I’ve always loved Terry’s Chocolate Oranges – as kids, we always used to get one at Christmas in our pressie sacks.  Over the years, Mr MaMT has always liked to buy one for my birthday or Christmas and indeed he bought one for my birthday this year.  However, it sat there for a while, before I cracked it open, and then I could only manage a few pieces before I lost interest.  My taste-buds have become accustomed to much less sugar now and so I rarely eat commercially made chocolate any more.  However, I still love the flavours of chocolate and orange, which is what inspired this recipe.

I also have a slightly different version with coconut flour, which I shall post separately, as the ingredients and quantities do vary …

Place water into TM bowl. Insert the steaming basket and put oranges into the basket.  Cook for 45 minutes on Varoma temperature on speed 3:

• 1000g water
• About 380g orange or mandarins, washed well, topped and tailed and halved/quartered

Once done, take out the steaming basket and put aside for the minute.

Meanwhile, add into a glass bowl:

• 2 tbs (25g) chia seeds
• 6 tbs (100g) orange cooking water

Leave to “gel”
Alternatively, leave out this step and use 2 extra eggs (see below)

NB: the amount of steaming water left this point can vary.  Don’t discard – use some in your ganache and freeze the rest in ice cube trays for sorbets etc.

Add into the TM bowl and purée 30 seconds / speed 9, until smooth, scraping down the bowl sides and lid a couple of times, as necessary:

• 60g water
• Cooked orange

I had about 1 cup purée = 230-260g

Set aside for the moment (unless you have an extra TM bowl).

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180C / 160C fan-forced. Grease and line a loaf pan.

Wash and dry TM bowl, or use a spare one.

Mill 10 seconds / speed 9:

• 170g dates (use coconut sugar, if you wish, but you might need less, as it’s very sweet.  Or use another unrefined sugar)
• 50g cacao nibs (or use cocoa powder in a later step)

Add almonds to the TM bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 9.

• 200g almonds

Add the remaining ingredients to the TM bowl.  Mix for 15-20 seconds on speed 7, assisting with spatula, and scraping down the lid and sides of the bowl, in between:.

• Date/almond/cacao mix (in lieu of milled cacao nibs, add 20-30g cacao powder or a good cocoa powder, instead)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 large eggs
• Chia gel (alternatively, use 2 extra eggs instead)
• Orange mix

Pour the mixture into prepared tin and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out reasonably clean.  If it’s still not ready after 45 minutes, bake for another 15 mins and cover with foil to prevent it from burning.
Leave the cake to cool in the pan briefly, then tip out onto a cooling rack.

Meanwhile, make an almond ganache in a clean, dry bowl …

Add to the dry bowl and whizz up 10 seconds / speed 9:

• 20g almonds

Add and whizz 30 seconds / speed 9:

• 100g water (orange water if you have any left)

Add and whizz up 30 seconds / speed 9:

• 30g chopped dates
• 70g 70-85% dark chocolate (DF/home-made, if you wish)

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and lid well, then melt 3 minutes / speed 2 / 50 deg, until smooth
Scrape and repeat for an extra minute, if need be.

Cover the top and the sides of the cake nicely with the chocolate (start in the centre work outwards) and then place in the fridge for the ganache to set.

I prefer to keep in the fridge up until serving.  One slice is enough – it’s quite rich.  Alternatively, slice and cut up into bite size pieces to serve with coffee. 🙂