There’s a running gag at work about me and Terry’s Chocolate Orange – don’t even go there.. Over the years I’ve been inundated with pictures of my staff eating Chocolate oranges; of supermarket shelves piled high, and of course there was one lurking as part of my (seriously generous and thoughtful) retirement present. It was basically the gift that kept on giving 😉 . Therefore, I’m dedicating this recipe to my BCH crew..
This recipe is a Chocolate and Orange Cake (see NOTES) that is so easy and delicious that everyone loves it. It is honestly the easiest cake to make – it’s all made in the one saucepan. You will hardly believe that something so delicious takes so little effort on your part – I really recommend that you give this one a go.. And in case you’re wondering, this cake is definitely dinner-party suitable!
In keeping with my habit of giving credit where it’s due – I found this in a BBC Good Food magazine and it’s by Orlando Murrin; who I’m sure is famous, but I’d never heard of him – sorry Orlando, but thanks for the recipe! 😉
EQUIPMENT:
- a medium/large saucepan (the whole recipe’s going to be made in it)
- A hand whisk or wooden spoon
- A 20cm/8 inch circular loose-bottomed cake tin, lined.
- weighing scales
INGREDIENTS:
- 100g dark chocolate
- 125g butter
- 320g from a jar of marmalade – did I mention that it was easy?
- 150g caster sugar
- 2 eggs,
- 150g self-raising flour
METHOD:
- Grease and line your tin with baking parchment.
- Put the oven on to 160 fan
- Put the broken-up chocolate and the butter into the saucepan, and allow it to melt over a gentle heat.
- Remove the pan from the heat and put it onto a heat-proof board. Yes, you’re going to make this cake in the saucepan!
- Add the marmalade and sugar and mix in well.
- Add the eggs separately, mixing well between each addition.
- Sift in the flour in one or two batches, and fold in gently.
- Pour the whole lot into the prepared tin, and smooth the top
- Cook for 45-55 minutes (mine took 50 minutes yesterday) until the top springs back when gently pushed. You can also use a cake tester, and there will be very few crumbs attached when it’s cooked.
- Take it out of the oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then remove it from the tin and allow it to cool completely.
- To finish – the original recipe suggested melting a little more marmalade and spreading it on top, and of course you can do that, but I thought it was a bit scrappy-looking. You could sift a little icing sugar and cocoa mixed together over the top for a simple, elegant finish. However, I used my Chocolate fudge icing recipe from my all-in one Chocolate cake, https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/hilarys-all-in-one-chocolate-cake/and it worked really well. You won’t need the full icing recipe; I cut the icing ingredients in half, and used fresh orange juice and some strained marmalade in place of the liquid, and it worked beautifully.
- Serve, with a dollop of cream or ice-cream, and some fresh fruit. It’s quite a rich cake so don’t cut the slices too large – they can always come back for seconds
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NOTES:
- This recipe can be made with virtually any kind of jam – I got a lovely pot of Plum jam from a friend recently, and that’s going to be my next venture! I fancy some lightly stewed plums or some Plum compote with it.
- Because mine was orange-based yesterday, I served it with fresh orange segments, and I thought they worked really well with the rich cake. Change the accompanying fruit to compliment whatever jam you’ve used.
- I think that this is too rich for children – it’s more of a grown-up dessert. I’d recommend my all-in-one-chocolate cake for youngsters. https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/hilarys-all-in-one-chocolate-cake/
- I fully intend to try swapping around the kind of chocolate that I use, just to see what kind of a results I get.. if you fancy doing this yourself, I’d suggest reducing the sugar a little if you’re using milk or white chocolate. I’ll update this recipe as I go along..
I started writing down recipes in an old copybook when I was about 16. With 6 children at home, my Mother was always glad of a hand in the kitchen, and really allowed us to experiment - as long as we washed up afterwards, and left the kitchen immaculate! Having a tidy kitchen has followed me through my life, as has the habit of writing down my favourite recipes; except that these days I write them for my website, and add photographs when I can. The website really started when it occurred to me that my daughter might like to have these recipes when I've forgotten them. In my early days of cooking for family and friends, I used to phone my Mum all the time to ask her for the recipe for some of our favourite family dinners. She rarely had a recipe to hand - I think, like me, she made a lot of it up as she went along.. So welcome to Eating for Ireland - these are the recipes that my friends and family having been eating these past 40 years.. yes, I truly am ancient! They are tried and tested, and have worked for me for all that time - I have updated them as new ingredients became available - I really hope you'll find something that you can make into a family favourite of your own. You don't have to tell anyone where you found these great new dishes that you're serving up - it can be our little secret, but I'd really love it if you could give me a sneaky 'follow' on Facebook and Instagram.. So off you go - have a good rummage around, you're bound to find something new! My sincere thanks to all of you who have found a recipe that you liked and dropped me a line to tell me - I really do love to hear from you! Happy Cooking! Becks xx