Chocolate Orange Cake

By Sasa Stucin + Jan Vranjek, posted 7 months ago

Not for the impatient ones. The recipe is a wonderfully juicy and tasteful chocolate cake inspired by a recipe from our favorite deserts book, Cubo Deserts. We added cardamom, which gives the cake a fine touch and modified the filling and icing of the cake.

Serves 1 cake

Cake Base:

• 2 organic oranges
• 5 eggs
• 220 gram(s) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 250 gram(s) finely ground blanched almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1. Cook whole, unpeeled oranges in covered pot on low heat for 2 hours. Put enough water in pot to float oranges.
2. Cut oranges into pieces and puree in a blender to get thick orange puree.
3. Preheat oven to 190 C. Mix only slightly to combine eggs and sugar. Add orange puree, baking powder, almonds and cardamom to the egg mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon.
4. Put a sheet of waxed paper on bottom of 22 cm wide springform pan and pour orange mixture into pan. bake for 1 hour. Leave cake base to cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Filling and Chocolate Icing:

• 175 gram(s) chocolate (Lindt 70%)
• 400 milliliters cream
• 3 egg whites
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 150 milliliters cream
• 20 gram(s) unsalted butter
• 175 gram(s) chocolate (Lindt Intense Orange)

1. FILLING - Melt chocolate (Lindt 70%) in bowl placed over pot with simmering water. Let cool to lukewarm. Whip cream and add mix in vanilla extract. Whisk egg whites until firm peaks form. Add sugar and whisk until all sugar is dissolved.
2. Fold one quarter of whipped cream into melted chocolate using spatula. Carefully fold in egg whites with sugar. Fold this mixture into remaining whipped cream and mix only until filling is uniformly colored.
3. ASSEMBLING - Cut off the top of the cake, because it will be harder than the rest. Slice cake base horizontally into 3 equally thick pieces. Place the top piece on a plate and cover the sides with the springform ring or with acetate foil. Set 5 tablespoons of the filling to one side. Put half of the remaining filling on the first base. Level the filling and place the second round on it. Put the other half of the filling on it, level it and cover with the third round. Put 2 tablespoons of the reserved filling on top of the cake and spread evenly. Freeze cake for 1 hour. Remove springform ring or acetate and spread remaining filling on sides of cake. Freeze for another 30 minutes.
4. ICING - Bring cream (150 ml) to boil in a saucepan and remove from heat. Chop chocolate (Lindt Intense Orange) into small pieces and mix with hot cream. Add Butter. Stir until all chocolate melts. Let cool to lukewarm, stirring several times during cooling.
5. Put a few spoonfuls of icing on top of cake and level carefully using spatula. The warm chocolate may melt some filling and mix with it, but it will cool very quickly. In a few minutes, apply a second coat of icing and level the top using spatula. Use the remaining icing to cover the sides of the cake. Refrigerate for 3 hours.
6. DECORATION - For decoration I would suggest candied orange slices. Here is simple and not long lasting technique. Take an orange, slice it lengthwise and cut slim slices. Mix 200 ml of water and 190 grams of caster sugar, bring to a boil and add the orange slices. Let it boil for about 8 minutes, then reduce the heat and continue cooking cooking and occasionally turning until the syrup is thick, for about 30 minutes. The liquid will thicken and become a syrup, which can be saved and used in other dishes. Remove from heat, let cool to lukewarm and remove from pan.