Chocolate and Orange Cake

When one of my friends saw the photo of this cake, she decided it was a definite 6 on the Sinfulness Richter Scale - I think it should be rated far higher!  I wanted a more grown-up chocolate cake, and the idea of using marmalade and some lusciously decadent chocolate ganache just came to mind.   Use really bitter marmalade if you can find it, not that sweet stuff with silly little flakes of orange. (I made a bitter orange jelly earlier in the year with some Seville oranges - wet a sheet of gelatine and add it to the juice of 3 Seville oranges.  Heat until the gelatine has dissolved, then set it in a dish the same size as the cake.  Use under the central icing layer instead of the marmalade) The recipe below is a lovely Australian one that has stood the test of time!

Chocolate and Bitter Orange Cake

Chocolate and Bitter Orange Cake

Cake:

3 large eggs

1 cup caster sugar

1 cup self raising flour (or a blend)

pinch of salt

2 tbsp cocoa

½ cup milk with a teaspoon of butter melted into it

Zest of ½ an orange

Butter Icing:

2oz/50g butter  

4oz/110g sieved icing sugar

1 large tbsp marmalade (or more if you wish)

Zest of ½ an orange with a little juice as well

Chocolate Ganache:

8 floz/235ml double cream

4oz/110g dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 180 deg C, and line the base of two 8” sandwich tins with non-stick baking parchment. 

Whisk the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy (longer the better).   Fold in the sifted flour, zest, cocoa and salt, then add the hot milk and butter.    Pour the mixture into the twins and shake it slightly to level it.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes until it is well risen, brown and rises back when pressed with a gentle finger.    Turn out of the tins onto a rack and leave to cool.

In a food processor, blend the icing ingredients, and then stir in the zest and marmalade by hand so you don't break it up too much (if you want a larger proportion of icing to cake, add more icing sugar and butter to the ratio of 2:1). Sandwich the icing between the cakes and stand the the cake on a wire rack or a plate (depending how neat you want it to end up!).  

Warm the cream and add the chocolate, mix until smooth and glossy, cooling slightly so that it coats the back of the spoon and won’t leap off the cake. 

If you want a neat finish, you will pour the ganache over the cake on its rack, then chill the cake to set it before transferring the cake to a plate.  If you like the more rustic touch, simply pour the chocolate over the cake and allow it to pool around the plate before chilling.