Preheat oven to 160°C.

Grease and line an 8 inch square baking tin.

Sift the dry ingredients together then beat together with the sugar and butter to form a fine crumble mix (it’s odd but trust us!).

Whisk all the wet ingredients in a jug then incorporate into the dry mix, stopping as soon as smooth.

Pour into your prepared tin and bake for about 30-35 minutes – I would start checking at 25 and look for the top to spring back when prodded and no wet batter when a skewer is inserted into the middle.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack to finish cooling (TIP – if domed on baking, press the surface down flat with a clean oven glove GENTLY as soon as out the oven).

Save any crumbles of cake from the tin to sprinkle on the cake when you assemble, as if they were pieces of crumbled head stones or a freshly dug grave, mwuahahaha!

Preheat oven to 170°C.

Grease and line an 8 inch square tin.

Beat the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy.

Beat in the extract or liquer (I must admit, I used both!).

Beat in the eggs with a couple of tbsp of the flour to prevent cuddling.

Sift over the rest of the flour and mix in until just combined.

Stir in the cooled and melted dark chocolate and mix in thoroughly until no streaks of batter remain

Use a spatula to dollop into your prepared tin – it is quite a thick batter, smooth it flat.

Bake for 25-30 minutes approximately, start checking at 25 – here you are looking for a sugary, dry, crinkly top which will flake when pressed; a skewer should come out clean for these brownies as they need to be able to stand upright therefore if there is gooey batter on the skewer, give them a few minutes longer.

Cool in the tin then put in the fridge for 30 minutes before you turn them out and cut into head stone shapes.

You won’t need them all to decorate the cake so serve the rest cut up however you like (you could decorate them if you like too with crosses, cobwebs or RIP).

Beat the butter until fluffy with a spatula – I never refrigerate it so it’s very soft indeed in my kitchen.

Sift over and stir in the cocoa and sugar.

Mix in the vanilla and melted chocolate then switch to a whisk.

Beat for several minutes until well amalgamated then very, very slowly, dribble in between 1-3 tbsp of just boiled water, one drop at a time – the idea is to loosen up the frosting and allow you to whisk it until super airy and fluffed up (you may use a stand mixer or electric beaters if you wish!).

Dollop onto the cooled cake and swirl to give an uneven ground like appearance.

To make the royal icing – use 2-3 tbsp mixed to a thick stiff paste (think of toothpaste) with lemon juice or cold water; put into a small piping bag or plastic food bag and snip off 2-3mm from the end to pipe the patterns of your choice on the graveyard scene.