This chocolate cake recipe is one I have been making since I was young. Keeping chickens meant we had an abundance of eggs some months, and then no eggs other months. They were a rare breed of chicken, and made lovely pets, but were not the best layers. So the months without eggs far exceeded the months having them. This meant that when it came to what cake to bake, it was often an eggless one. And usually this chocolate cake.So not only is it full of memories for me, but it is a very easy chocolate cake to make: melt the milk and butter, mix the dry ingredients, and then stir to combine.
And one more great thing about this cake: it keeps well. On the day of baking you get a little crispy crust, the days following it softens, without drying out.
I have slightly altered the cake through the years, and this is what I consider my best chocolate cake: sprinkled with dark chocolate chunks and topped with an orange drizzle.
If you want a plain chocolate cake, then just leave out the chocolate chunks, it still is a great cake to have with a cup of tea or coffee.
Substitute for Self Raising Flour:
As it is an older English recipe, it uses self raising flour. If you don’t have any self raising flour, then use the same amount of plain flour, and add a tsp baking powder to the cocoa/flour bowl.
Make it your egg free chocolate cake:
No orange: add the chocolate chunks but leave out the orange peel and the drizzle.
No dark chocolate: leave out completely, or use milk chocolate. The cake will be slightly sweeter if you do.
Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake
Ingredients
- 140 g SR flour
- Pinch salt
- 1.5 tbsp Cocoa Powder
- 85 g Granulated Sugar
- Zest of 1 Orange
- 55 g Margarine
- 1.5 tbsp Treacle
- 140 ml Milk
- ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- ½ tsp Vanilla Essence
- 40 g Dark Chocolate 70%, roughly chopped
- Syrup:
- 20 g Granulated Sugar
- Juice of 1 orange
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F
- Line a 23 x 13cm loaf tin with baking parchment. *
- Mix the flour, salt, cocoa powder, sugar and orange zest together.
- In a small saucepan over a medium heat, melt the margarine, treacle and milk. Once melted, add the bicarbonate of soda and the vanilla essence.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and mix well.
- Spoon into the prepared loaf tin, sprinkle with the chocolate chunks, and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Once the cake is out of the oven, make the syrup: place the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.
- Prick the warm cake all over with a skewer or fork, and then pour over the drizzle. Leave in tin until completely cool, then remove and serve.
- Will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days, or freeze for up to one month.
Notes
- You can also bake it in a 15cm x 8.5cm tin (as in the photo). This makes a taller cake. You can use 25g chocolate rather than 40g to top the cake. It takes the same amount of time to cook.
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