Aztec Chocolate Orange Cake
An alluring Aztec chocolate orange cake from The Little Book of Chocolat. By Joanne Harris, the delicious cake recipe is elegantly topped with edible gold leaf.
Introduction
This light but decadent chocolate-orange cake also looks marvellous sprinkled with a little edible gold leaf …
Ingredients
| Butter for greasing tin | |
| 200g | butter, soft |
| 200g | unrefined golden caster sugar |
| 4 | eggs, beaten |
| Zest of 2 unwaxed oranges | |
| 200g | self-raising flour |
| Juice of 1 orange | |
| For the syrup: | |
| Juice of 2 oranges | |
| 75g | unrefined golden caster sugar |
| For the topping: | |
| 100ml | double cream |
| 150g | dark chocolate, broken into small, even-sized pieces |
| Zest of 1 unwaxed orange | |
| Edible gold leaf (optional) |
Essential kit
You will need a 24cm non-stick savarin cake tin.
Method
Heat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Butter a 24cm non-stick savarin cake tin.
Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat together until soft and creamy. Add the eggs and orange zest and whisk until blended. Add the flour and fold in quickly. Then add the orange juice and transfer to the prepared savarin tin. Cook in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes until the cake is well risen and a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
To make the syrup, place the orange juice and sugar in a small pan on a gentle heat and mix until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool.
Remove the cake from the oven and spoon the orange syrup over it. Leave to sit for 5 minutes, then turn the cake out on to a cooling wire.
To make the topping, heat the cream in a small pan. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, add the cream and blend until smooth. Leave to cool until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Place a tray under the cooling rack and spoon the chocolate coating over the cake evenly. Finally, top with orange zest (or some edible gold leaf) and leave to set.
Takes 50 minutes, plus cooling.
