Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Orange and Hazelnut Cake with Chilli-Chocolate Chunks

This was a quick bake at the end of a busy day, when I thought I wouldn't have time to bake at all. I was just using ingredients that I could find in the storecupboard, which is starting to look woefully inadequate everytime I have to rely on it! Some spending will soon be needed!

It's another adaptation of the basic yogurt and oil cake, which once upon a long time ago was originally a Lemon Cake from Ina Garten. It doesn't look much like it now, as I have reduced the liquid in the recipe, and think that low-fat yogurt gives a better result, but I have to acknowledge the inspiration - I'm not clever enough to think up recipes with no help from the professionals.

So, for this cake I weighed 200g of plain flour and 200g caster sugar into a bowl, and added 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and the zest of 1 large orange. In another bowl I whisked together 250g natural low-fat yogurt, 110g sunflower oil, 3 large eggs and a teaspoon of orange extract. I mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, until just combined, then folded in 50g of chopped toasted hazelnuts and 100g of chocolate flavoured with chilli. The batter was put into an 8" round tin, lined with baking parchment, and baked at 180C for 50 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean). The good thing about this cake is that it is really quick to put together - I can have the cake in the oven within 15 minutes of deciding what to flavour it with!

The orange flavour was really fresh after the rich chocolate desserts of Easter, the hazelnuts gave a nice crunch, and there was just the barest hint of warmth from the chilli-chocolate.

4 comments:

Kate@whatkatebaked said...

I really, really, really must try these recipes inspired by Ina! Each one works out so well for you Suelle - and this latest is no exception!

Baking Addict said...

This looks delicious! I love quick easy bakes like this and the flavour variations are endless. Thanks for sharing!

Phil in the Kitchen said...

Lovely combination of flavours - some of my favourite things all joined together here.

Janet Rudolph @ DyingforChocolate said...

Fabulous combination of flavors. Looking forward to trying this