Chocolate & Cinnamon Swirl Cake
I made this cake last weekend for my Mum’s 71st birthday and I am SO glad I wrote down the ingredients as I made it because this cake is the BOMB. It’s sweet, chocolate-y and spicy with a coffee punch and is so deliciously moist and indulgent. I hope you love it as much as I do!
Chocolate & Cinnamon Swirl Cake
Serves 8
Ingredients
125g butter
150g caster sugar
100g brown sugar
3 eggs
300g flour
2 Tbsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
1 Tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 Tbsp hot water
1/4 cup cocoa powder
For the icing
350g milk chocolate
40g butter
2 Tbsp cream cheese
1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 Tbsp boiling water
1/4 cup icing sugar
Thickened cream (to serve)
For the topping
1 cup hazelnuts
Dried orange slices (you could also use freshly grated orange rind)
Method
Preheat your oven to 180˚C. Line a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides of the tin with a little butter. Take the cream cheese out of the fridge and allow it to warm to room temperature.
Cream the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar in an electric mixer then add the eggs and continue mixing until combined.
In a small bowl, mix together the flour, ginger and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the creamed butter, followed by the milk and yogurt, followed by the remaining half of the flour mix.
Spread a little over half the cake mixture into the cake tin. Add the instant coffee and cocoa powder to the remaining cake mix and mix well.
Tip the cocoa and coffee cake mix onto of the plain cake mix. Using a bread knife, swirl the chocolate mix and the plain mix together until the colours just start to combine (make sure to avoid over-mixing - you want pretty swirls and you don’t want the mixes to blend together).
Put the cake into the oven and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean (I recommend checking on the cake after 1 hour to see if it is ready). Once done, remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes while you make the icing.
While the cake cooks, make your chocolate icing. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave, heating it for only about 10 seconds at a time and stirring in between to make sure it melts evenly. Take care not to over-heat your chocolate as it can ruin the consistency. As soon as it is entirely melted, add the butter and cream cheese. Stir to combine, then add the instant coffee and icing sugar. Mix well to make sure there are no lumps.
Roast the hazelnuts lightly under the grill for 3-5 minutes (keep an eye on them, they can burn easily!), then roughly chop them.
Spread the icing over the cake and top with the chopped hazelnuts and orange slices, then serve with some thickened cream on the side.