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Orange Sponge Cake with Chocolate Filling

It’s freezing cold in Sydney today, so what better excuse would there be to crank up the oven and get baking?

I’ve never actually made a humble sponge cake before, so I thought I’d give it a whirl!! I did a twist on the classic victoria sponge by adding some orange to my cakes, and filing it with chocolate instead of jam and cream…..good decision….very good decision!

This is probably one of the easiest recipes I’ve ever made – you can have it mixed and in the oven in minutes.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 eggs
225g/8oz caster sugar
225g/8oz self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
225g/8oz soft butter
Orange zest
Juice of half an orange
Addition 2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 pack dark chocolate melts
Icing sugar for dusting

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
Grease 2 x 6 inch baking pans with butter or olive oil spray, then dust with flour
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl with an electric hand mixer, then add orange zest, sifted flour, and baking powder and continue mixing to combine.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden, and coming away from the edges of the pan – they should be springy to touch.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer onto wire racks
Mix the juice of half an orange with 2 tablespoons of caster sugar. Lightly brush the juice mix over each cake (this will make them moist, and extra orangy)
Melt chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, ensuring the bowl does not touch the water!!
Spread chocolate over the top of one cake, then layer the second cake on top. Dust the top cake with icing sugar.

Pure citrusy goodness!! Do you enjoy a classic sponge cake!?

Chocolate Espresso Funfetti Bundt Cake

Nothing spells fun like sprinkles!! Today I purchased a Bundt cake pan….which is basically a regular cake pan, with some cool shapes in it, and a hole in the middle!!! Best $20 I ever spent… this cake is the bomb!! It’s Lachy’s birthday, so chocolate cake was called for!! This cake was so good that I’m currently trying to find people to visit and eat it, so that we don’t eat the whole thing!!

I used this recipe from Joy the Baker – but made a couple of small tweaks…I made a simpler ganache (because I was too lazy to add additional ingredients), and brushed the cake with a wash of orange juice and castor sugar before icing, for added moisture!!

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon brewed coffee
3/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoon canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups, plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted

For the Ganache:

1 pack dark chocolate melts
1/2 cup of thickened cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
Grease a 10 inch Bundt Cake Pan
To make the cake batter: Put brewed coffee and cocoa powder in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat and let come to room temperature.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a whisk attachment, mix together sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs and egg yolk on low speed for about 1 minute.
Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract and mix on low again for another minute.
Add the flour and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
The batter will be very loose (it’s super liquidy, but don’t worry, it will work!!). Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely in the pan and then invert onto a cooling rack.
Make the ganache, by placing your chocolate and cream into a heat proof bowl. Place the heat proof bowl above a simmering saucepan of water, making sure your bowl does not touch the water!! Stir regularly, until mixture is runny and glossy. Ice cake quickly before your ganache goes hard!!

Add sprinkles!!

This made a great birthday cake for Lachy…and was enjoyed by all…especially Dash, who has now learned how to ask for “more cake!”

The texture of this cake is amazing…this is my new favourite chocolate cake…and the coffee flavour makes it even better. Have you made a bundt cake before? I can’t wait to make some other delicious bundt cake flavours!!

Easy Chocolate Tarts

I love chocolate tarts…almost (but not quite) as much as lemon tarts. Out of sheer caution, I made only two of these tarts (and as I predicted, I ate both of them…instead of dinner….with wine of course….all the food groups!!)

These are a super easy dessert to make and sure do taste amazing!! The best thing is, you only need a few ingredients to make them!!

I used frozen puff pastry, but you could also make these with a biscuit base if you want a no-bake option.

Ingredients:

Frozen puff pastry
200 mls thickened cream
200 grams dark chocolate melts
1 table spoon espresso coffee (disolved)
2 tablespoons of icing sugar

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius
Grease four mini tart pans
Press puff pastry into tart pans and trim edges
Use pastry beads to weight puff pastry to prevent it rising – bake pastry for 15 minutes, then remove from oven,
Remove pastry weights, and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until golden
Allow tart shells to cool
Melt the milk and dark chocolate together in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Remove from heat, stir until smooth, then allow to cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the coffee and fold in the icing sugar
Whip cream until soft peaks form, then fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the tart pans and chill for at least 2 hours until the chocolate filling is set (as you can tell from my photos, I was so eager to photograph, then subsequently eat my chocolate tarts, that I didn’t wait the full 2 hours for them to set).

Serve with all the trimmings – shaved chocolate, cream and strawberries! I suggest a 50:50 cream to tart ratio!!

Lindt Chocolate Brownies

Happy Easter!!! What better way to spend a rainy Easter Saturday than baking brownies and listening to Al Green, with my little Sous Chef Dash!!

In the spirit of Easter, I thought today’s baking post should most definitely be chocolate themed!!

Poor little fella really wanted to sample the goods, but unfortunately wasn’t so lucky!! No chocolate for this bubba!!

I used this recipe by Jamie Oliver – to make it super chocolately I used Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate, and dutch coca (it’s Easter time after all!!). They were easy to make, and tasted delicious (although extremely rich!!)

Ingredients

250 grams unsalted butter
200 grams Lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate
80 grams cocoa powder
65 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
360 grams caster sugar
4 eggs
** you can also add additional ingredients such as raspberries, walnuts or whatever you fancy!!!

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a square brownie tin with baking paper
Melt chocolate and butter in a large bowl over a pot of simmering water on the stove (make sure your bowl does not touch the water)
Sift flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder into a seperate bowl
Add melted chocolate mixture to dry ingredients
Beat eggs and add to mix, stirring until consistency appears silky
Bake for 30 minutes

Top – Country Road

Enjoy your Easter long weekend!! How will you spend it? Eating chocolate? Sleeping in? Chocolate induced naps? All of the above sounds pretty good to me!!!