Chocolate karidopita, a syrup-soaked Greek walnut cake with chocolate ganache

Put the granulated sugar, cinnamon stick and water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved.

Turn the heat off, stir in the honey and the vanilla extract, whisk together and let the syrup cool completely at room temperature.

Pulse the walnuts a few times in a food processor until ground but not too fine.

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together and set aside.

Whisk the light olive oil, granulated sugar and vanilla extract together, then whisk in the six room temperature eggs.

Dissolve the instant coffee in the slightly warm milk, add it to the egg mixture with the baking soda and whisk a couple of minutes until smooth.

Add the flour mixture a little at a time, whisking just until incorporated; do not over whisk or the cake will be denser.

Toss the ground walnuts and the chocolate chunks with one to two tablespoons of flour so they are lightly coated, then fold them into the batter.

Lightly grease a 9 by 13 inch baking pan, pour in the batter, smooth it out and tap it a few times to release air bubbles.

Bake on the centre rack of a 350F oven, 180C, about 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs; do not over bake.

Straight out of the oven, poke holes all over the cake with a skewer or toothpick and pour all of the syrup over the top; it will puddle around the edges.

Let it sit at room temperature a couple of hours until cool and the syrup has absorbed.

For the ganache, pour the steaming hot heavy whipping cream over the chopped chocolate with the vanilla and the instant coffee and whisk until silky, smooth and shiny.

Pour the ganache over the cooled cake and spread it to cover the whole top; let it set 30 minutes to an hour.

Cut into 12 big pieces, or into triangles for 24.