Chef Peter Gordon - Mexican chocolate cake

Peter Gordon is the pioneer of fushion food and for 40 years he's gathered ingredients, textures and techniques from the kitchens of the world. He's owned award winning restaurants from Wellington to London, New York and Auckland and we are thrilled he's including Summer Weekends in his summer plans this month. This morning chef Peter Gordon is guiding us through the making of Mexican chocolate cake.

Peter Gordon’s Summer Kai Kōrero on RNZ National Summer Weekends

Saturday 11th January

Mexican inspired nutty orange, cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate cake

You can use any nut here but I like the combination of ground almond and slightly chunkier hazelnuts

Gluten Free, Dairy Free if the chocolate is DF

2 oranges

220g unrefined caster sugar


200g ground almonds


6 eggs


1 teaspoon vanilla extract / 2 teaspoons vanilla essence

30g unsweetened cocoa powder / 4 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon (if using drinking chocolate use 50g, but 20g less sugar)

2 teaspoons baking powder


2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


100g hazelnuts, toasted skinned and roughly chopped (or use ground hazelnuts)

30g dark chocolate at least 65% cacao, coarsely grated or chopped

 

1. Line the base and sides of a 20 – 24 cm spring-form cake tin with baking paper

2. Place the oranges in a pan just large enough to hold them and cover with water until they begin to float. Bring to a rapid boil then reduce heat to a gentle boil, place a lid on and cook 1 hour. If the water evaporates and they no longer float, top up with boiling water

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 170*C Fan Bake

4. Remove the oranges from the pan using tongs to hold them as they’ll be hot, then cut in half and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Remove any pips then place in a food processor and blitz to a smooth paste with the sugar, scraping down several times

5. Add the almonds, eggs, vanilla, cocoa, baking powder and cinnamon and blitz until smooth, scraping down several times with a spatula. Add the hazelnuts and chocolate, and blitz briefly for 3 seconds till incorporated

6. Pour into the cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes, until the cake is cooked. To test, poke a thin sharp knife or a chopstick into the thickest part and leave for 3 seconds then remove. The knife should come out with no raw batter attached. If it has any, cook another 4-8 minutes and test again

7. Leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes then remove onto a cake rack

 

Chillied tequila strawberries

If not using tequila you can use pretty much any spirit such as rum, whiskey, gin, Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Gluten Free, Dairy Free

250g caster sugar

1 ½ punnets strawberries (around 400g), remove the green top and cut the strawberries in half lengthways

½ cinnamon quill, lightly bashed to break it up a little

¼ tsp cayenne pepper or any chilli flakes – more or less to taste

1 orange, zest of half and juice of all

45 ml / 3 Tbsp tequila (it must be made from blue agave – check the label) optional

 

1. Place the sugar in a medium sized pan over medium heat and heat till it begins to melt. Shake the pan a little as it warms up but don’t stir it as it can catch and crystalise. Cook until it becomes a light caramel colour then add the strawberries and cinnamon quill and leave to sizzle for 10 seconds

2. Carefully add the cayenne pepper, orange zest and juice – the juice can cause hot steam to rise up. Gently stir and bring to a gentle boil

3. Add the tequila. If you’re cooking over gas be careful as the alcohol can burst into flames so make sure to cook over a gentle heat. If it does catch fire then place a lid on and take off the heat for 20 seconds. You can then put it back on a gentle heat and slowly bring to a rapid simmer

4. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring from time to time, then leave to cool in the pan before storing covered in the fridge