METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Grease a 20cm cake tin with butter or line with grease proof paper.
3. Bring a little water to the boil in a pan. Reduce the heat until the water is simmering, then suspend a heatproof bowl over the water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.
4. Add the Sydney Brewery Smooth Talker porter and dark chocolate pieces to the heatproof bowl and heat gently until melted. Once melted, remove the bowl from the heat and set aside to cool.
5. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light, fluffy and well combined, using an electric mixer.
6. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.
7. Pour in the cooled chocolate-and-porter mixture and beat until well combined. Fold in the flour.
8. Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then remove from the tin and set aside to cool on a wire rack.
10. Meanwhile, for the Ganache, repeat step 3
11. Add the chocolate, butter and Sydney Brewery Smooth Talker porter to the bowl, stirring until just melted. Remove the bowl from the heat and set the mixture aside to cool slightly.
12. Drizzle mixture using a whisk over the cake then top with honey coated popcorn or crushed Hazelnuts. Its now ready to serve!
13. Serve slices with more ganache (if you haven’t eaten it already! :P)