On The Voyage Of Discovery For All Things Sweet!

 Nigella's Chocolate Orange Cake

I’ve started to try and bake cakes, cupcakes or cookies that I have never baked before but have tasted on my trips. Greedily discovering new tastes and ideas..

Just recently I was in Dubai and I had this amazing chocolate orange cake which was so good it just melts in the mouth then and there I decided to try and ask the recipe but the owner was not willing to let on the delicious cakes and after returning so wanted to try something like that and I stumbled upon a recipe on Jamie’s blog…Immediately I made up my mind to try Nigells’s Chocolate Orange Cake hoping that this will be something like that cause I could taste almonds & orange but the one in Dubai had flour and butter so I thought why not try this and let’s see, following the recipe provide on Jamie’s blog I made it on the same day…Was quite easy and I cut some thin slices of orange and put it on the base of the pan for decoration purpose then poured the batter it turned out great but I don’t know if the cake was supposed to be this bitter due to the peel or not but I found it a bit bitter and less sweet, the cake was moist and the texture was really good.

I took it with the evening tea to my family for the real acid test mmmmmm and it failed miserably with the family, they all took really big slices (as they always do) and I was waiting impatiently for the results after few minutes I saw everyone slowly putting their plates down and not looking towards me as if I was there horrible headmistress, I asked well? How did you guys liked the cake? They said Haa its fine! I was like mmmmmm just fine? Please be honest. My mom was like yah it’s ok!...my sister-in-law said I think you forgot to put sugar in it!..my sister ummhmm!..My brother said what is wrong with you could you not make just a simple gooyee luscious chocolate brownies!!.

Looking at them I said well just say it! And they all said together we hate it!! Except for my mom who said I don’t hate it yes it does tastes a bit bitter but has good texture and im sure this will taste better if I have it with some cream...I was very much expecting something like this!! Picking up my cake I said Fine!! You guys are not at all adventurous!!...My brother said how about a little adventure with some heavenly gooyee chocolate cake? I said huh!..And left with my cake…Hehe

In my head I was thinking the cake in my opinion was fairly ok was moist the texture was great and as for the bitterness I was wondering if this was supposed to be this bitter and less sweet? So I covered it and kept. The other day at evening tea I took a slice and drizzled a little cream and tried it OMG!! It tasted amazing! The bitterness was gone and it had gotten so moist and it was Delicious. I gave a slice to my mom and all they all said yah ok it’s a bit better but still we’re not a fan of it!.

Anyways if anyone knows of a Chocolate Orange Cake that just melts in your mouth with a wow! Factor tried and tested…Kindly send me the recipe or link. Thanks! =)

Recipe:
Adapted From Jamie

Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life cookbook

NIGELLA’S CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE

2 small or 1 large thick-skinned orange, makes between 1 – 1 ½ cups (@250 ml) purée
6 large eggs
1 heaping tsp (about 10 g) baking powder
½ tsp (2 g) baking soda
1 ¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar (or superfine)
2 cups (200 g) finely ground blanched almonds
½ cup (50 g) unsweetened, good quality cocoa powder
1 tsp fleur d’oranger (orange flower water), optional
½ tsp ground cinnamon, optional


Early in the day or, better yet, the day before, place the whole orange in a large saucapan and cover with cold water. (The orange will float and bob up at the surface of the water, but don’t worry about this.) Bring the water to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover and cook for 2 hours until the orange is soft. Drain and allow the orange to cool completely to room temperature. When cooled, cut the orange into quarters or eights, remove any seeds/pits and then purée (all of it, the peel, flesh, everything) in a food processor or grinder. Don’t worry if there are lovely little chunks or strips of peel visible. If doing this the day before, place in a clean bowl or jar, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and butter an 8-inch (20 cm) springform pan or one of similar volume. Line the bottom with parchment paper, allowing the parchment to come up about an inch or so up the sides.

Place the puréed orange pulp, the eggs, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, almonds, cocoa and the orange flower water and cinnamon if using, in a food processor or, as I did, in a large mixing bowl. Run the motor or beat the mixture until the batter is cohesive, well blended and smooth. It will be grainy because of the ground almonds and puréed orange. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out pretty clean. I used a taller, narrower tin so the cooking time was longer, so check often near the end. And you may have to cover the top of the cake with a piece of aluminum foil to prevent it from burning or cooking to fast.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool on a wire cooling rack. When the cake is cool, carefully take it out of the tin. I decorated the cake by drizzling warmed Bitter Orange Marmalade on the top (pretty and also heightens the orange flavor) and topping it off with sugar-rolled strips of candied orange peel.