Simple vegan chocolate cake

Do you want something absolutely chocolate without the fuss, without the beating around in a large bowl and whisking too much? If your answer is yes then perhaps this is the chocolate cake you’d want to try which is absolutely hassle free, easy to make with a fudgy rich center and takes barely moments to put together. The only waiting time is when it bakes and cools down and once that is done it’s ready to be eaten.

It’s something of a cross between a rich brownie and a simple tea time cake where all its chocolateness comes from the cocoa powder, which is why a good quality cocoa powder is a must for this recipe and of course it can be elaborated upon with icing or frosting and that’s why this cake is so perfect because its simple nature makes it so amiable to everything one could possible club it with.

The ingredients are few and basic. Flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa powder, instant coffee, oil, plant milk, vanilla and some salt.

In a large bowl mix in the flour

sugar

baking powder, salt, baking soda and coffee

and cocoa powder.

Mix it well together.

Now mix in all the wet ingredients. Vanilla, oil

Plant milk. I’ve used soy milk.

Mix it well. The batter will be a bit wet and that’s what makes the cake a very moist disc of chocolate goodness.

Scrape into a well greased baking dish of choice and bake at 180ºc for 40-45 minutes or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides and the center is baked. Check with a knife or toothpick.

Let cool for a bit before slicing.

This cake was deliriously simple and magical in how it tasted. Pair it with a dollop of ice cream of some cream or custard to make it into a richer dessert.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Flour: 200g
Sugar: 180g
Cocoa powder: 30g
Coffee powder (instant): 1 tsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Baking soda: 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Oil: 70g (anything flavourless or coconut oil)
Plant milk: 220 mls
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

Recipe instructions

Into a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and coffee powder. Mix well. Make sure there are no lumps.

Add in the vanilla, oil and milk and mix well. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure no dry flour is stuck to the edges.

Scrape into a well greased baking tin and bake at 180ºc for 40-45 minutesor until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

let rest for ten minutes before serving.

Skinny energy bars (vegan)

One could, if one wanted, call them superfood mega nutritious healthy chocolate energy bars but that would be too long a name for something so decidedly elegant and petite and so, skinny bars it is and these are skinny in both appearance and spirit and all too easy to eat not just as a nutritious dessert, but also as a post-workout snack or during that time of the day when you feel hungry or depressed.

I might have mistakenly erased the photograph of ingredients assemblage which is why we begin with the recipe. Starting with a clean bowl and a spatula.

in with coconut oil, always a good start.

followed with an all natural sweetener in the form of mushed up, pitted dates

mix them well to form a somewhat wet base for the rest of the ingredients

rolled oats that I pulsed a couple times to somewhat break them

followed by rice flour and cinnamon and vanilla extract

give it all a mix to incorporate the wet ingredients well into the dry.

and finally the dried fruits, nuts and seeds. Here I have some raisins, goji berries, chia seeds, chopped almonds as well as some black and white sesame seeds.

Give all the ingredients a thorough mixture to slick them somewhat with the oil and dates mixture

and prepare a baking tin by lining it with baking paper to prevent the oatmeal bars from sticking to the tray.

Scrape the contents into the tray and flatten the top, making sure it’s even on all sides before baking it at 180ºC for 35-40 minutes.

It will come out bronzed at the top and I realized the raisins had swollen a bit and protruded out. This is, at this stage, a tin full of delicious granola and to make them into skinny bars you have to let it cool completely.

The final stage involves a bit of pouring and sprinkling and here I have some melted chocolate and a couple tablespoons of slivered pistachios. You can melt some vegan chocolate for this purpose but I have here some homemade chocolate, the recipe for which I’m still perfecting and perhaps I will upload it soon but for now some melted chocolate (any you prefer) would work.

Sprinkle over the nuts while the chocolate is still liquid and keep it to set in the fridge for a couple hours or until you’re ready to unmould and slice after it’s set.

The surface takes over a rather matt look accentuated with the vibrant greens of the slivered pistachio’s and tastes even better.

