Chocolate Orange Drizzle Loaf Cake

I cannot believe half the year is already over!! And yeah, it is the beginning of a new month and time for Sweet and Simple Bakes! The choice for the month is Chocolate orange Drizzle Loaf Cake.
One evening, I was craving cake and was looking for simple and refreshing cake recipes. I stumbled upon this recipe but I did not have oranges at hand. In our new apartment we have an orange tree, but we have never tried those oranges. So I just ran outside a grabbed a few oranges and immediately set to try this delicious cake. I had some dark chocolate and I thought it would be too overpowering to do the entire frosting with it. So I just melted the chocolate and drizzled it over the cake. the cake was moist due to the addition of orange juice and it had a hint of citrus flavor in every bite!

Ingredients
For The cake
175g (6 oz) softened butter
175g (6 oz) caster (super fine) sugar - I used  ordinary sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour, sifted
2 tbsp milk
For The Orange Syrup
Juice of 1 orange
100g (4 oz) granulated sugar

For The Topping
Dark chocolate / milk chocolate
Sprinkles of choice (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
Line and grease a900g (2 lb) loaf tin.
In a mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy in appearance. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well until fully incorporated. Add the orange zest, flour and milk and fold in gently with a spatula or large metal spoon. Turn into the prepared tin, smooth the top of the mixture and bake in the oven on middle shelf 35 -45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. When cool make little holes in the cake with a skewer, (this is important for pouring the syrup onto the cake to ensure the syrup soaks in fully.)

For The Orange Syrup

Put the orange juice and granulated sugar into a pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil for a couple of minutes. Pour over the top of the cake. When all the juice has soaked in, carefully remove the cake from the tin.
Frosting
I melted 2 blocks the dark chocolate in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Drizzle it directly over the cooled cake. leave the cake for a while for the chocolate to set.

Slice and enjoy!
Check out my other cake recipes..
Spongecake with cream cheese frosting
Fruit Cake
Spiced Mango Bread
Vanilla Apple Cake
Orange cake with cream cheese frosting