Chocolate Orange Cream Cake

It was November--the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines. Anne roamed through the pineland alleys in the park and, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow the fogs out of her soul ― L. M. Montgomery

I remember borrowing Anne of Green Gables from my high school library many years ago and devouring it over the course of a few evenings. As for this particular line from the book, I came across it again recently and I love it - it captures the essence of one my favourites times of year perfectly. And now December is upon us and we must bid it adieu, its been a blast.

Almost literally considering bonfire night, we had a spectacular firework display and all the sparklers and chocolate you could wish for. Although it was a bit of a jam-packed evening as I took my sisters to a book signing earlier on, it was to meet Ransom Riggs,  author of the Miss Peregrines books - we got signed copies of his latest instalment in the series, A Map of Days.

November, or Rabi ul-Awal which is the Islamic month based on the lunar calendar brought with it Eid Milad un Nabi a beautiful festival of celebration and light. Every celebration calls for cake, so I made this one flavoured with chocolate and orange. 

Tangy citrus and rich, dark chocolate is a true and tested flavour combo that works really well. Just try a Terry's Chocolate Orange if you need convincing.. speaking of, I visited Goddard House last summer, the former estate of the Terry's family, it has beautiful gardens, some interesting (vintage chocolate related) displays and you can see the old factory across the river. 

Now back to this amazing cake, it features a moist rich sponge with flecks of orange flavour and a double cream citrus topping, with more chocolate and orange of course! The other great thing about this cake is that it is so easy to make - an all in one method, you add all your ingredients to a bowl, mix, into the oven and voila. I guarantee you that this will be your go-to chocolate cake recipe from here on out, it's that easy and delicious.

So to make this Chocolate Orange Cream Cake, you need the following ingredients:
Cocoa Powder
Caster sugar
Margarine/butter
Eggs
Self-raising flour
Baking powder
Milk

Begin by adding 50g of good quality sifted cocoa powder into a bowl and stir in enough boiling water until a forms a thick chocolate paste.

To your mixing bowl add in the remaining ingredients - 100g butter/margarine, 275g caster sugar, 3 large eggs, 175g self raising flour, 1 rounded teaspoon baking powder and 50ml of milk.

Finally add in the chocolate mixture and beat until well incorporated and you have a thick, smooth batter.

Stir in the grated zest of one orange. You can add a dash of orange juice or orange essence if you want to enhance the flavour.

Spoon the mixture into a lined loaf tin (or two sandwich tins) and bake in a preheated Gas Mark 4 oven for around 30 minutes or until  well risen and springy to the touch.

To make the cream topping, whip up some double cream along with icing sugar (add a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the desired sweetness), grate in some orange zest.

Once the cake has completely cooled, spoon on the orange cream - I went with a more rustic effect but you can pipe it if you wish. Also if you opted to make the cake in circular tins, sandwich the layers with orange cream and decorate the top as mentioned above. 

An easy and delicious recipe for a chocolate cake which can easily be modified to create other flavours e.g. chocolate and hazelnut or raspberry and chocolate.

😋

Enjoy!
Q x