Find a sharp knife and get carving. The size of the pieces you cut is entirely up to you. They can be shards, chunks, blocks, slivers or you can just chew on this entire thing whole.

Just look at this glorious cross section. There’s a bit of everything.

and another cross-section, if you’re into cross-sections. I mean, of course, you could make thicker chunkier bars by spreading it into a smaller baking tin but they’d still be skinny bars.

Ingredients

Rolled oats: 250g

Rice flour: 80g

Coconut oil: 50mls

mashed dates: 170g (Alternatively use maple syrup or any other syrup)

Nuts +seeds: 80g (I used almonds, chia, black and white sesame seeds)

dried berries and raisins: 60g (I used raisins and goji berries)

Cinnamon: 1 tsp

vanilla extracts: 1 tsp

melted Vegan chocolate: 150g

Slivered Pistachios: 2 tbsps

Recipe instructions

Pulse the oats in a food processor to break them as an optional step.

In a clean bowl mix together the dates and coconut oil until well combined. Tip in the oats, rice flour, cinnamon and vanilla extract and mix. Add the nuts, seeds, berries and raisins and mix until well combined.

Spread in a baking tin lined with baking sheet and flatten the surface evening out the layer and bake at 180ºC for 35-50 minutes or until the top is browned.

Let it cool completely before glazing with melted chocolate and sprinkling over slivered pistachio’s.

Refrigerate to set and cut into large pieces or smaller chunks.

Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for best results. These keep for a couple weeks if well stored, though they are much too easily eaten before the weekend is over.

NOTE: use date/ maple/rice syrup or coconut sugar instead of mashed dates if you prefer and any other dried fruits, nuts and seeds of your choice.

Hot chocolate mix

When this world feels like a rotting dump of methane filled sewage, there are few comforts you turn to. A loving voice, a soothing touch, a reassuring moan.. and all these things are impossibly hard to come by; why else would this world have turned into a venomous pit of hate infected flies? You need something restorative, with the potential to remedy some aches and provide warm succour.

You need a cup of hot chocolate and not just any ol’ hot chocolate but a homemade version. One that’s a pre mix, which needs nothing save pouring in hot water or milk if you think you need it. But it’s a mix, which means there’s milk present already, so really just hot water is all you need.

There’s a sort of whimsical poetry, like a fluttering tune about ‘hot chocolate’. The fact that it’s chocolate in pourable form that can be drunk warm. Wisps of chocolatey fog hitting your face and thick sweetness with all the richness of terra cotta cocoa pouring into your system provides instant calmness and an upbeat feeling of general wellness.

Unlike store brought hot chocolate mixes that are doused to the teeth with chemicals that you couldn’t pronounce, this is one is fairly docile. Just sugar, vanilla pods, milk powder, cocoa powder, corn starch and salt.

Split the belly of vanilla pods to extract all the wonderful flavour of the seeds. Sometimes it’s also called vanilla caviar. hmm.

add it to the sugar. Don’t throw away these emptied out vanilla pods. Stick them in a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar. ah, the wonderful fragrance.

also- if you do not have vanilla pods or you’d rather not bother with vanilla in this recipe, simply omit this step.

add in the corn starch to this mix

whisk it about. Though it’s not needed because the next step will take care of the mixing.

whizz it in a blender or a processor, whatever you have on hand to make this coarse sugar vanilla corn starch mixture into a powdery mix.

something like this. See how it’s flecked with vanilla beans.

add milk powder to the now powdered sugar+vanilla+corn starch

in with the cocoa powder.

and sea salt

use a whisk to mix it well. Get rid of any lumps. And it’s done.

there you have it. Your very own homemade hot chocolate mix. Store it in a jar and have fun with it.

this is how you make it. Scoop out 3 heaped spoonfuls into a mug.

add hot not boiling water.

there you have it. Hot chocolate in the comforts of your own home. Made in lesser time than it would take for you to go out and have some. This mix is not only easy but so convenient. Anytime you need a fix just scoop out and pour.

