Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

-
I wanted a chocolate recipe for an Easter cake, but wanted to try something a bit different. I love the flavour of orange with chocolate [yes, I did get a Chocolate Orange Easter Egg!!] so this French recipe seemed just the thing. It's made in a Bundt mould, which makes it look a little bit more special for an occasion.

For the cake you need - 150g sr flour,1 tspn baking powder, 100g ground almonds, 220g caster sugar, 150g butter [melted], 4 eggs, grated zest of 1 orange.
For the syrup you need - 220g caster sugar, 250ml orange juice, peeled zest of 4 oranges.
For the icing - 150g dark chocolate

Preheat oven 160C/gas3
Grease a Bundt tin or mould well or spray with a Cake Release spray.

To make the cake - grate the zest of the orange. Beat the eggs with the caster sugar till white and fluffy. Fold in the flour and baking powder. Melt the butter in a microwave then add to the mixture with the ground almonds and orange zest. Mix well.
Bake for 45-50 mins.
5 mins before cake is cooked make the syrup. Cut the peeled zest into thin strips. Put the sugar, orange juice and zest in a pan, and simmer gently over a low heat for about an hour till the zest is 'confit' or candied. When the syrup is thick, take pan off heat.
Take the cake out of its mould or tin and place on a wire rack with a plate underneath to catch the excess syrup. spread the syrup generously over the cake using a pastry brush.
Melt the chocolate for the icing over simmering water or in the microwave. When melted, pour over cake, letting it run down in the grooves in the sides of the cake.
Leave for a few mins for icing to harden a little then sprinkle the candied orange strips over the cake.


This is a good family sized cake. Everyone had a good slice and there was plenty left over. It has a nice moist texture with a good orange flavour.. I liked the contrast with the chocolate icing, but wasn't too sure about the candied zest. I thought there was too much of it. It was a change from cakes with Easter eggs. I'd like to try it with lime or lemon instead of the orange.












Comments

Suelle said…
This cake sounds perfect to me - I'm not sure about lemon or lime with chocolate!

It looks very good too - bundt cakes can be tricky to turn out.
3/4/16 2:03 am
Snowy said…
I used to love Chocolate Lime sweets, so thought the flavours might work in acake. Maybe not lemon!
3/4/16 10:49 am
Phil in the Kitchen said…
Chocolate and orange is always a winner and this sounds fine to me. I do enjoy eating candied zest but I do think it's best in very small doses.
3/4/16 3:36 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aberffraw cakes

-
Image
These were mentioned recently on the GBBO, so I thought I'd find out more about them. They're made on the Isle of Anglesey and are a traditional biscuit really, not a cake. They're served sprinkled with sugar and even with cream and jam, like a scone. The bit I liked was that a scallop shell is pressed into the top to give it a shell-like pattern. Nowadays, a lot of the Aberffraw cakes have the pattern put on with a knife. I have a bag of scallop shells, brought back from France so I used a genuine one to make my pattern. The recipe is a 3.2.1  - quite common for biscuits. This means 3 parts flour to 2 parts fat to 1 part sugar. 175g flour 110g butter 55g caster sugar a little milk more caster sugar for sprinkling over Preheat oven 190C/gas5. Grease a baking sheet. I used a processor to make my dough. Put flour and sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter. Bind together with a litle milk to make a soft dough. Roll out and cut out circles. I used a 7cm cutter an
Read more

Bakewell Pudding (or maybe not!)

-
Image
  I recently picked up a book in a local charity shop about 'Food of the British Isles'.It's a compilation of recipes from restaurants and cooks. I was especially interested in the Cake Section, as I've been wanting to try some of the more unusual British cake and pudding recipes for some time. This one isn't very unusual, but thought I'd try it as it's called a Bakewell Pudding and not a Tart. In the book, the writer says says that a Pudding is made with puff pastry and the Tart with shortcrust. Is it that simple? I bet a lot of local people would disagree with this definition! The writer made her puff pastry from scratch, but I bought mine, butter of course! For the Pudding you need : 500g butter puff pastry, 3 tbspn raspberry jam, 150g butter, 150g caster sugar, 3 eggs plus a yolk, beaten, 150g ground almonds, zest of a lemon,2 tspn almond extract, 1 tbspn flaked almonds and some icing sugar to dust the top. Preheat oven 190C/gas5        
Read more

Carrot Cake Muffins

-
Image
 I’m a great muffin fan and have adapted my basic recipe, given to me by an American friend, many times. This is my latest idea. I made the muffins and was asked by a friend if I could make some for a party with the icing you usually get on a carrot cake.  280g plain flour, 1 tbsps baking powder, 1 tspn mixed spice, pinch salt, 115g soft dark brown sugar, 200g grated carrot, 50g chopped pecans or walnuts, 50g sultanas, 2 eggs, 175ml milk, 6 tbsps sunflower oil Optional: icing - 75g soft cream cheese, 49g butter and 35g icing sugar, sprigs of orange zest Preheat oven 200C/gas6. Grease a muffin tin or use muffin cases. Sift together the flour, baking powder and spice. Add carrots, sugar walnuts and sultanas and stir together. In a jug add the milk, oil and beaten eggs. Mix well. Make a well in flour mix and add milk mixture. Stir gently till just mixed. Don’t over mix or muffins will be heavy. Soon into the muffin tin - I use an ice cream scoop. Bake for 20 mins till risen. Cool on a wir
Read more