In the kitchen with Alice: Chocolate orange cake

We've had more extreme weather so we've been doing some more baking (you'll see the snow in the background of some of the pics). This time it was chocolate orange cake – one of my favourites – from Nigella Lawson's Feast (an adaptation of the clementine cake from How to Cook which, in turn, is an Italian recipe from Anna del Conte I believe). It's a doddle to make and an easy option with a youngster, although probably a bit too adult for their taste due to its plain appearance and lack of obvious sweetness. It's great to serve plain or with some crème fraïche or Greek yoghurt. At my mother's 60th birthday dinner party we had it with whipped cream flavoured with a generous splash of Grand Marnier. Yummy!

whole oranges approx 375g total weight
6 eggs, beaten
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
half a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (I used baking powder instead)
200g ground almonds
250g caster sugar
50g cocoa

Firstly, cook the whole oranges in a saucepan with water until soft (this takes a couple of hours). Drain, remove any large pips and, with a hand blender, liquidise the whole lot (pith, peel etc) to make a purée. Grease and line a 20cm springform tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Put the cooled fruit purée in a large mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. I place the bowl on some flat, digital scales which simplifies things.

With a wooden spoon, mix everything together thoroughly until you have a thick, glossy batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and level it off. Bake for about an hour (check after 45 minutes) until a skewer comes out clean. If you have a particularly hot (or fan) oven, after you've checked it, it's worth covering the cake with foil to stop it burning.

Leave it to cool in the tin before turning it out onto a cooling rack. We leave the cake on a plate in the fridge, covered in foil, where it keeps brilliantly for a week or so, staying beautifully moist.