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Ingredients

Sugar: 180g (2 cups)

Vanilla pods: 2

Corn starch: 30g (1/4cup)

Powdered milk: 200g (2 cups)

Cocoa powder: 70g (1 cup)

Salt: 1/2 tsp

Recipe instructions

Split the vanilla beans and scrape out their seeds and mix with sugar. add in corn starch and blend in processor or blender to make it into a fine powdered form.

Note: if you’re using fine powdered sugar then simply whisk in these ingredients until there are no lumps present.

Into the powdered sugar mixture add in milk powder, cocoa powder and salt. Whisk well and ensure there are no lumps. Once well mixed store in a jar.

To make hot chocolate scoop 3 tablespoons into 3/4 cup of hot water. Alternatively you can even using milk and also use the mix to create many shakes or desserts of choice.

No woe brownies

Brownies as a rule work as devilish little mood elevator charms, and although there never can be one perfect recipe, these chocolate sodden, nuts bejeweled diabolical squares are indeed moan inducing. The reason these are called no woe brownies is because they’re the perfect antidote to many a life’s sads. They will diminish most of your life worries, though these do tend to have a rather crack life after effect, and you might be swayed to do something absolutely indecorous..but that shouldn’t stop you from either committing to that act or making these exquisite squares of forbidden pleasures. Not only do these little babies lusciously gratify your most carnal cravings, they also do double duty as your sinning needs..so if you’re one of those straight-laced, down on your luck decent ones out there, baking and ingesting one of these is guaranteed to write you off as one dirty sinner, because these brownies are in fact the miscreant adulterers of all food groups.

Now these are called no woe brownies and they are but for the little side effect that these will make you fat, and what could be more woeful than that? on the other hand if you eat another one of these, you might not feel so bad after all, and they are the perfect remedy for an aching heart.

Let’s be absolutely clear that these are not the cakey brownie kinds, I mean what’s even the point of a cakey brownie when you might as well just eat a cake. No sir..these are dense, fudgey, and every bite is packed with chunks of sweet divinity, because these have three different kinds of chocolate components.

bring on all the good stuff..chocolate chunks or chips separated into two heaps, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, cocoa powder, butter, chopped salted pistachios, sugar and coffee granules.

This is an easy easy recipe..all can me made into one bowl, and an oval bowl doesn’t really help much. So butter diced into chunks

and chunks of chocolate part-1. This one is meant for melting purposes with the butter. You can either melt the butter and chocolate over heating water in a heat proof bowl or melt in a microwave, in 30 second bursts.

add in the coffee granules. These make the chocolate more chocolatey.

this is what you get. satan’s swimming pool. Take a dip and salvation..or you can make brownies.

add in the sugar

mix well. You’ll see that the sugar doesn’t really dissolve and that’s alright, because everything will come together just fine.

crack in the eggs, one at a time and mix well before adding another.

make sure to incorporate the eggs well into the batter and you’ll end up with something like this.

add in the vanilla

and the cocoa powder and mix

add in the flour

chocolate chunks that are supposed to stay as chunks in here

and finally in with the salted nuts. It’s the salted nuts that add another dimension and elevate these brownies from fantastic to ecstatic.

mix it all in well. Ah, this marvelous mound of magnificence.

scrape the batter into a buttered baking tray

smooth well and bake at 180°C for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean

ah…sigh!!! cut into squares if you care to share, or just dive in with a fork.

here it is..in a rueful light..

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Ingredient amounts

Flour: 70g (1/2 cup)

Butter: 120g (1/2 cup)

Chocolate dark (for melting): 170g (1 heaped cup)

Chocolate chunks (milk or dark): 90g (1/2 cup)

Cocoa powder: 30g (1/4 cup)

Eggs: 3

Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

Coffee granules: 1 tablespoon

Salted pistachio: 70g (heaped 3/4cup)- you can use any salted nuts of your preference. salted peanuts would be great here too.

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Recipe instructions: melt the butter, coffee granules and dark chocolate over a heat proof bowl or into a microwave. Add in sugar and mix briefly. Crack in the eggs, one at a time and mix thoroughly. (Let the mixture cool before adding in the eggs)

Add in the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, flour, chocolate chunks and salted nuts. Mix until well incorporated.

