Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake

Yes, it’s another cake recipe but this time more suitable for tea than dessert.

The other day I was flipping through Nigella’s book ‘Kitchen’in quest of a simple uncomplicated cake recipe. I didn’t want a cream-laden extravaganza of a gateau, just a nice, plain cake for tea - this time not for guests, just TT and me. 

And this is what I found!

chocolate orange loaf cake cooling on the rack

It’s a loaf cake so no creamy filling or icing to think about: just two delicious flavours chocolate and orange which as we all know complement each other beautifully.

Nigella herself says:

..but this is no decadent fancy, rather a slice-able slab of cocoa-rich serenity.

She continues rather engagingly by saying:

...the thing about this cake – which has a citrus tang so mellow it comes through as warm spice – is that you feel you can snaffle a slice mid-morning or mid-afternoon without feeling the slightest bit weighed down, digestively or psychologically.

And snaffle we did! It delivered what it promised and delicious it was too: easy to make, no hard-to-get ingredients especially if you live outside Turkey – I’m referring to the golden syrup and dark muscovado sugar here. How many years did I bring them back in my suitcase from the UK when I was over? Now thank goodness, golden syrup is actually here but the drama with the brown sugar lives on. I always bring back an assortment of light and dark when I go. Or, you can do as friend Lesley does here, mix some grape molasses/üzüm pekmezi with white granulated sugar till you reach a suitable colour and consistency.

As with any cake, make sure you take your eggs out of the fridge beforehand to get to room temperature, and put the oven on to heat up. These little details make all the difference!

Here’s the recipe:

Nigella’s Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake

Cuts into 10-12 slices

150g/6oz soft unsalted butter, plus some for greasing

Dab flavourless vegetable oil, for greasing syrup spoon – I didn’t see this so didn’t do it!

2 tbsps golden syrup

175g/6 ½ oz dark muscovado sugar OR white granulated sugar mixed with a little grape molasses/üzüm pekmezi

150g/6oz plain flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

25g/1oz best-quality cocoa powder, sifted

2 eggs

Zest 2 regular oranges and juice of 1

1 x 900g (2lb) loaf tin

Method

·        Pre-heat oven to 170°C/gas mark 3 and line your loaf tin with baking parchment or a paper loaf-tin liner.

·        Beat the already soft butter with the syrup – if you dab a little oil on your tablespoon measure with a sheet of kitchen roll, the syrup shouldn’t stick to the spoon – and the sugar until you have a fairly smooth caffè Americano cream, though the sugar will always have a bit of grit about it.

golden syrup: sweet and sticky

·        Mix the flour, bicarb and cocoa powder together, and beat into the syrup mixture 1 tbsp of these dry ingredients before beating in 1 egg. Then add another couple of spoonfuls of the dry ingredients before beating in the second egg.

all the dry ingredients in a bowl

addding the egg

·        Carry on beating in the remaining dry ingredients and then add, still beating, the orange zest and finally, gradually, the juice. At this stage, the batter may suddenly look dimpled as if  slightly curdled. No need to panic.

adding the orange zest

·        Pour and scrape into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes, though check 5 minutes before and be prepared to keep it in the oven 5 minutes longer if need be. A cake tester won’t come out entirely clean, as the point of this cake, light though it may be, is to have just a hint of inner gunge.

·        Leave to cool a little in its tin on a wire rack, then turn out with care and leave on the rack to cool.

cooling on the rack

Note: The cake be baked up to 3 days ahead. Wrap tightly in clingfilm and store in airtight container. Will keep for 5 days total.

The cake can be frozen, tightly wrapped in a double layer of clingfilm and a layer of foil, for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight at room temperature.

an easy cake just right for teatime!

Enjoy!

I’m not saying Afiyet olsun this time as it’s

not Turkish!