Store Cupboard Chocolate Orange Cake

I made this fabulous cake for Rach’s birthday. It comes from Nigella’s ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess’, a book I have been trying out a lot lately, the recipes are all great & usually pretty simple too, I have bookmarked heaps to try out. The theory behind this one is that it can be whipped up in 5 minutes using things you already have in your cupboards or if not then the corner store, this may be a little more true for Brits as I don’t know if every cupboard or corner store in Melbourne stocks marmalade, luckily I had a nice jar of tangelo marmalade sitting in my pantry just begging to be put to use. My cake turned out a little thin as I used a bigger tin than the 20cm specified, no problems other than the thickness & the cooking time didn’t change. The cake is beautifully moist & chewy (in a good way) thanks to the sticky marmalade & of course the flavours are amazing, choc orange always works doesn’t it? Suggested variations are for any jam of your choice, raspberry, apricot, prune puree or I think cherry would work really well here too.

Store Cupboard Chocolate Orange Cake

125g unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
300g good, thin cut marmalade
150g caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, beaten
150g self raising flour
20cm springform tin, buttered & floured

Preheat the oven to 180c. Put the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan & put over a low heat to melt. When it’s nearly completely melted, stir in the chocolate. Leave for a moment to begin softening, then take the pan off the heat & stir with a wooden spoon until the butter & chocolate are smooth & melted. Now add the marmalade, sugar, salt & eggs. Stir with your wooden spoon & when it’s all pretty well amalgamated, beat in the flour bit by bit. Put into your prepared tin & bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester or skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out.

You can eat this warm with perhaps some crème fraiche or double cream or even ice cream would go beautifully. It tastes just as good cold.

over the top. Serves 4.

Breakfast Bars

This morning, still on my healthy breakfast thing I made up a batch of muesli bars from Marie Claire’s Luscious. Very easy to prepare, the flavor was delicious though mine had a bit of trouble keeping form when cut, they did keep their shape though they were very delicate & the edges crumbled, think maybe they needed to cook just that bit longer than the 30 minutes I allowed. Anyway this will be something nice Michael & I can take along to work this week.

Breakfast Bars

150g butter
175g (1/2 cup) honey
200g (2 cups) rolled oats
60g (1 cup) shredded coconut
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
200g (3/4 cup) pitted prunes, chopped
100g (2/3 cup) dried peaches, chopped
75g (1/2 cup) currants
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 170c. Line a 23 x 32 cm sandwich tin with baking paper.

Put the butter & honey in a small pan over medium heat & stir until butter has melted.

Toss the oats, coconut, baking powder & sesame seeds together in a large bowl. Add the prunes, peaches & currants & mix well. Add the warm honey mixture & eggs & stir to combine, then spoon evenly into cake tin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the mixture is cooked through & the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven & allow to cool in the pan before cutting into 12 bars.

Spiced Apple & Prune Muffins

For brekky today I whipped up these surprisingly tasty & healthy muffins. I have never made any type of cakey thing with prunes before so was surprised at how sweet they tasted in these little gems. The recipe was a reader’s that I snipped out of a mag a while back

Spiced Apple & Prune Muffins

¾ cup wholemeal self raising flour
¾ cup plain flour
1 teaspoon ground allspice
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup chopped pitted prunes
140g tub apple puree
120g butter, melted
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 180c. Spray a 12 x ¾ cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

Sift flours & allspice together in a bowl. Stir in the sugar & prunes. Make a well in the centre.

Combine remaining ingredients in a jug. Gradually fold into the dry ingredients, until just combined.

Spoon into the prepared pan & bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked when tested with a skewer. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.