It’s marmalade time of year! The bitter Seville oranges for authentic marmalade are only in the shops for a few weeks in January and February. I have been busy making marmalade, around 18 pots so far. While browsing through How to be a Domestic Goddess (Nigella Lawson, 2000) I came across this recipe which I haven’t made for a while. I needed a cake for a busy weekend of entertaining, and this is quick and easy. It uses marmalade for flavour and moistness. Confession: I didn’t use my own marmalade! Why? Because home made marmalade is too precious for baking, and must be preserved (geddit?!) for toast and croissants, muffins and crumpets. Also because I happened to see marmalade with ginger in the supermarket, and I’m carrying on my recent theme of ginger. Chocolate, orange and ginger – a good combination I think.





I really like this book, the recipes are great, and Nigella’s style of writing is readable and informative. I especially like her suggestions for variations. I haven’t tried her recommendations of substituting the marmalade for raspberry or apricot jam, but they do sound good. I also read a version online that used dark chocolate with orange instead of plain dark chocolate.

It’s an easy cake to make, most ingredients are melted together and then the eggs, and finally the flour mixed in. It makes a moist cake full of flavour. The ginger taste was quite subtle.


So, I would highly recommend this cake if you are looking for a proper chocolate cake with a little extra something (ie flavour!). Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for reading!
One thought on “Nigella’s Chocolate Orange Cake”