Tag: orange cake

Makes: 8 inch cake (4 layers)

Time required: 5 hours in total, over 2 nights

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

Scrolling through my Instragram feed, I’m constantly drooling over posts of drip cakes so I was very keen to try making one for a birthday party I attended last weekend. Flavour-wise: I decided on a chocolate-orange combination – most people either love or hate the chocolate & orange flavours together. However, having previously baked a chocolate & orange entremet which friends raved about and providing choc-orange macarons as wedding favours (which none of the 150 guests complained about) … I’ve concluded that most people love it.

The components of this cake:

• four layers of orange flourless cake (gluten free and relatively healthy?),
• held together with cream cheese frosting, orange jam, chocolate ganache,
• coated in a thicker layer of the cream cheese frosting,
• covered in dripping chocolate
• topped with candied orange decorations and chocolate shards

Ingredients:

Orange Flourless Cake:

• 10g melted butter to grease
• 5 oranges
• 7 eggs
• 150g caster sugar
• 600g almond meal
• 2 tsp baking powder

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 750g cream cheese
• 200g butter
• 300g cups icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla bean paste
• 3 drops orange food colouring (optional)
• 60ml Cointreau (optional)

Orange Jam:

• 3 oranges
• 200g caster sugar

Chocolate Ganache:

• 150g dark chocolate
• 150ml cream

Candied Orange:

• 1 orange
• 1.5 cup water
• 200g caster sugar

Chocolate Drip:

• 150g dark chocolate
• 200g butter

Chocolate Shards:

• 200g dark chocolate

Instructions:

Orange Flourless Cake:

1. preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius, grease 2x 8 inch pans with melted butter
2. in a large pot, bring oranges to boil
3. continue to cook for 15 minutes, drain and repeat. Drain again and place the oranges in cold water
4. place oranges in a food processor until smooth
5. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until thick and pale
6. fold in the orange, almond meal and baking powder until just combined
7. evenly distribute the cake mixture into the two 8 inch pans
8. bake for 50mins, then set aside for 15mins to cool before removing from the pan

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. beat cream cheese with butter until soft
2. whisk in icing sugar, 50g at a time and whisk until light and fluffy
3. add in vanilla, cointreau and orange food colouring and whisk once more to combine. if you would like to make an ombre effect with the orange frosting, split the frosting into several batches and add different amounts of orange colouring to each

Orange Jam:

1. Juice the oranges and place in small pot with sugar over low-med heat
2. continue stirring for 10-15mins until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens
3. set aside to cool

Chocolate Ganache:

1. bring cream to boil then pour over chocolate
2. set aside for 2 mins for the chocolate to soften, and then stir to combine

Candied Orange:

1. thoroughly wash oranges to get rid of any waxy residue
2. cut the orange into 1/4 inch slices
3. heat water and sugar in a pot until the sugar dissolves
4. bring to a gentle boil and add the orange slices
5. after 15min, flip the slices and continue to cook on low-med heat for another 15mins until the peel becomes translucent and the syrup has thickend
6. place the oranges on a wire rack on top of a lined baking sheet to cool

Chocolate drip:

1. melt chocolate over a double boiler
2. remove from heat and stir in butter to melt
3. set aside for 10mins before the chocolate drip is the right consistency to use on the cake

Chocolate shards:

1. temper chocolate over a double boiler
2. spread thin layer of the melted chocolate over acetate sheet and set aside to cool and harden
3. once the chocolate has set, break into rough triangular shards for decorations

Assembling the cake:

1. cut the two 8inch cakes into two discs to make four cake layers
2. place the first cake layer on a 9inch cake board
3. spread a thin layer of chocolate ganache over the cake
4. gently cover the ganache in a layer of cream cheese frosting
5. drizzle a small amount of the orange jam over the cream cheese layer
6. top with next cake layer
7. repeat steps 3-6 for each of the cake layers
8. once the cake has formed its shape, spread a thin layer of cream cheese frosting over the cake as a crumb coat
9. then apply a thicker layer of cream cheese frosting and smooth over the cake
10. set aside in the fridge (preferably overnight) to cool
11. remove the cake from the fridge. Using a spoon, top the cake with the chocolate drip by carefully drizzling a small spoonful of ganache at a time to the edge of the cake. Slightly rotate the cake and repeat until all the top edges of the cake are covered in the chocolate drip
12. pour the rest of the chocolate drip onto the top of the cake

The most exciting part is of course decorating the cake. I opted for chocolate shards, candied orange and bay leaves, using the leftover cream cheese frosting to hold the decorations together.

I got a little carried away with the chocolate shards and had to remove a few shelves from the fridge to fit the cake




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