Chocolate and orange bundt cakes

I am ridiculously pleased with an early Christmas present from my parents. A Nordicware bundt pan.

I made vanilla bundt cakes immediately but today was time for a bundt cake that can be shared with We Should Cocoa, this month hosted by Choclette.  She chose orange for this month’s challenge and I love the combination of chocolate and orange.

The chocolate bundt cakes have orange zest and juice added and are beautiful drizzled with the orange flavoured icing. Delicious.

110g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons of yoghurt ( I use Total 2%)
Zest of a large orange
Juice of half a large orange

For the icing
75g icing sugar
juice of half a large orange

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°c, gas mark 4 or use the Baking Oven of the Aga. Butter or oil the bundt pan.  Although, I did run a test on mine and the non stick coating worked a treat without greasing beforehand.

Making sure that the butter is really soft (I left mine out of the fridge for two days and it still wasn’t soft enough – a testament to our chilly kitchen), place all of the ingredients into a large bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until you have a smooth batter.

Pour a teaspoon of the batter into each hole of the bundt pan and place in the oven. Cook for about twenty minutes until they look cooked and if you lightly touch them the cake will spring back.

Leave them in the tin for a few minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the icing by mixing the icing sugar with the orange juice.  If you think it’s too runny then add a little more icing sugar as it will depend on the juiciness of your orange.

Place the little cakes on a serving plate and drizzle with the icing.

You could make this in a large bundt pan, in which case you will need to double the recipe and cook for about 45 minutes. Test the cake with a skewer which should come out clean after being pushed to the centre of the cake.