Scrape into a buttered baking tray and bake at 180°C for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean

if this doesn’t push you into the kitchen with a slab of chocolate in hand..you don’t deserve to sin.

Almost – fudge gateau

In case you ever wondered what gateway to heaven was really made of, then please look no further. The gateway to heaven or even the stairway to one was/is most definitely made of this dense, moist disc of chocolate bliss. I’d love to say that this was something that came out of my kitchen in a moment of godlike inspiration, but sadly it isn’t. This is a recipe I adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s book (baking, from my home to yours), and the moment I made it I knew this would be that moment of magical sin, when I’d plunge headlong into this shiny matt dome of chocolate and wish for no rescue.

The real reason I’d made this cake was because I was in a celebratory mode, as I’d just become a part of this fantastic website put together by a bunch of serious food lovers called Gastronazi.com and that I was doing metaphysical somersaults and driving myself into a food frenzy would be a serious understatement. This website is exactly what it sounds like, and puts not only well researched, well thought food related articles but also comes up with excellent how to videos and recipes that you always thought belonged in a pricey French kitchen. So do check put this website and know more about how to kick it up a notch or two in your home kitchen.

Coming back to this gateau, here’s all you need.

sugar, good quality dark chocolate, eggs separated, flour, butter and salt.

start with prepping your springform pan by buttering the sides and bottom

lining with a parchment paper

buttering that as well

sprinkle in some flour to coat the entire pan and shake off the excess

something like this

add the butter to your chocolate and melt either using a double boiler or nuking in the microwave

this is what you should end up with. stir it all together to form a chocolate pool, then dive in and forget the world, or just continue making the cake.

to this add sugar

stir well to mix as well as you can

add in the egg yolks, one at a time and stir until all’s well combined.

add in the flour and mix well

to make it look like this.

in a separate, very clean bowl we have to whip up the egg whites to form firm peaks, they should be glossy and not dry

so add a pinch of salt to the egg whites

and whip like a maniac, until they kinda look like this

now the part where you exercise caution. First fold in about a third of the egg white mixture into the batter, to lighten it a bit. I generally do this step by cut and fold method too. Very gently fold in the egg whites to form a part of the batter. I do this by scraping the bottom of the batter and bringing it to the top of the egg whites and keep repeating this step 4-5 times until the egg whites become a part of the batter.

once you’ve lightened the batter, fold in the rest of the egg whites using the same method.

and the batter should look something like this.

scrape the batter into the pan and jiggle the sides just a bit to even the batter (I always use foil on my tray because my springform pan can be slightly dyslexic). Bake at 180°C for 35-45 minutes. thin knife inserted will come slightly smeared with chocolate when its done.

the cake when done looks something like this. Let it rest for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. If you think the cake is sticking to the edges, just run a blunt knife around the edges and it will come out easily. The way we’ve buttered and floured the pan, it might be almost impossible to stick.

Let the cake cool completely before glazing it.

for the glaze we need heavy cream, dark chocolate and honey

start by heating the chocolate on low flame until it’s just nearly boiling but not boiling. Turn off the heat and add in the chocolate and let them sit without stirring for a couple of minutes.

after a few minutes, stir together to combine

add in the honey and stir again. Wait for a few minutes until it’s just cool because it has to be pourable, for you to do

this. Yes! slather that cake with that glaze baby..ooh yeah.

cut yourself a piece and watch yourself melt into a pool of luxurious indulgence

Ingredients

Eggs- 5 (separated)

bittersweet chocolate- 250g

sugar- 150g (1 cup)

butter- 70g (5 tbsp)

flour-50g (1/3cup)

salt- pinch

For the glaze

Dark chocolate-100g

heavy cream- 90 mls (about 1/2 cup)

Honey- 2 tsp

Baking instructions

Butter a sprinform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper, butter the paper, dust with flour to ensure the pan is evenly coated on all sides and shake off the excess.

Melt the chocolate and butter and mix in sugar, then add in the egg yolks, one at a time and mix well. Add flour and mix to form a smooth batter.

Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whip to form firm peaks. Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter and fold in to lighten, then gently fold the rest of the egg whites, cautiously. Scrape the batter into the pan and jiggle a bit to even out. Bake at 180°C for 35-45 minutes. A thin knife inserted will come slightly smeared with chocolate when its done.

Let the cake cool for at least 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. Once out of the pan and let it cool completely.

For the chocolate glaze: heat the cream to a point when it’s just about boiling, don’t let it come to a boil. Add in the chocolate to the saucepan and let it sit without stirring for a couple of minutes. Stir the mixture after a couple of minutes until smooth and add the honey and keep mixing until it’s shiny. Let it cool a bit before pouting over the cake. Let the glaze set at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before cutting into the cake.

enjoy!

Double chocolate chunk cookies

This isn’t the first chocolate chip/chunk cookie post on this blog, and most certainly not the last. But before you roll your eyes and dismiss these sweet little discs of joy, at least stare at them for a while, and notice that there are two kinds of demonic babies in there. I meant dark chocolate and white chocolate; a pairing made in gluttonous heaven of sweet sin.

These golden halos of chewy rapture are sweet, rich, and sometimes responsible for stealthily increasing your waistline..but that’s a different story for a boring day. Make a big batch and freeze some for later I say.

These need no heavy machinery, or special equipments or even muscle power. The ingredients are few and it takes moments to conjure these lovers

just butter (softened to room temperature), dark brown sugar, white sugar, flour, an egg, salt, baking soda, vanilla extract, and of course chocolate chunks both dark and white. Feel free to use chocolate chips instead (only they won’t be as awesome)

add the softened butter to a bowl of choice. Ahem! notice my gorgeous new pink spatula?

rain in the white sugar

and the brown sugar and simply beat it together. It shouldn’t take long if the butter is nicely soft.

a minute of creaming together and it comes to look like this.

crack in the egg

splash in the vanilla

and beat again, until it looks something like this.

in a separate bowl, add in the flour and salt

and the baking soda

and mix to combine

and stir it into the butter sugar mixture.

mix until it just about comes together.

clatter in the chunks..the white

and the dark, and mix until just barely there. Do not over-mix the cookie dough. Please!

this is how it comes together. Now cover with a cling film and let it sit in the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes.

in the meantime, line your baking tray with parchment or butter paper, ignore that this is full of creases.

after 45 minutes, we’re ready to bake. It’s easiest with an ice cream scoop.

like so

like so.. bake at 180℃ for 12-14 minutes, until the edges just start to slightly brown

tadaa!! do not attempt to transfer the hot cookies immediately onto a cooling rack, they will all too easily tear. let them rest for at least 2-3 minutes.

and finally this!

Dunk into milk, crumble over ice cream or just apply to face as is, they’re fantastic either way..and..and oh so gorgeous. The sides are slightly crispy, the center chewy, the chocolate chunks absolutely blowing these darlings into another dimension.

Ingredients

butter: 110g

white sugar: 70g (about 1/3rd cup)

brown sugar: 80g (a little less than 1/4 cup)

egg: 1

vanilla: 1 tsp

flour: 150g (1 and 1/4 cup)

baking soda: 1/2 tsp

salt: 1/4 tsp

dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa): 70g (1/2 cup)

white chocolate : 70g (1/2 cup)

Preparation instructions:

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) into a separate bowl and set aside.

In a clean bowl, add in the softened butter and the sugar and cream until they’re light and fluffy. Crack in the egg and add in the vanilla extract and beat again for about a minute.

Add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Tumble in the chocolate chunks and stir again until all chunks are just incorporated into the mixture.

Cover with a cling film and let it sit in the fridge for at least 30-45 minutes.

layer your baking tray with parchment paper, and using an ice cream scoop place them at least an inch apart, since these cookies will spread.

bake at 180℃ for 12-14 minutes, until the edges just start to slightly brown.

Let them rest for a few minutes before you transfer them to cool on a cooling rack.

Store in an airtight container and they should disappear by the end of day.

now you seriously gotta make these. Enjoy!

