Orange and Walnut Cake with Dark Chocolate Chips

A sensible person would bite the bullet and accept that some days, cake just isn't going to happen. That, on days when you read baking soda as baking powder, set the oven to the wrong temperature, grease the wrong pan and drop egg shells into your cake batter, it's time to abandon all ideas of baking, curl up on the sofa with a big mug of Spiced Caramel Milk, set your eyes toward the TV and zone out on Mad Men.

I may not be sensible, but I do have cake.



Orange and Walnut Cake with Dark Chocolate Chips
adapted from Annabel Langbein's Simple Pleasures

For the Cake:
1 orange, unpeeled
1 teaspoon baking soda
125g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
Pinch salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For the Frosting:
2 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
Finely grated zest of an orange
1-2 tablespoons orange juice

Make the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 160C (fan forced). Grease and line a 20cm round springform pan with baking paper. Set aside.

Cut the orange into large chunks, remove the seeds and blitz in a blender until smooth.

Dissolve the baking soda in 1/2 cup water and pour it into a food processor with the orange puree, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, vanilla and flour. Blitz until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Frosting:
Put the butter, icing sugar and zest into a bowl and beat until smooth. Add enough orange juice to give you a spreadable consistency. Spread over the top of the cooled cake.