Chocolate orange cake (Dairy and gluten free)

I have braved making a cake in my new oven (well not NEW new, I just moved flat)! A different oven is a mystery of a thing, is it a 'hot' oven, a 'cold' oven, is there hot spots? As well as this I had to get used to a gas main oven as opposed to electric.

I have worked out that it is cool oven, I actually prefer this to my old 'hot' oven that used to really brown the edges of my cakes!It has a little hot spot but not as bad as my last oven, so now my cakes rise ever so slightly unevenly as opposed to completely uneven So all in all a bonus.

This cake tastes like a terry's chocolate orange in cake form, really it does. The frosting is amazing I could literally eat it straight from the bowl forgoing the cake BUT if I did that I would miss out on cake so I managed to restrain myself.

I have made this cake completely dairy and gluten free, obviously if you do not have these requirements you could use butter and regular flour and leave out the xantham gum.

Chocolate orange cake

3 eggs, weighed with shells, room temperature
Same weight of dairy free spread (I use Pure)
Same weight of sugar

Tsp vanilla paste

zest and juice of one orangeSame weight of gluten free plain flour minus 30g

30g cocoa powder2 Tsp gluten free baking powder baking powder

1/2 tsp xantham gum

100g dairy free spread

zest of one orange

30g cocoa powder

200g icing sugar

1 tbsp Boiling water

Grease and line the base of two  20cm cake tins, if like me you do not have two make the cakes in batches. Preheat the oven to 160C/140C FAN or Gas mark 3.


Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy then beat in the vanilla, orange zest and eggs for a further minute. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and xantham gum and beat until just combined. Do not overbeat


Divide the mixture equally between the tins and bake for. 25-30 mutes until springy.
Leave to cool in the tins for 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cakes are cool sandwich them together with the frosting, method below.

To make the frosting melt the butter in pan over a gentle heat then add in the orange zest, add the cocoa powder and cook for 1 minute whilst stirring. remove from the heat and beat in the icing sugar, it will look terrible, like it has split, never fear, add in a tablespoon of boiling water and beat well,  the frosting should now be thick  and smooth, with no sign of splitting, add a tiny touch more water if you feel it necessary. 

Rose lemonade marshmallows

I am a bad blogger. First I chose to do a PhD and had to write a thesis, when you spend all day writing you DO NOT want to write a blog post. Then I had to organise moving house. Then I got told by the doctor no dairy OR gluten. Then I moved house, and still have no internet.

Well I am now just doing corrections on my thesis so I am happy to write blog posts again. I am all moved (hurrah), still no internet but starbucks has come to the rescue with free wifi. The dairy and gluten thing can be tricky when out and about but actually with a few tweaks baking is absolutely fine, and I actually quite like the challenge of making delicious cakes that do not make me sick and that nobody else can tell are free from dairy and gluten.

As an aside my mum is amazing, she loves baking, I think I get that gene from Her, and when I was down last weekend she made an amazing lime and coconut cake, dairy and gluten free, Thanks mum!

I present today some rose lemonade marshmallows. The letter for alpha bakes this month was R and I realised yesterday this was due... oops.

I decided to use rose as I do like it but find some things made with rose are a tad overpowering. I have previously made champagne marshmallows and decided to adapt the recipe. My idea was to mix rose cordial with lemonade and use in place of the champagne. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across the is rose lemonade by Fetimans in Waitrose. My mixing was already done for me! By the way, I drank the extra, its delicious.

This recipe makes oodles and oodles but they will keep well in an airtight container. I love packaging them up in cute bags and tying with pretty ribbon to give away as gifts!

Rose lemonade marshmallows

3 sachets gelatine
250ml rose lemonade
340g caster sugar
325g golden syrup
Pink gel colouring
30g icing sugar
30g corn flour

Combine the icing sugar and corn flour in a bowl. Lightly oil a 13 by 9 inch pan (I used my brownie tin) and thoroughly coat in ~ 1/2 the icing sugar mix, reserving the rest.

Put the gelatine into the bowl of a free standing mixer. Add 125ml of the rose lemonade and allow to soften.

Meanwhile put the sugar, golden syrup and remaining rose lemonade into a heavy bottomed saucepan. Warm over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to medium/high and cook until the syrup reaches 240F on a sugar thermometer.

Remove from the heat and immediately start the mixer on slow. Carefully pour the hot syrup down the side of the bowl onto the gelatine.

Increase the speed of the mixer and beat for 12 minutes. Add a little colouring (a little goes a long way!) and beat for a further couple of minutes.

Scoop the sticky mass into the prepared pan, smooth over and sprinkle with the remaining icing sugar mix.  Leave for a least 4 hours or overnight then cut into squares.

More blog posts are on the way.. I am going to bake my first cake in the new oven this afternoon... wish me luck!