Chocolate and lime is a sleeper combination, but it’s a winner. Think cheesecake, meets key lime pie with a chocolate crust

Ingredients

• 75g butter

• 250ml brewed coffee

• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

• 345g caster sugar

• 185g plain flour

• 90g unsweetened cocoa powder

• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, (baking soda)

• pinch salt

• 250g sour cream

• 3 large eggs

• 150g dark chocolate, (70% cocoa solids)

• 125ml pouring cream, (35% fat)

• 1 tablespoon liquid glucose, (or corn syrup)

• crumbled chocolate cookies

For the cheesecake filling:

• 125ml thickened cream, (35% fat)

• 500g cream cheese, softened

• 170g caster sugar

• 190ml lime juice, (from about 6 limes)

• 2 limes, grated zest

• 80ml condensed milk

• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatine

• 45ml boiling water

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line three 20 cm springform cake tins. Put the butter, coffee and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until the butter is melted.

2 Put the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk (sift the cocoa if it’s lumpy).

3 Add the coffee mixture, sour cream and eggs and whisk until combined. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 20–25 minutes or until the cakes spring back when touched lightly.

4 Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tins, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Use a serrated knife to level off the cakes.

5 For the filling, whip the cream to soft peaks. Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and combined.

6 Beat in the lime juice, zest and condensed milk. Put the gelatine in a small bowl, add the boiling water and mix to dissolve the gelatine.

7 While beating the cream cheese mixture, stream in the gelatine until incorporated (do this quickly). Fold through the whipped cream.

8 Line an 18 cm springform tin with acetate. Trim the cake layers down to 18 cm and put one layer in the tin, followed by half the cheesecake filling. Follow with another cake layer, the remaining filling and then the final piece of cake.

9 Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. To decorate, unclip the tin, peel away the acetate and place the cake on a serving plate.

10 Melt together the chocolate, cream and glucose in a saucepan over low heat. Cool slightly.

11 Pour over the cake, then scatter a ring of cookie crumbs around the top edge.

Recipe courtesy of Sarah Coates, extracted from The Sugar Hit