Chocolate mocha marbled bundt

I’m sorry if this sounds like a mouthful, but calling this magnificence a mere cake, would be like calling the ‘Taj Mahal’ a mere tomb. Did I go too far? It doesn’t matter, because what really matters is this cake, its refined elegance, sophisticated marbling and luxurious taste.

One bite and you’re in bundt heaven. Superb taste, beautiful crumb and criminally fun to put together.

This is the kind of cake (gasp! dies) that you could serve for dessert with a scoop of ice cream, or with coffee, cut into sort of thin slices, as I did.

In fact I had made it for a big party I had in my house, and served it as a post dinner accompaniment to coffee, since most of my Chinese friends are not very big on desserts, but Coffee! they love, and as I keep getting requested to make my regular vanilla cake, I decided change it a bit and turn it into something more exotic.

nothing too strenuous. Just good quality dark chocolate, instant coffee granules, salt, baking powder, butter, strong cooled coffee (the real deal not instant coffee this time),eggs, vanilla extract (I’m using my own,DIY) , flour, almond meal (grind some almonds in a grinder, jeez), sugar and milk.

ok, this is my bundt pan, fairly basic, fairly average, fairly good! We need to prepare this and yes you can use any other regular baking pan except it won’t be as exquisite.

first we need to prepare this pan so that our cake comes out in one perfect shape. brush with some melted butter.

paint it well, all the nooks, the crevices

all the walls.

sprinkle in a bit of flour. We’re taking precautions and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that my love.

move around the pan in all directions so the flour sticks to the butter. Move that real well. turn it up, turn it down, turn it round and round and round, or just make sure it’s coated well

like so…. now forget about it for a while.

take a big bowl and dump in your flour

and almond meal

and salt

and baking powder…and phew!

mix it well and forget about it for a while.

in a separate bowl too sizes too small add some butter to the chocolate

then the coffee granules (the instant kind)

then your strong brewed coffee, the real kind

melt in a microwave in 30 second bursts, or melt in a heat proof bowl over simmering water. I shifted mine into a bigger bowl because things were getting pretty cramped. Now forget this for a while.

in a separate bowl, add the sugar to the butter which should be soft btw.

and beat together for a couple of minutes until they’re kinda fluffy.

add in the eggs one by one, beating briefly after each addition.

Once all the eggs are beaten in, you will end up with something like this.

add in your vanilla and beat for another half a minute or so.

now add your flour mixture and milk alternately. The flour mixture should be added in three stages and the milk in two, and the beginning and ending should be with the flour mixture. Got it? ok beat in 1/3rd of the flour mixture.

then half of the milk, then 1/3rd of the flour mixture, then rest of the milk and finally last of the flour mixture, and beat until just combined. This alternating stage is important so that you don’t end up over beating the batter.

the mixture will look like so, specked with almond meal. Do not over beat the batter at any stage or your cake will be tough and you’d hate it and blame me.

now bring back your chocolate mocha pool of sin.

Take a little less than half of the vanilla batter

and add it into this chocolate coffee pool of love and mix together very briefly

to get this.

now bring back your bundt pan and do this

then this, basically alternate between the batters

to form this

then take a tooth pick or a knife or in my case and offset spatula and swirl it lightly in the batter. Don’t Jackson Pollock this! You need to be gentle about it or the marble pattern will be all kinds of evil. But of course it’s your cake and you do what you want!

so mine looked something like this. Bake at 180℃ for about an hour

to get this! Let it cool in the pan for a while

and with all that greasing and flouring, it will come out like a song! Look at this! oh my, oh dear, oh wow! Carry this triumphantly to a table full of people, and see how quickly they whip out their phones to instagram this baby!!

marbled pattern in my cake.

Ingredients

Flour: 350g

Almond meal: 70g

baking powder: 1 teaspoon

salt: 1/2 teaspoon

butter: 210g + 2 tablespoons

dark chocolate: 90g

strong coffee: 60mls(1/4 cup)

instant coffee: 1 teaspoon

sugar: 230 g

eggs: 4

vanilla extract: 1 tablespoon

milk: 250mls (1 cup)

Baking instructions: butter the bundt pan and dust with flour to coat completely and shake off the excess flour. Keep aside

Mix together the flour, almond, salt and baking powder.

combine the chocolate, 2 tablespoons of butter, instant coffee and coffee and melt in a microwave. I did in 30 second burst mixing after each, until nicely melted and combined.You can also melt in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water. Microwave is just easier and less fussy.

