Heading into the Christmas week saw me bake cakes for the men and women working on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic.

I wanted to add extra flavour and extra love into each cake. So this resulted in me adding real orange juice to my sponge. This recipe is a variation of one I post a while ago.

I’ve sweetened it with honey and maple syrup, making this a no-added sugar sponge. I also used decaf coffee in my cake for a rich, moorish feel. I dearly wanted to add some Brandy but maybe I’ll do it the next time I make this.

Ingredients

2 cups Eureka Mills brown flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

2 tsp coffee (instant)

225 g butter (salted is perfect)

3/4 cups cocoa

2 eggs

1/2 cup yoghurt (plain)

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 tbsp honey

zest of 3 oranges

3/4 cup juice of 3 oranges

1/4 cup boiling water (omit the water if your juice turns out to be 1 cup)

8 blocks of good quality dark Lindt chocolate.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Line a bundt tin with spray and cook (nothing else).

3. In a large saucepan, melt butter and add orange juice, cocoa and coffee to the mix. Once it starts to boil, take it off the heat and set it aside to cool.

4. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, bicarb, and salt together with a whisk.

5. In another smaller bowl, whisk together yoghurt, eggs, honey, maple syrup and 3/4 of your orange zest.

6. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the hot chocolate mixture in there. With a spatula, fold the ingredients together slowly.

7. When it’s just about combined, add boiling water and then your egg mixture. Stir well and make sure there are no lumps.

8. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 50 minutes.

9. When the cake is completely cool, melt the chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute. Mix and drizzle over your cake. Dust with leftover orange zest.