Tesco has launched a new chocolate Christmas cake, developed with celebrity chef Raymond Blanc.

The Ultimate Finest* Triple Chocolate Cake, which weighs 1.3kg and costs £35, consists of layers of moist chocolate sponge, crunchy, caramel feuillantine and rich chocolate ganache, topped with handmade chocolate leaves dusted with cocoa powder.

Tesco specifically sourced wild chocolate exclusively from Bolivia for the recipe. Made using grand cru Bolivian cacao beans, this uniquely delicious chocolate is produced using a gentle, traditional method. The chocolate is ground or “conched” for 60 hours - the longer the conching process, the smoother the end result.

The Tesco Christmas Bakery range was launched on 3 December in selected stores across the UK for a limited period.

This follows the company’s revamp of 900 stores across the country, increasing the variety of speciality breads on sale from 10 to 30, and comes following a collaboration between Waitrose and Heston Blumenthal for its exclusive gourmet range.

Tesco said: “Raymond’s technical mastery, creativity and passion for the highest-quality ingredients are what inspired our chefs to create what we believe is the perfect Christmas chocolate cake.”

Other products available in the range include: the Bah Humbug cake - a Madeira cake filled with raspberry jam and buttercream; a butter-rich fruit Fully Iced Partridge Cake and Fully Iced Bar Cake, both packed with fruits and hazelnuts and injected with Courvoisier VS Cognac, covered with marzipan and white icing; the Fully Iced Tree Cake, filled with sultanas, currants, raisins and glacé cherries, topped with marzipan and white icing; and a Panettone chock-full of raisins, candied orange and citron peel from the Calabria region of Italy.