Little chocolate, orange & hazelnut cakes

There's a lot to like about these little cakes. Most importantly they're chocolately and delicious. They're also very simple to make as all the ingredients are whizzed together in the food processor. And they're lovely to look at with their pretty sprinkle of candied orange zest.

This recipe also just happens to be gluten-free so it's perfect if entertaining gluten-free guests as everyone can enjoy these little cakes together. I love recipes that fit particular dietary requirements without having to be adapted.

The candied orange peel isn't essential but is simple to make and looks so pretty. It also adds a nice little crunch. The method for the candied zest makes more than you'll need for these cakes but keeps well in the pantry for a few months, ready for when the urge to make these delightful little cakes strikes again.

For eight little cakes...

1 thin-skinned navel orange

2 eggs

125g caster sugar

100g ground hazelnuts

25g cocoa

1/2 generous tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

Place the orange in a pot of water and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for one until (until tender). Drain and leave to cool. (I try and do this the night before.)

Once the orange is cool, slice into quarters, remove any large pips and the "navel" and place in the food processor bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and run until just combined. You want the mixture to be flecked with pureed orange.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease 8 cups of a muffin tray. Place a small circle of baking paper in the base of each muffin cup (it's worth taking the time to do this to avoid the inevitable heartache when it's time to remove the little cakes from the tin).

Fill each muffin cup, just to the top and place the tray in the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes. A skewer should come out almost clean when inserted into the centre of a little cake.

Leave to cool completely in the tins then carefully remove and place, inverted, on a cooling rack.

If you'd like to make you cakes extra-special make candied orange zest while the cakes are baking. A citrus zester makes life easy but if you don't have a zester, peel the skin finely leaving the white pith on the orange and slice into very thin strips.

For candied orange zest...

Zest of one orange

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 caster sugar (extra)

Place the orange zest in a small sauce pan, cover with boiling water, bring back to the boil then drain. Place the zest back in the pan and repeat twice.

Return the zest to the pan and add the water and the first measure of sugar. Bring up to a gently simmer and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain the zest and discard the syrup. Place the second measure of syrup into a shallow bowl and tip in the zest. Shake to coat and then discard the excess sugar. Any unused candied zest will keep for a couple of months in the pantry in an airtight container.

Now make the ganache.

Chocolate ganache...

100g good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped (I love Whittakers Ghana dark 72%)

100ml cream

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until almost boiling. Remove from heat and add the finely chopped chocolate. Leave to sit for two to three minutes. Stir gently until the cream and chocolate are just combined. Don't overmix or your ganache may split, leaving you with an oily mess that can't be saved. Leave to cool for 20-30 minutes to thicken.

Once the ganache is cool, spoon over a generous amount of ganache - you want it to run down the side a little. Decorate with a few sprinkle of candied orange zest.

Serve with a spoonful of softly whipped cream.

Thursday baking - lemon yoghurt cake with orange blossom

This weeks Thursday baking is brought to us by Jessica:

This cake didn't initially leap out at me from the book. I don't think 'Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Orange Blossom' as a title really does it justice when it is packed full of such interesting flavours and textures. If I was coming up with a name for it, I'd call it something more evocative like 'Middle Eastern syrup cake', because of the distinctive use of pistachios, semolina and orange blossom water in the flavouring. I was eventually drawn to it because Susan Fleischl described it as a 'great dinner party cake', which appealed when I was looking for something to make for my Book Club- a slightly special desert cake which would still be nice the next day or so. The lemon flavour really isn't that pronounced, so I'm glad I included some orange zest in both the cake and syrup. I might even include some more if I was making it again. The cake has a pleasantly 'grainy' texture, which doesn't really sound that pleasant, but you'll have to believe me that it is. It's very moist and crumbly and refrigerates well.

Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Orange Blossom Susan Fleischl

Cake
250g butter, softened
250g caster sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
zest of 1 lemon (I also used the zest of an orange)
150ml yoghurt
250g semolina
2 tsp baking powder
200g shelled raw pistachios, ground in a food processor

Syrup
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
few drops of orange blossom water

To serve
mascarpone icing sugar (I stirred the icing sugar into the mascarpone rather than dusting the cake with it)

Preheat the oven to 165C. Grease a 22cm round cake tin and line it with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, with the zest and yoghurt and slowly beat together. Sift the semolina with the baking powder and gently fold into the mixture with the pistachio nuts. Bake for 40-50 minutes (it took an hour for me for the cake to cook) Leave to cool in the tin.To make the syrup, boil the first three ingredients together for 1 minute. I also added some lemon and orange zest. Remove from the heat and stir in a few drops of orange blossom water to taste (be careful, it has a strong flavour and can end up tasting like soap if you use too much!).Remove the cake from the tin and place on a plate. Pour the hot syrup over the cool cake and leave it to soak in. Dust with icing sugar, if desired, and serve with mascarpone. This cake will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container but is best eaten on the day it is made.

chocolate and orange

I love chocolate and orange together, and often make a delicious cake using these ingredients, but for some reason had never thought to combine them in a cookie. One of the girls brought a freshly baked batch of these cookies to playgroup recently, and we all loved them. Soft and cakey* with an intense orange flavour and huge chunks of dark chocolate. The first time I made them however they turned out totally different, and were crispy* and shortbready like the condensed milk style chocolate chippie recipe. Nice in their own way but not the result I was after. I quizzed Sarah and found out her secret...she uses olive oil spread in her baking instead of butter. The batch today was perfect.

*for a comprehensive analysis of the different cookie 'camps' have a look at this post on Nessie's blog! Depending on mood I fluctuate between all three cookie camps...crispy, cakey and chewy.

orange chocolate chunk cookies

200g olive oil spread - need at least 65% fat content so avoid the 'light' versions (or sub for butter if you prefer crispy cookies...)

1/2 c brown sugar

2 c self-raising flour

zest of 2 oranges, finely grated

juice of 1-2 oranges
200g dark chocolate, cut into chunks

Beat the olive oil spread and brown sugar till creamy. Mix in the flour and orange zest, and enough juice to make a soft dough, more or less won't hurt. Finally stir in the chocolate. Roll into balls and place on a lined baking tray, flatten slightly. They don't spread too much, puffing up more instead. Bake for 2o minutes or so at 180 c until golden.

the MOST delicious cake

This Chocolate, Orange and Almond cake is one of my new found favourites. The recipe was emailed to me last year by my friend Anna, who had enjoyed it at a work morning tea courtesy of a colleague. I was impressed by her rave review, and baked the cake that very evening. I then forwarded the recipe to Libby who did the same, so within a few days the cake was enjoyed in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch! Since then it has been made many times and has found a place in all our baking repertoires.

It is a variation on the ever popular flourless Orange and Almond cake, that those adhering to a gluten free diet are probably sick of the sight of...however the addition of some dutch cocoa and a layer of dark chocolate ganache take this recipe to new heights. It is moist, light and nutty, rich but not too sweet, as it contains whole oranges. This is the sort of cake that makes the kitchen, and indeed the whole house smell utterly delicious while it bakes. It is incredibly easy to make, being blended up in the food processor; the only forethought required is the precooking of the oranges. Often I will boil two extra oranges, puree them and freeze to use the next time I make this cake.

Everyone who tries it seems to love it, and will probably ask you for the recipe. The recipe is from Nigella Lawson.

Chocolate, Orange & Almond Cake

2 oranges (thin skinned)
6 eggs
200g ground almonds
250g castor sugar
50g dutch cocoa
1 tsp (heaped) baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Put the whole oranges in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for around 2 hours or until soft. Cut into quarters, and blend (skin, pulp, pith and all) to a fine pulp in the food processor. Add the eggs, followed by the remaining ingredients. (I like to roast whole almonds and blitz them in the food processor, I think the texture is much nicer and nuttier this way than using preground almonds.)

Pour cake batter into a 25cm cake tin that has the base lined with baking paper, and bake at 180c for around 45 minutes. Cool in the tin, then pour over chocolate ganache. This is quickly made by heating 150ml of cream in the microwave until nearly boiling, then adding 150g chopped dark chocolate, stir to combine until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Leave ganache to cool a little, so it will thicken slightly and be easier to pour or spread over the cake.