Choc-orange liqueur cake

Serves:

Ingredients

• 100g good quality dark chocolate
• 125g butter, softened
• 1 cup caster sugar
• Zest of 1 orange, finely chopped
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups almond meal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons coffee liqueur (e.g. Kahlua, Tia Maria)
• 2 tablespoons orange liqueur (e.g. Cointreau, Grand Marnier)
• Drinking chocolate or cocoa, to dust

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm square cake tin and line with baking paper.

Melt chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water or in the microwave (medium heat, about 2 minutes) and cool to room temperature.

Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the orange rind and then the eggs one at a time, beating well between adding each egg. Add the almond meal and baking powder and mix until just combined.

Transfer half the mixture to the bowl with the melted chocolate; add coffee liqueur and mix well to combine.

Stir the orange liqueur into the remaining mixture.

Drop spoonfuls of mixture into the cake pan. Swirl knife through the mixture once or twice (donåÕt over do it).

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

When the cake is cold dust with drinking chocolate or cocoa.

Notes:

• This is a marble cake for grown-ups – two liqueurs! Wonderful with coffee.
• If I feel in need of a real chocolate fix, I top the cake with a decadent chocolate ganache.
• Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.

Serving Suggestions

Note