I've made this cake twice now. The first time we had no electric mixer so I stirred it as much as I could by hand. It came our rather flat and we ended up cutting it into brownie shaped pieces. Last night I mixed it in our new food processor and it came out much more 'cake-like'. Both were delicious.
I haven't got the hang of juicing and grating the rind of the same orange yet. Last time I juiced it first and then found it difficult to hold it to grate the rind. Last night I grated it first, but when I came to juice it the orange just fell apart. All suggestions welcome!
Ingredients
Orange - 1, juiced and rind finely grated
Raisins - 100g
Blanched almonds - 55g
Dark/plain chocolate (at least 50% cocoa solids) - 100g, broken up
Butter - 175g, chopped into pieces
Eggs - 4 large, beaten
Caster sugar - 100g
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Ground almonds - 55g
Plain flour - 55g
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Methods
1) Soak the raisins in the orange juice in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
2) Melt the butter and chocolate together in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Leave to cool.
3) Meanwhile, chop and lightly toast the blanched almonds in a frying pan, taking care not to burn.
4) Preheat the oven to 180°C. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence together in an electric mixer for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
5) Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture.
6) Sift the flour, ground almonds and baking powder into a large bowl. Fold in the egg, sugar and chocolate mixture. Drain the raisins of any remaining orange juice and add to the mixture with the orange rind and chopped almonds. Stir well.
7) Spoon into a greased 8 inch round cake tin (the recipe says 10 inch, but I found it turned out a bit too thin) and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.
8) Dust with icing sugar and serve with a couple of strawberries on the side. Serves 6-8.
