Spiced Chocolate Cakes (Gluten free)

Check this bad boy out. I recently discovered The Gentleman Baker (check out his instagram and drool, then check out his blog and drool more) and the first recipe of his I decided I must make was this spiced chocolate cake; it's pretty much me, if I was a cake. Since I'm catering for a shoot I'm doing tomorrow, I decided to make cupcakes instead of a full sized cake, just because they're easier to hand out and manage. I also changed the recipe a little, replacing some of the almond meal with self-raising flour (because I didn't have enough almond meal) and replacing the orange blossom water with vanilla extract. If you're gluten free, simply replace the self-raising flour with the same amount of almond meal. 

This recipe is particularly great after Easter, because if you're like me and don't like dark chocolate (but always seem to receive it anyway), this is how you can make it into something 1000x delicious!

 You'll need:
- 150g dark chocolate, broken up
- 50g milk chocolate, broken up
- 175g unsalted butter 
- 175g dark brown sugar
- 25g caster sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 orange's zest, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of ground cardamom
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 150g almond meal
- 50g self-raising flour (for gluten-free option, use 200g almond meal and no flour)
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- a bit of extra chocolate (white, milk or dark) for topping

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius and either grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin or line 12 muffin pans with large patty pans.

First, melt the butter and chocolate together in a glass bowl over a pot of water, stirring with a metal spoon until combined.

Take off the heat and let cool for a few minutes, before adding the sugars and stirring in. Then add the eggs, spices and zest, stirring to combine.

Finally, add the flour, almond meal and cocoa, and beat to combine. Your mixture will seem a little grainy (as below) - that's fine!

Then spoon 2-3 teaspoonfuls of the mixture into each pan (use the photo below for a guide), top with a few shards of chocolate, pop in the oven until a skewer comes out clean (15-20 mins for cupcakes, 50-55 mins for big cake)....

and voila! You have sticky, gently spiced, fluffy, aromatic, decadent delish. Best eaten warm with a significant dollop of cream.