100g/3 oz each of poppy seeds, ground walnuts, ground hazelnuts, ground almonds, dried and stoned dates, dried figs
150g/5 oz sesame seeds
75g/2½ oz clear honey
½ tsp ground black pepper
Flour

Put the poppy seeds and ground nuts on a baking tray and place under a hot grill for 5 minutes, turning them over occasionallyto prevent them from burning.

Put the sesame seeds in a bowl.

Puree the figs and dates in a blender and add the nut mixture and pepper to the dried fruits and blend until they are it looks and feels like a dough.

Pour the honey into a pan and bring to the boil. Boil for 3 minutes or until the honey begins to darken.

Blend one-third of the honey into the dried fruit and nut mixture and stir the rest into the sesame seeds.

Divide the mixture into two balls of equal size. Flour your hands and flatten one of the sesame seed balls into a disc about 25 cm/10" in diameter and put this onto a flat plate.

Place the nut mixture on top of the sesame seeds and flatten with your hands until the sesame seeds are completely covered.

Flatten the remaining sesame seed ball with floured hands and position this on top of the cake.

Leave for one hour to allow the honey to set.