocolate, broken in pieces
142ml carton double cream

For the Decoration
1 large orange
100g white chocolate
25g Green and Blacks chocolate

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Butter an 18cm deep cake tin.
3. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
4. Mix together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in the yolks, one at a time.
6. Gently stir in the almonds and chocolate.
7. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until stiff peaks form, then fold a quarter of the egg white into the chocolate mixture, next  sift in a quarter of the flour and baking powder. Repeat three more times until the egg white and flour is mixed in thoroughly.
8. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes until risen and cooked. Cool for five minutes, turn out on to a wire rack and cool completely.
10. Make the almond paste by putting the caster sugar and almonds in a bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Mix well, add the extract and egg –  mix to form a stiff paste.
11. Knead briefly on a surface dusted with icing sugar, then cut off a quarter of the paste and divide into 12. Return one piece to the main lump of paste and shape the other 11 into balls. Leave on a plate to dry slightly. Roll out the remaining paste to the size of the cake, trimming to neatly fit the cake.
12. Warm the jam and two tbsp of water in a pan, then press through a sieve into a bowl. Split the cake in half, putting one half on a plate.
13. Brush with jam. Cover with the marzipan and brush with jam. Top with the other cake half. Brush the cake top and sides with jam.
14. Make the icing: put the chocolate and cream in a bowl. Microwave on Medium for one to two minutes to melt the chocolate, then stir. Cool, then chill for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick enough to spread.
15. Spread over the cake top and sides with a palette knife. Leave to set.
16. Chop the orange in half. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl, as before. Spear a ball of paste with a cocktail stick and dip into the chocolate, turning it to coat, then hold it over the bowl for a few seconds until a point forms. Flip the ball and stick into the orange. Repeat with the remaining balls and leave to set.
17. Melt the Green and Blacks chocolate. Using the tip of a tsp, drizzle lines back and forth over the chocolate balls. Leave to set. Re-melt a little leftover chocolate and use to attach the balls to the cake.