Zingy Orange & Choco Delight Cake

The Orange season is upon us and I've always wanted to to bake this orange-y chocolate-y cake. It was my absolute first attempt at making this and I would say I was successful by 90%. 

The 10% I deduct because the oranges wouldn't co-operate with me.

It was a conspiration, I tell you. They didn't want that this cake be my absolute best! 

Oh the texture was absolutely light and soft. Just as you want a cake to be. But the zingy orange-y taste was slightly amiss. And the reason why this happened was because I couldn't get any zest of orange in the cake batter. 

Simple solution to all my cake problems! Or in this case atleast. And thats how you achieve a 100% perfection my darlings. 

Here's the improvised recipe...

Serves: 8

Time taken: 1 hour

Complexity: ** 

You'll need

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/3 cup powdered sugar

4 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbsp baking powder

1 cup cream or 1 1/2 stick unsalted butter

Juice of 2 oranges

zest of one orange 

Your hunk o' love

For Icing

1 cup cream, chilled

100 gms melted milk chocolate

2 tbsp cocoa powder

4 heaping tbsp confectioner's sugar

juice of 1 orange 

(Psst... if you want to make the cake for adults, you can also use cointreau instead of orange juice)

Method

Line your baking pan with oil/ butter or parchment paper and set aside. 

Get your oven heated to 180C or 350F.

Grab the butter, be gentle, ok, just TAKE the butter/ cream and add sugar to it. 

Cream them together till they become fluffy. 

Crack open the eggs and add them all to the creamed butter and sugar. 

Whisk together till the mixture becomes frothy. Add the vanilla extract now.

Take the juice of two oranges about a cup,

and add it to the cake mix. (I do apologize for the pics, it was night time and I didn't have enough light) 

You can see specks of orange zest in the mix. I did try zesting the oranges but like I said they wouldn't co-operate. The skin of the orange was too tender and juicy and I wasn't able to zest it. I think I really need to get my hands on a microplane! If you just use the juice and no zest, the cake will have a lovely orange tang but it will miss the vibrancy and the zing that comes from the zest. 

Time to add in the flour and baking powder. I didn't even bother sifting it. Just plop it on them mix and gently combine it all together taking care that there are no lumps in the cake. Do NOT over mix otherwise the cake will turn out bready. 

Pour the batter into the baking pan. Make sure it is well greased. The cake batter will have a lovely orange-ish yellow colour. Let it bake for about 40 minutes. Insert toothpick to check if the cake is done. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done, otherwise give it a few more minutes. 

A neat trick is to cover your baking pan with foil for about 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and let it cook for the remainder of the time. Your cake will be golden on the top and not too crusty either. 

Here's the cake straight out of the oven. 

Let it cool down for 5 minutes before removing from the pan and then let it cool down completely on a wire rack. 

Look how beautifully golden the edge is and the texture....ohhh man, can't wait to have a slice!!

After about an hour or so when the cake has completely cooled down, slice it horizontally in half. 

Time to drizzle on the orange juice or Cointreau. About 3-4 tbsp should be enough. We don't want the cake to be soggy. Just enough to re-moisten it.

On both the halves of course! 

Let the cake soak up the flavour.

Now melt some milk chocolate. By all means use dark chocolate, but I had only milk chocolate available at home. 

Add sugar, cream and cocoa powder in a bowl. Drizzle in the glossy melted chocolate and whisk till it begins to form soft peaks. 

Now let your pinkie finger dip in deep in this beautiful icing and lick it clean! mmmmm....

Alright, back to the cake! 

On the bottom half of the cake, slather on 1/4th of the frosting. Spread it with a spatula. 

  

Place the top half over it. And start icing the cake. From the top to the sides. 

Once done, if you have some sprinkles on hand, go ahead, sprinkle them. So pretty and delicious! 

Nothing to do not but to cut into it and eat the delicious orange-y choco cake! Serve with love and Indulge! :))