1Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease and base-line 2 straight-sided 20cm sandwich tins.
2 For the cake, mix together all the dry ingredients. In a jug, beat the wet ingredients with a fork, then stir into the dry mixture and mix well. Pour into the tins. Bake for 25 mins until well-risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tins on a wire rack. Turn up the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
3For the frosting, beat the butter, soft cheese, icing sugar and peanut butter or Nutella until light and fluffy. Cover and chill until needed.
4To make the gingerbread, melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger in a large bowl and stir in the butter mixture to make a stiff dough. If it won’t quite come together, add a tiny splash of water.
5Cut out the templates (you’ll find these online, see above). Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Cut out 1 house front, 2 house supports, 1 door, 4 shutters and 7 gravestones, re-rolling as needed. Arrange well-spaced on lined baking trays and put in the oven. After 8-10 mins, remove the smaller pieces. Sprinkle the crushed sweets into the windows and bake the house front for a further 8-10 mins until golden. Leave to cool.
6Sandwich the sponges together with a third of the frosting and stand on a large cake board or tray. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides, and cover all over with Coco Pops.
7Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of boiling water. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe 2 scary tree shapes onto the paper using half the chocolate. Freeze until set, then ‘over-pipe’ with a second chocolate layer. Freeze for 5-10 mins until set.
8Decorate the gingerbread pieces with the icing, mixed with colourings as you like; fix the icing in place with a little syrup. ‘Dirty up’ the house by brushing it with a little dry cocoa powder. Fix the shutters in place with a little-melted chocolate.
9Stand the house on the top of the cake, pushing it into the icing and supporting it with the 2 triangular gingerbread supports. Stand the trees in place, fix on the door at an angle and add a broken fence made from Matchmakers. Fix gravestones in place with melted chocolate and add Malteser rocks. Use remaining icing and colourings to make a cat, eye balls and pumpkins. Scatter the sugar ‘dirt’ on the board to finish.
