Italian Chocolate Christmas Cake

I like to call this my grown-up chocolate cake recipe. It is bursting with nuts and spices and is rich and aromatic, making it the perfect cake for Christmas! This is very much inspired by the traditional Italian dessert, Panforte and it really is pure indulgence. The middle is gooey with the chunks of chocolate while the rest of the cake has that slight crunch from the nuts. And of course, what makes this cake the ultimate Christmas treat is the orange lingering from the Cointreau. It is Christmas after all … 

I love this time of the year and the smells and scents from our festive cooking. I love nothing more than the aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg and spices with hints of mulled wine and orange. It is such a comforting smell for the home and just creates that kind of relaxing atmosphere in anticipation for the final weeks of December when a lot of us typically start to wind down.

I use a mix of hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts that are all finely chopped plus some ground almonds. I purposely chop the dark chocolate into large chunks so that it oozes in the middle of the cake. I also use mixed peel and the zest and juice of one large orange. And don’t forget the ‘dash’ of Cointreau!

Italian Chocolate Christmas Cake

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

1 hour 5 mins

Total time

1 hour 25 mins

 

Serves: Makes around 12-14 slices

Ingredients

• 200g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 50g cocoa powder
• 100g dark chocolate (chopped in chunks)
• 4 large eggs
• 100g plain white flour
• 1 and half tsp baking powder
• 60g mixed peel
• 50g whole hazelnuts (roughly chopped)
• 50g walnuts (roughly chopped)
• 50g whole almonds (roughly chopped)
• 50g ground almonds
• Juice of 1 orange plus the zest
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp cointreau
• 100g sultanas
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• icing sugar to dust
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g soft brown sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C, fan 140°C, gas 3. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.
2. In a large mixing bowl add the butter and sugars. Whisk using an electric whisk until soft and creamy.
3. One by one whisk in the eggs. Stir in the vanilla extract. Then fold in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and almonds. Stir using a wooden spoon until it forms a thick batter and everything is well combined.
4. Add all the other ingredients to the bowl and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
5. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and place in the oven for around 1 hour and 5 mins or until well risen and firm. The middle will be a little wobbly but the edges should be firm and pulling away from the sides of the tin.
6. Leave to cool and then dust with some icing sugar.

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