Chocolate and mulled wine cake

Chocolate and mulled wine cake
Inspired by Sunshine’s kitchen

Ingredients:

1 orange
2 x ½ cup brown sugar
200 ml of red wine
1 small cinnamon stick
1 clove

220 g flour
60 g natural cocoa
100 g soft butter
^2/3 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
5-6 drops of orange cream flavoring
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preparation:

Wash thoroughly and peel the orange. Cut the peels into small cubes and the orange itself into pieces. Put the peels in a saucepan, cover them with water and bring to a boil. Change the water 3 times after each boiling. The fourth time pour in 200 ml of water in the pan and ½ cup sugar. Simmer the peels in this syrup until tender (about 30-40 minutes). Drain and cool (the syrup can be used for other cakes and desserts).

In another saucepan, mix 200 ml of wine, the pieces of orange, cinnamon stick, clove and the other ½ cup of sugar. Boil for 10 minutes, then cool and blend until smooth “soup” consistency (removing the cinnamon stick before that).

To prepare the cake, cream the soft butter and sugar. One by one, whisk in the eggs. It is best to use an electric mixer. Then add the mulled wine and candied orange peels. Finally, add the flour sifted with the baking powder and cocoa. Beat thoroughly after each added ingredient.

Grease a rectangular cake tin and sprinkle with natural cocoa. Pour the batter in and smooth well. Bake the cake in the oven for 1 hour at 180°C. Check with a stick if the inside of the cake is dry and cooked.

Let the cake cool on a wire rack. If you want, you can cover it with chocolate icing. Just melt 100 g dark chocolate and 50 g butter in a water bath.