Chilli Orange Vodka Cake

The heat from the chilli, the spike from the vodka and the freshness from the oranges combine perfectly to create this moist, delicate cake. Dont worry, the chilli only adds a warmth at the end of each bite, no need for gallons of water to cool your mouth afterwards!

There is an interesting story as to how I discovered this cake: it was a good friends birthday and I was determined to make a "disgusting" cake (not out of hate but for a joke). I stumbled upon an online recipe for this cake and the rest was history. Oh except for the 4 or 5 attempts at making the online recipe failed. That was it, it was then decided that i would take the ideas of the recipe and make a cake that actually works. So here is my version below.

Ingredients:

• 200g unsalted butter


• 200g caster sugar


• 100g ground almonds


• 100g plain flour (can be substisuted for rice flour for a gluten free version)


• 1 tsp baking powder (watch out as a lot of these contain gluten!)


• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda


• 2 eggs, seperated


• 1 tsp vanilla essence


• 2 oranges


• 2 tbsp sherry (optional)


• 1/2 lemon


• 1/2 lime


• 1 tsp chilli flakes (plus an optional fresh chilli for decoration)


• 4 shots of vodka

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 160ºC and grease and line a cake tin.
Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the grated zest of one of the oranges and the egg yolks.

Next add the vanilla essence, sherry and ground almonds, flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder gradually to create a very thick batter. Add the juice of one orange to loosen the batter and mix well. Once mixed, whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they form firm peaks. Then add half the egg whites and fold into the mixture before adding the second half and folding the mixture until incorporated fully.
Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. (I usually check on mine after 40 mins to be sure)

While the cake is baking, use a potato peeler and peel half the lemon and half the orange, place the peel into a small saucepan along with the chilli flakes, two heaped tablespoons of sugar and half a cup of water. Place over a low heat and once it reaches a simmer leave it on the heat for 10 minutes. Then remove and cover leaving the flavours to infuse the syrup further.

Once cooked, take the cake from the oven and place it on a cooling rack, put the syrup back on the heat and then juice the remaining orange, half lemon and half lime and add the vodka to the juice. Next transfer the cake from its tin onto a serving plate and prick all over with a fork or skewer.

Now strain the syrup (keep some of the sugared peel and chilli for decoration if you wish) and add the fruit juice and vodka mix. Drip feed this all over the cake using a spoon and allowing the liquid to soak in each time before adding more. Do this until all the juice mix is used, you will be surprised at how much the cake will absorb! Serve in big slabs once cooled.

I generally find that this cake is moist enough to not need anything like cream or ice cream but if you want to present it nicely i suggest a little shot of your favourite liquer. I chose Amaretto which would make it perfect to have after dinner, but if you want to serve it "virgin" just forget the vodka and serve with some fresh, tangy sorbet.