Chocolate Cake with a hint of Orange Flavor

Birthdays are remarkable, and they’re even more so when it’s your child’s. When the entire state of Texas was struck by a snowstorm a few months ago, my little man turned five. We were fortunate to have the power (though there was still the feeling that it could be taken away at any time), and there were so many close friends and family members, without power. Since the little fella requested a chocolate cake, and I am not a huge fan of chocolate cake, I decided to add some flavor enhancements. I discovered some oranges in the fruit basket, which greatly aided the chocolate cake’s flavor growth. I enlisted the help of my friend Nicky (themuffinbowl), an incredible baker who came to my rescue and gave me the courage to finish the job. Chatting with her and baking the cake was almost a cakewalk. Following is the recipe for Chocolate Cake with a hint of Orange Flavor.

Being a novice baker, provided me with a sense of accomplishment. I went with plain icing. We as a family have vowed to avoid synthetic ingredients as much as possible and stick to pure food, so the effort and method of creating each component gave me the pleasure of learning. Treating my little man was a great learning experience for me because I made so many mistakes and did so many things that I had never contemplated before.

Ingredients for the chocolate cake:

All-Purpose Flour – 1/2 cup
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – 4tbsp
Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp
Butter – 4 tbsp
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Milk – to adjust consistency (mine was approx a little lesser than 1/4 cup)
Egg – 1 large
Vanilla Extract – 1/2 tsp
Salt – a pinch

Ingredients for Butter Cream Frosting:

Butter – 8tbsp(t stick)
Powdered Sugar – 1/2 cup
Cocoa Powder – 2 tbsp
Freshly squeezed Orange Juice – 2 tbsp

Ingredients for the Ganache:

Milk Chocolate Chips – 1/2 cup
Syrup of Candied Orange – 4 tbsp
Orange Zest – 2 tsp

Ingredients for Candied Orange :

Orange – 1, cut into fine thin slices
Sugar – 1/4 cup

Toppings:

Pistachios: Finely chopped

Steps of Preparation for the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Mix all the wet ingredients (butter, vanilla extract, egg) thoroughly with the sugar.
Then add all the dry ingredients.
Once mixed, add milk to adjust the consistency to the cake-like batter(firm yet runny batter).
Now grease the cake pan with the butter and sprinkle some dry flour and dust the additional flour.
Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake for 30-35 mins until the toothpick comes clean.

Steps of Preparation for the buttercream:

Whisk the butter, sugar, cocoa powder in a hand whisker for 20 mins or stand mixer or hand mixer for 10-15 mins.
The butter creamy will be light and fluffy.

Steps of Preparation for the Candied Orange :

Take a wide bottomed pan, add the sugar, and 1 cup of water.
Once the water comes to a boil, add the orange slices.
Cook it for 5 mins.
Take off the slices in the cooling rack and keep them discrete in a single layer.

Steps of Preparation for the Ganache:

Prepare the double boiler, take a pan and pour in water and let it boil.
On top of the boiling water, keep a bowl and add the choco chips.
The chips will start to melt, in that time add some orange zest, the leftover syrup in which the orange was getting candied.

Steps of Assembly:

For assembly, make sure the cake is in the cooling rack for about 2-3 hrs, completely cooled off.
Then make sure to cut the cake into exact half horizontally, so that you end up having two cakes of equal size.
Now add the buttercream and mount the cake on top of each other.
Cover up the cake and give a good cover of the cake.
Then once the ganache is cooled off, add it on top of the iced cake.
I used my spatula to cover them and few drippings at the end to give an uneven finish.
Place the sliced oranges on top of the cake, chop the remaining candied oranges and place them on the sides.
Try dusting the chopped pistachios on the sides of the cake.

I hope you’ll have a memorable day baking this Chocolate Cake with a hint of Orange Flavor.