It's been about 100 years...

...but I'm back, baby! Well, sort of. I have things to share with you all but I have lost the passion for baking :( How could this be?? Hopefully now that I'm no longer living with my ex (and his new girlfriend, mind you...sigh) I will be back to normal.

Another reason I haven't been baking much is because I am trying to cut down on the amount of bad food I'm eating...and so far I've lost 16 kilos! Hoorah for me. I have a long way to go but I'll get there.

Enough of that - on to the good stuff!

My friend Liss is getting married next month and she has commissioned me to make her wedding cake. It was only natural that she come over for a taste test.

Liss had requested something I hadn't made before: jaffa mud cake.

I did a bit of web-scouring, looked at my current mud recipe and altered it to make a jaffa cake. Here's how you do it:

200g unsalted butter, chopped

100g dark chocolate, chopped (I use chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids)

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

1 tsp orange essence

rind of half an orange, finely grated

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup self raising flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 160 celsius (140 fan forced) and prepare a 20cm round cake tin (I grease with butter then line with non stick baking paper).

Combine butter, chocolate, juice, rind and essence in a large saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely melted. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Beat eggs and sugar together in a mixing bowl until mixture has doubled and is pale and creamy. Slowly pour cooled chocolate mixture, stirring as you pour, into egg mixture. Mix until well combined and add flour. Stir until just combined. Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 1 hour or until no crumbs cling to a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake.

I covered Liss' tasting cake with dark chocolate ganache. Yum!