Orange and Dark Chocolate Cake

This cake not only looks appealing, it smells irresistibly too!

In my opinion, this Orange and Dark Chocolate Cake is for adults. Children do not particularly enjoy this strong combination of flavours.

Ingredients

Not much experience? Not a problem!! For easy step-by-step detailed instructions (including pics!) on how to make a chocolate sponge or syrup, click the pertinent links below.

For about 48 generous servings (1 inch thick) or up to 96 (1/2 inch thick) servings of this treat you will need the following:

- Chocolate Sponge : 4x 500 grs Betty Crocker Devil’s Food Cake Mix -(4x (70ml vegetable oil, 3 medium-sized eggs and 250ml water) as instructed in pack).

- Syrup : 250ml (sugar, water).

- Orange Cream: 3x St Dalfour Rhapsodie de Fruit (Thick Cut Jam, 284g); freshly squeezed and sieved juice from 4 oranges; and Cointreau to taste. Put the three ingredients in the blender until obtaining a homogeneous paste.

- Chocolate Cream Filling: 1x plain chocolate bar (~200g), 500ml whipped Double Cream, Cointreau to taste, few drops of orange extract (or essence or blossom water) and wished amount of chopped walnuts. Melt the chocolate, add it on top of the whipped cream and blend together. Add the liqueor, the extract and the walnuts and mix.

- Chocolate Cream Cover: 500ml whipped Double Cream, 4x 150g plain chocolate bar, few drops of the same extract. Add the melted chocolate over the whipped cream and then add the extract.

- Caramelised Peels: 250ml thick syrup , peels and juice from 2-3 oranges, sugar and Cointreau. to taste. Prepare a thick syrup following the instruction on this link. Meanwhile, make thin strips using the edge of a zester or potato peeler, and thick strips using the central part. Roll the thick strips around something appropriate ( a kebab stick or similar) to imprint a spiral shape to the strips. Add the juice from the peeled fruits, the extract, Cointreau and the strips into the syrup, and take to slow boil until the strips are soft and impregnated. Remove strips from syrup.

Preparation

Bake the chocolate sponge following the instructions on the pack. Click the link for detailed explanation about the preparation of the Chocolate Sponge Recipe for Beginners.

For this cake I used the Silverwood Multisize Foldaway Cake Pan at its bigger setting: 12"x12".

I love this mould for many reasons. It allows me to bake square and rectangle cakes of different sizes using the same mould, at the cost of one mould; it is 4" deep; and being foldaway means that it is THE mould that I always have handy in my kitchen. If you bake often, you have to face the challenge of finding space for all your moulds. That is not a problem with this option because it is contained in a flat box easy to accommodate anywhere.

For more information about moulds and baking big cakes, click this link to read two comments on the subject:

"Cake Mould" and "Tip".

Once baked, leave the sponge to cool down, ideally until the next day, making sure to wrap the sponge up when cold to keep the moisture in.

Cut three layers in the sponge (four sponge pieces) following instructions writen in the following link: Chocolate Sponge Recipe for Beginners.

Moisten the layers (both sizes) sparingly with Cointreau or, if you prefer a less alcoholic taste, mix/replace the Cointreau with syrup (ie, the syrup left after preparing the Caramelised Peels).

First filling (starting from bottom to top of the cake): divide the Orange Cream aproximately in five portions. Use one portion to cover the first piece of sponge, followed by a mix of half a portion and a bit of whipped cream on top, and finally add another portion above.

Second filling: spread the Chocolate Cream Filling to cover the second piece of sponge.

Third filling: repeat first filling using the 2 1/2 portions of Cream left.

Cover and decorate the cake with the Chocolate Cream Cover. For the top I used a pipping nozzle to decorate, and for the sides just a fork applying the cream with ascending movement.

Complete the decorations with the Caramelised Strips, as seen in picture, or following your creativity.

If possibly, leave the cake in the fridge for a couple of days to optimise the blend of flavours...hummmm, delicious!!

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