Dark Chocolate Orange Cake – Recipe

A cake for my friend Nasrin's birthday! My original pictures got corrupted, but she very kindly sent me some of her own snaps, so I could post the recipe with a picture on Tashcakes after all (yay!)

This cake tastes a lot like Jaffa Cakes, so if you like them this is the cake for you.

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Cake:

170g caster sugar

170g unsalted butter, softened

170g self-raising flour

6 eggs

Pinch of salt

Zest of 1 orange

Juice 1 orange

Ingredients for Buttercream:

125g unsalted butter, softened

250g icing sugar

A few drops orange oil extract

A few drops orange food colouring

Pinch of salt

For Filling:

3 tbsp thick cut marmalade

Ingredients for Ganache:

200g dark chocolate, broken up in a heatproof bowl

200ml milk

2 tbsp caster sugar

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180°C and grease and line a couple of 8" sandwich cake pans with baking parchment.

2. Whisk all of the ingredients for the sponge together in a bowl in one bowl until just combined and fluffy, divide between the pans and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cakes spring back to the touch when poked. Let cool completely.

3. For the buttercream, beat the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, and gradually add in the icing sugar. Whisk in the rest of the ingredients.

4. To make the ganache, bring the milk to a boil, pour over the chocolate and add the sugar. Stir until melted and leave to cool a little, until thickened but still pourable.

5. Sandwich the cake rounds with the marmalade and buttercream and set on a wire rack. Pour over the ganache and leave to set at room temperature before moving to a plate or cake board. If you want to add sprinkles, add them just after you've poured the ganache, before it sets.

Enjoy, and have fun.