Old Fashioned Chocolate (Orange) Cake

Our answer

It is often possible to tweak recipes to suit your own taste and adding something like an orange element to Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake (from Feast) is possible without upsetting the underlying chemistry of the cake. How much orange you would like to add to the cake is a matter of personal preference and we have not tested a chocolate orange version but we would guess that adding the finely grated zest of 2 large oranges to the cake batter will give a subtle orange note.

It helsp to mix the zest and sugar together before making the cake, as this helps to release the essentail oils in the orange zest. If you are making the cake in a food processor then pulse the zest and sugar together 5 to 6 times before adding the rest of the ingredients. If you are making the cake in a mixer then put the zest and sugar in a bowl and rub the sugar and zest together with your fingers for 2 to 3 minutes, before adding the flour and leavening.

You can also buy good quality orange extract (not orange flavouring) in some supermarkest and you could add this to boost the orange flavour of the cake, though do so carefully as extracts can be quite powerful. You could also use extract in the icing, but again proceed with caution and stir in a couple of drops at time to the icing mixture, until you are happy with the flavour.

If you like the combination of chocolate and orange then we would also suggest trying Nigella's Chocolate Orange Cake (also from Feast).