This chocolate orange gingerbread loaf will be a hit this Christmas

Chocolate Orange Gingerbread Loaf

Ingredients
125ml milk
zest and juice of 1 orange
75g light brown sugar
pinch salt
150g golden syrup
75g treacle
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
90g butter – chilled and cubed
½ tsp bread soda
140g self-raising flour
35g cocoa powder
2 eggs
¼ Terry’s Chocolate Orange, chopped (optional)

Equipment
2lb loaf tin lined with greaseproof paper

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

Place the milk, orange juice and zest, sugar, salt, golden syrup, treacle and all the spices into a saucepan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cold butter cubes, stirring until all the butter is melted.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa and bread soda. Slowly add this to the cooled liquid mix whisking lightly.

Add in the eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly.

Pour the cake batter into a lined 2lb loaf tin and sprinkle with the chopped chocolate if using.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes until the cake is cooked through.

Leave in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool.

Wrap the cake in cling film when cool and store in a cool place. This cake will taste even more delicious if left to rest for a day or two to allow the flavours to develop.

Recipe by Kelly Ging, owner of Kelly Lou Cakes, kellylou.com