So, the second of my cakes from yesterday and alas this one is a bit of a sad story. I mentioned yesterday about listening to your cakes – when you’re baking, a quick and easy way to tell if your cake is finished cooking is to listen to it. Put your ear to your cake and if it’s not quite ready you’ll be able to hear little bubbles popping and you should put your cake back in the oven. A done cake should be silent. Well! I pulled this loaf out after 40 minutes and it was still bubbling so I put it back in for five minutes and pulled it out without listening. Had I done that, I’d have realised that the centre was completely raw and that my cake would collapse as soon as it started cooling. Sigh.

Anyway, the parts of the cake that were cooked were out of this world but this is a cake I’d definitely recommend being careful with.

To make it yourself, you will need:

140g butter , softened
200g self-raising flour
1½ tsps baking powder
200g light brown sugar
3 large eggs
6 tbsp milk
finely grated zest 1 large orange

For the topping
3tbsp juice from your zested orange
50g golden caster sugar
50g dark chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180C/Gas 4. Grease and line the base of a 1.2l (2pint) loaf tin. Put all the cake ingredients into a bowl and beat with a hand whisk or wooden spoon for 3-5 mins until light and fluffy. Spoon the mixture into the tin and level the top.

Bake for 40-50 mins until golden brown and firm to the touch. Meanwhile, heat the orange juice and sugar gently in a small pan, stirring until dissolved. When the cake is cooked, remove it from the oven and spoon over the orange mix. Leave to cool in the tin, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack. I usually mark holes in the top of this cake the way I would with lemon drizzle cake, using a skewer.

Break up the chocolate and melt. Drizzle over the cake and leave to set.

Posted under baking