Chocolate Orange Olive Oil Cake

We’ve teamed up with our friends at Something Good Co. to bring you this delicious reuse recipe using ingredients sourced from the beautiful plastic-free pantry and refillery in Jesmond + your leftover Cacao Brew grounds from a brew!

It’s gooey and super chocolatey, with just the right amount of orange. It’s gluten-free too! Try it, and let us know what you think…

Ingredients (*indicates ingredients available from Something Good Co.)

150ml olive oil*

1 Orange

2-3 tbsps leftover Cacao Brew* grounds

50g cacao powder*

100ml boiling water

150g ground almonds* (or 125g plain flour* if not gluten free)

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda*

Pinch of salt

200g caster sugar*

3 large eggs

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C Fan. Line a loaf tin with baking paper.
2. Zest the whole orange and juice half (approx. 25ml juice).
3. Measure and sift cacao powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey paste. Mix in the orange zest and juice.
4. Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk for a couple of minutes until you have an aerated and thickened cream (you could use an electric mixer if you have one).
5. Gradually add the chocolate orange paste to the thickened cream mixture, beating as you go.
6. Add the ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Fold together to create a dark, liquid batter.
7. Add your leftover Cacao Brew grounds and fold in.
8. Pour into your prepared loaf tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre looks slightly damp on top. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.
9. Leave to cool or enjoy while still warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream!

You can pick up a bag of Cacao Brew from Something Good Co. in Jesmond along with your other food and household essentials.