Easter requires a chocolate fix but if cloying eggs are not your first choice try Philippa Davis' chocolate, ginger and orange Easter cake
Consume cocoa this Easter without succumbing to yet another chocolate egg. Philippa Davis’ chocolate, ginger and orange Easter cake is the perfect alternative, and a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Loaded with chocolate and perfectly moist, serve it as your Easter Sunday centrepiece.
If you would rather abandon chocolate altogether this Easter bank holiday weekend, try basque cake with Easter spices. Supremely squidgy, it is the perfect teatime treat.
CHOCOLATE, GINGER AND ORANGE EASTER CAKE
Perfectly moist and loaded with chocolate, this is a great party piece. But be warned: it’s super rich so serve in small slices.
Serves 10
- 24cm/12 cup/9½in wide Bundt tin
Tin prep
- 1 tbsp soft butter
- 2 tsp coco powder mixed with
- 2 tsp icing sugar
Cake batter
- 180g soft butter
- 380g soft brown sugar
- 200ml buttermilk
- 5 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 oranges, zest only
- 2 tbsp ginger cordial
- 200g plain flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 75g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 170g 70% chocolate, in small pieces
- 170ml just-boiled water
Icing
- 100g icing sugar
- 50g butter
- 50g melted chocolate
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 15ml-30ml whole milk
To decorate
- A generous selection of chocolate, which could include chocolate bars, eggs and biscuits.
This cake is super rich, so only divvy up in small slices.
To make this chocolate, ginger and orange Easter cake, first preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas Mark 3.
Grease the tin with the butter then dust with the icing sugar/cocoa powder mix.
To make the batter, whisk the butter and brown sugar in a mixer until pale and fluffy (five minutes).
In one bowl whisk the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, orange zest and cordial together. In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and ground ginger.
Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and pour on the boiled water; whisk until melted.
In two stages add the egg, flour and chocolate mixes into the creamed butter, whisking so only just combined. Pour into the tin and bake for one hour or until a cake skewer comes out clean.
Cool completely on a cake rack.
For the icing, place everything in a food processor apart from the milk and blitz thoroughly. Pour in enough milk to make it icing consistency.
Pour the icing onto the cake and pile on as many treats as you fancy to decorate.