Pepita cake with Mexican chocolate and candied ancho chile

Bring a cup of sugar and a cup of water to a simmer in a saucepan for a one-to-one simple syrup.

Cut the tops off the ancho chilies, open them out to shake out the seeds, and cut into roughly quarter inch pieces (scissors work).

Swirl to dissolve the sugar evenly, add the ancho and let it simmer in the syrup while the pan is prepared.

Butter the base of the cake pan, fit a parchment round, and butter the parchment and sides.

Scatter half a cup of toasted salted pumpkin seeds in the pan and sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of sugar evenly over them for the top crust.

In a food processor pulse the remaining pumpkin seeds with a cup of sugar until they look like sand.

Add a stick of room-temperature butter and three room-temperature eggs; pulse to combine.

Add a third of a cup of flour, a quarter teaspoon of baking powder and, if wanted, a tablespoon or so of mezcal or tequila; pulse a couple more times.

Lift the candied ancho out of the syrup with a slotted spoon.

Chop the chocolate into small pieces; pulse it and the candied ancho into the batter a couple of times.

Pour into the prepared pan and even it with a spatula.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes, until the middle springs back or a toothpick comes out clean.

After about 10 minutes out of the oven, run a knife around the sides, cover with a serving plate and flip.

Dust lightly with cocoa powder; serve slightly warm.