Butterscotch Layer Cake

This is the sort of cake that people label ‘very rich’ but then go on to have three slices with languorous ease. Yes, it is rich, but the gorgeousness is never palate-cluttering or cloying. It makes a comforting pudding after a wintry kitchen supper of something like meatballs or roast chicken and leeks.

To make a coffee-butterscotch cake – as heavenly as it sounds – add a tablespoonful of instant espresso powder to the flour. And it occurs to me as I write this that, for the banoff