twigg studios

A British baking blog, food photography

chocolate orange shard cake

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i have wanted to make a tiered cake for a while, i finally got around to it with this chocolate orange cake, i wanted it to have more orange than chocolate in the sponge so i halved the amount of cocoa i would usually use in a chocolate cake.
 i used marmalade and the chocolate orange cream cheese frosting between the layers then made chocolate orange shards to decorate it with.
originally there was going to be three layers but i broke one layer of sponge, luckily i like it better as two layers.
 i used small cake tins so this cake is not massive so it wont get wasted.
the great thing out this cake as it is made with the all in one method so its really easy.

recipe adapted from Mary Berry’s chocolate cake.
if you want the normal rich dark coloured chocolate cake then follow the main recipe if you want my lighter chocolate cake then follow my changes.
i have tried to do the cups converisons for you if you don’t have scales.
sponge
125g (1 cup) cocoa (i used 60g)
200ml boiling water (i used 100ml)
6 eggs
100ml milk
350g (2.5 cups) self raising flour
1 tbsp baking powder
200g (14tbsp) unsalted butter
550g(2cups and 1 half cup) caster sugar (i used 300g sugar)
zest or a orange
juice of half a large orange
frosting
 
in the bowl of a free standing mixer or a mixing bowl with a hand held mixer add
the eggs lightly beat to mix them, mix the boiling water and cocoa to mix together then add the milk to it and add to the mixture, with the butter and sugar mix again and add the flour, baking powder and orange juice and zest, mix the mixture until it becomes smooth and thick,
divide into three greased tins, bake for 35 minutes, remove the smallest one, then after 5/10 minutes more remove the medium one then leave the large one for 5 minutes more.
let cool and make the icing
 
300g (1.3 cups) cream cheese
250g plain chocolate
5 tbsp cocoa
200ml double cream
juice of half a orange
melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl on top of a pan of boiling water, then add the cream and stir in, add to the cream cheese and orange zest and mix together
 
slice the cakes in half and add marmalade and some of the cream between each layer, sandwich each cake on top of each other using some frosting,
i only used the two smaller tiers.
using a pallet knife add the frosting to the cake and smooth out. i added it to the sides of the cakes first then then worked it over the top.
 
chocolate shards
100g plain chocolate
100g dark chocolate 70%cocoa
zest of 1 orange
melt the chocolate and pour on to baking paper, spread out with a spatula, this cools it down and tempers it giving it is shine,
grate the zest of an orange over it and leave to harden,
while its still soft score lines in it so once it hardens it will be easier to remove it,
 
add the shards to the cake starting on the top later then add to the next layer down.
 

here it is sliced, it is on a small individual cake stand so that shows how small it is, i think its enough for a small gathering of 4 or 5 people,


 
 
sew chatty
not just a housewife
sew can do

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15 Comments

  6. This is one amazing cake. I must have been sooooo good. I really enjoyed this inspirational post. I would love it if you would share this post at our What’s It Wednesday linky party? Hope to see you there!

    Paula
    ivyandelephants.blogspot.com

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