chocolate orange miniature loaves (Nigella Lawson) 迷你香橙巧克力蛋糕

whenever i am in town, i make it a point to bake for the church… i haven’t managed to feed all the mouths, but i think i am doing as best as i can (－ｏ⌒) …it’s difficult to make bread for they are usually hardened slightly by the following day (in Beijing) ~ plus, i really like to serve my bread fresh and warm…  so when Zoe told me that this was truly one of her favourites among her bakes, i knew i had to give it a go (๑>ᴗ<๑)

Recipe adapted from Bake for Happy Kids 

Ingredients (serves 10 – 12)
* Zoe’s modifications in green

160g soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
a dab flavorless vegetable oil, for greasing syrup spoon
2 tbsp golden syrup or dark corn syrup – (I used golden syrup)
1 cup dark brown sugar – (I used 60g dark muscovado sugar for half of the recipe)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda – (replaced with baking powder)
3 tbsp best-quality unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted – (I used 10g Valrhona Dutch processed ones for half of the recipe)
2 eggs
zest of 2 regular orange and juice of 1 (1/3 cup)
My extra addition: 40g chopped Callebaut dark chocolate with 55% cocoa for half of the recipe 

Directions

– 1x 2-pound loaf pan or sixteen 2.5 cm x 7.5 cm miniature loaf pans
– Preheat the oven to 325°F or 150°C fan forced and line your loaf pan with parchment paper and grease the sides, or line with a paper loaf-pan liner. – I didn’t line my loaf pans as they are made of non-stick silicon
– Beat the already soft butter with the syrup – if you dab a little oil on your tablespoon measure with a sheet of paper towel, the syrup shouldn’t stick to the spoon – and the sugar until you have a fairly smooth caffe Americano cream, though the sugar will have a bit of grit about it
– Mix the flour, baking soda (or baking powder), and cocoa powder together, and beat into the syrup mixture 1 tbsp of these dry ingredients before beating in 1 egg. Then add another couple of spoonfuls of the dry ingredients before beating in the second egg 
– Carry on beating in the remaining dry ingredients and then add, still beating, the orange zest and finally, gradually, the juice. At this stage, the batter may suddenly look dimpled, as if slightly curdled. No need to panic!
– Stir in chopped chocolate if you wish. Pour and scrape into the prepared pan and bake for 45 mins (or 20 mins for smaller loaves), though check 5 mins before and be prepared to keep it in the oven 5 mins longer if need be. A cake tester won’t come out entirely clean, as the point of this cake, light though it may be, is to have just a hint of inner stickiness. Let cool a little in its pan on a wire rack, then turn out with care and leave on the rack to cool
– Note: Using half of the recipe, I have baked eight 2.5 cm x 7.5 cm miniature loaves at or 150°C fan forced for 20 mins

Personal notes:

– i followed the original recipe, except that i used 120g organic coconut sugar and adapted Zoe’s idea of adding in chopped chocolate (which i highly recommend о(ж＞▽＜)ｙ ☆)
– baked cuppies were decorated with melted dark chocolate, walnut, chopped pistachio and dried candied orange slices

thanks Zoe for your recommendation… this is indeed a wonderful recipe ヾ(＠† ▽ †＠）ノ

I am linking this post to Little Thumbs Up event organised by Bake for Happy Kids, My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal

and also linking this post to Cook Like A Star organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, co hosting with Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Mich of Piece of Cake