Chocolate Orange Dream

My housemates are bigggg chocolate orange fans and so after handing in my dissertation I thought I’d celebrate. Any normal person would probably go to the pub and celebrate with a glass of wine but i decided to celebrate by baking, obviously aided with a bottle of wine.

This recipe was adopted from Mary Berry’s chocolate and orange cake, i chose to add the juice of an orange to make the orange flavour that little more intense. The result; a perfectly balanced rich chocolate cake with a mouth watering orange flavour, what a dream combination.

Chocolate Orange Cake

• 100g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 50g good quality cocoa powder
• 90ml boiling water
• 3 large free-range eggs
• 4 tbsp milk
• 175g self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 rounded tsp baking powder, sifted into the flour
• 300g golden caster sugar
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• Juice of half an orange

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/fan160°C/gas 4. Grease 3 x 20cm round sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper.
2. Measure the cocoa and boiling water into a large bowl and mix to a paste. Add the remaining ingredients and beat again until combined
3. Divide the sponge mixture evenly between the prepared tins. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes until the sponges are well risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tin. Remove the sponges from the oven, turn out of their tins onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely

Chocolate Orange Ganache

• 200g dark chocolate
• 200ml double cream
• Half grated orange
• 2 tbsp icing sugar

1.  For the icing and filling, put the chocolate and cream in a bowl, Then stand over a pan of simmering water for 10 minutes until melted (don’t let the bowl touch the water), stirring from time to time. Set aside to cool until it thickens to a spreadable consistency
2. Add the grated orange and shift in the icing sugar stir until combined
3. To finish spread the top of two sponges with the icing and put on top of each other. Cover the top of the cake with the remainder of the icing, then grate any left over orange zest on the top

The Beehive Cake

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I made this show stopping cake for my Grandmas 80th. She loves a carrot cake and i couldn’t just give her a simple two tier cake for her 80th could I? This involved a lot of time and patience but ten tonne of grated carrot and cream cheese cinnamon frosting later it was done, well worth the time to see the pleasure on everyones faces when they tried it.

The cake idea came from a post I saw on Pinterest. Overall there were about 5 layers sandwiched together with lashings of frosting. The bees were made from marzipan rolled into little balls with pumpkin seed wings and the stripes drawn on with an edible black pen.

My pet hate are cakes that look amazing and taste bland and dry, thats why i ensured this cake was moist and of course flavoursome resulting in a lovely cake sweetened with the cream cheese and cinnamon frosting. For anyone who is a huge carrot cake fan this recipe is a must try, a personal favourite of my housemates with a carrot cake normally not lasting longer than a day.

Carrot Cake:

• 300g soft light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 300ml sunflower oil
• 300g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon , plus extra to decorate
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• 300g carrots , grated
• 100g shelled walnuts , chopped, plus extra, chopped and whole, to decorate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c and grease and line 3 x 20cm cake tins
2. Put the sugar, eggs and oil in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
3. Slowly add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until well mixed.
4. Stir in the grated carrots and walnuts by hand until they are all evenly dispersed. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, or until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched.
5. Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Cinnamon Frosting

• 300g icing sugar , sifted
• 50g unsalted butter , at room temperature
• 125g cream cheese, cold
• 2 tsp cinnamon – to taste

Method:

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
2. Add the cream cheese and cinnamon in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed
3. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.
4. To finish spread the top of two sponges with the icing and put on top of each other. Cover the top of the cake with the remainder of the icing.

Happy Baking

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