In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. beat in the vanilla extract. add the flour mixture in 3 portions and the milk in 2, so the beginning and ending should be with flour mixture. Beat only until just combined.

Add a little less than half the vanilla batter into the melted chocolate coffee and mix.

Start layering these 2 batters into the bundt pan as you wish. You can alternate them as I did, or even layer them separately with chocolate layer sandwiched in between vanilla.. Once done you can take a knife or a tooth pick and gently swirl it through the batter.

Bake at 180℃ for about 60 minutes. You might want to increase the time depending on your oven. Just keep checking by inserting a tooth pick, if it comes out clean, the cake is baked.

Once done let it cool for at least 10-15 minutes. Unmoulding would be very easy if you’ve greased and floured the pan well.

This cake will be your pride and joy and the centre piece of your party table.

enjoy!

Chocolate orange cake

Orange and chocolate when put together, open a portal of another dimension, which leads you into a parallel universe where there is endless happiness, where eating more makes you lose weight and where lemons give you life.

Orange and chocolate form something so deep, so intense and flavourful and so unbelievably delicious that you’d think the person who discovered this was given a nobel prize or at least he should be given one asap.

This cake is so rich, so damp, dense, dark and irresistible that you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from devouring this completely. It’s almost impossible to put in words but it tastes like a mouthful of happy malevolence. Crazy right? but this cake has to be made to believe and this is one of the best desserts you could serve at a dinner party. It’s gorgeous and it has an air of elegant simplicity with the most aromatic and not so subtle flavours of orange and chocolate.

The other best part about this cake is that it’s easy and it can be made into just one bowl.

Just flour, salt, baking soda, butter, best quality dark chocolate, sugar, orange marmalade, vanilla, orange liqueur (optional), eggs.

I started by melting the butter and the chocolate into a microwavable bowl. You could by all means use a double boiler but this was easier and faster.

Stir together and exercise enough restrain to not dive into this dark pool of melted chocolate and butter. It’s so easy that I’m using a tiny wooden spoon and a bowl two sizes too small to make this cake.

Into this add in the orange marmalade

the sugar

the orange liqueur

the vanilla extract

and stir. You can see lumps of the marmalade I put in and this is what helps the texture of this cake making it moist with small pieces of marmalade studded in the chocolate.

In with the beaten eggs

and gradually adding a bit of flour and stirring to incorporate. Instead of adding in the whole heap, add in a tablespoon at a time and gently mix in without over beating.

like this

to finally get this.

Into a cake mould. You can also make cupcakes out of this and more often when I have a lot of people, I actually make these into small cupcakes and these need absolutely no frosting/icing of any kind… none!!

Now because this cake is damp, it takes a bit longer than usual cakes but this is so glorious and intensely aromatic. It’s fabulous.

You really have to make this cake and see for yourself how easy it is to create something so rich and elegant yet so simple. This cake is a hit and you’d be asked for seconds and thirds. You really have to make this..

Ingredients

butter 125 g (unsalted)
dark chocolate 100g (at least 60%cocoa)
Orange marmalade 150 g
Orange liqueur (optional) 30 mls/1 tablespoon
sugar 120 g
salt 1/4 teaspoon
baking soda 1/2 teaspoon
eggs 2 large beaten
flour 150g
vanilla extract 1 teaspoon

Recipe: Melt the butter and the chocolate. Add in the marmalade, sugar, liqueur and vanilla. Stir to combine

add in the eggs and mix thoroughly.

Add the flour slowly or one tablespoon at a time and mix completely without over beating.

The batter will be very moist. Bake at 180℃ for 45-50 minutes. Let cool completely.

This cake needs no icing or frosting at all.

Alternatively you can use this recipe and make cupcakes as well.

Enjoy!!!

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