Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C fan, 180°C conventional, gas mark 4. Grease and base line the 21cm loose bottomed tin. Set the chocolate to melt in a heat proof bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Beat the whites of 5 eggs until stiff. Using an electric whisk, in a different bowl, beat the yolks of the 5 eggs with the whole egg and the caster sugar. The mixture will get thicker and paler in colour. To check if the mixture is ready, lift the beaters; a ribbon of mixture will be visible on top of the rest of the mixture.
3. Whisk the ground almonds, orange zest, melted chocolate and 1.5 tbsp of egg white together into the egg yolk mix.
4. Very gently, fold the chocolate mix into the egg whites. A metal spoon is best for this, but a plastic spatula will also work.
5. Carefully pour the batter into the lined tin. Bake for 45-50 mins. The cake will shrink in, away from the sides a little bit when it is ready. Let the cake cool in the tin for 15 mins, then turn it out upside down onto a cooling rack covered with a tea towel. The cake should now be left to cool fully like this. Once cool, flip the cake the right way up.
6. Pop the marmalade into the microwave for a few seconds to loosen it up a bit then paint onto cake.
7. For the icing, in a heat proof bowl over a pan of hot water put the chocolate, coconut milk and orange essence. Let it melt together, giving it a little stir every now and then until the icing is lovely and glossy (the oil in the orange essence will help give it that extra shine!).
8. Set the chocolate mix aside to cool a little, it’ll thicken up a bit, and then pour over your cake. The best way to make the least mess doing this is to pop the cake on a cooling rack over the sink. That way it’s much easier to clean any icing that slides off. You can use a palette knife to get good coverage on the sides. Make sure the icing has time to set before serving, you don’t want it running off when you cut that delightful first slice!