I don't usually have a sweet tooth but I have to admit, I love chocolate and I love cake. When it's a super rich triple chocolate cupcake that has the density of brownie, I often struggle with pairing it with a suitable boozy companion. Dessert cocktails can be quite rich on their own but I wanted to make something that would complement the dessert, not fight it. So one evening, whilst waiting for a batch of chocolate cupcakes to bake in the over, I set off in search of inspiration in my drinks cabinet. I wanted to replicate some of the sweetness in the dessert but also something to cut through it.

Lurking in the back of my cabinet was a bottle of vodka made with real 24 carat gold flakes floating about in it made by a boutique Australian label called Heavens Hell - while the gold doesn't really add anything discernible to the taste, it sure looks pretty and who can resist pretty? To replicate the chocolatey-ness, I added a splash of clear creme de cacao and to top it off, an orange curacao from the Melbourne based Marionette company, which uses an Australian brandy base. To add a subtle kick to the cocktail, I also put in a dash of ginger syrup - if you don't want to make your own, there's commercially available ones such as the one I used from the Ginger People.

For a bit of whimsy, I finished off the cocktail with the top bit of the cupcake, frosted with an orange blossom buttercream. The cocktail in its bittersweet nature did the trick in complementing the cake beautifully. Dessert course pairing, tick!

Chocolate Orange Vodka Cocktail

• 60ml vodka
• 15ml creme de cacao
• 30ml orange curacao*
• 5ml ginger syrup

Shake everything over ice and strain into chilled glass.

*Note: Some brands of orange curacao may be sweeter than the one I used here. If so, you will need to tweak the proportion to your liking.