CHOCOLATE AND ORANGE CAKE

It was my daughter's birthday and enjoyed making this cake with chocolate drops, orange zest and orange juice. The cake was nice and moist and had a  good texture with a fresh orange flavour. Cake covering was rich with double cream and chocolate but we all enjoyed it as a special treat. I decorated the cake with apple blossoms but decorate as how you like with chocolate or butter icing.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 cups of fresh orange juice
• grated rind of 1 orange
• 100 g chocolate drops

For the cake covering

• 200 ml double cream
•  200 g dark chocolate

METHOD

Sift flour with salt and baking powder. Set aside.

Separate the eggs.

Grate the orange .

Grease and flour a 25 cm kugelhopf  ring tin

Preheat the oven to 180 C, 160 Fan setting.

1) Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy with a hand held mixer. Add egg yolks one at a time whisking after each addition.

2) Fold the sifted flour with salt and baking powder into the creamed mixture. Add the orange juice mixing with a metal spoon. Stir in the orange rind and chocolate drops.

3) Whisk the egg whites  in a separate bowl until it is at soft peak stage and fold them into the mixture.

4) Pour into the prepared mould and bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes. 

5) Rewove the cake from oven and cool for 10 minutes in the tin. Then invert the cake onto a wire rack to cool for further 15- 20 minutes or until it is completely cool.

MAKE THE CHOCOLATE COVERING

1 )Bring cream to boil in a pan. Break chocolate into small pieces. Place the chocolate pieces into a heatproof  bowl and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Place the bowl with  cream and chocolate mixture over a pan with hot water. Bring water to boil and melt the chocolate gently, stirring all the time. When chocolate is completely melted, take of the heat.

2) Let it cool until just runny enough to pour the chocolate sauce over the cake.

3) Let the chocolate set before decorating the cake.