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Thursday 29 December 2011

Orange cake with Chocolate Ganache


I just can't believe that time has flown by so fast......My husband and I just celebrated our 18th Marriage Anniversary on the 26th of December.That is why I wanted this cake to be absolutely perfect to celebrate our special day... little did I know what I was in for....
My husband loves dark chocolate and he also loves oranges, so I decided to combine both and thought of making a chocolate orange cake.Everything seemed perfect in the beginning. ..the whipping, mixing,blending - everything seemed to have gone well....making me feel quite confident that the cake would turn out the way I wanted... PERFECT!
I set the time in my oven for 50 minutes and put the cake inside to bake. While the timer was ticking away, my thoughts were preoccupied with the kind of icing I could do on the cake when all of a sudden my heart sank. The power went off and there were still 20 minutes left for the cake to bake. I couldn't believe that this could be happening to me. I cursed my luck and of course, the electricity,  to choose today of all days to play truant.(Ironically, the power hardly ever goes in our area). For a moment I thought of leaving the cake inside to cook in its own heat but soon I deserted the idea, when on opening the oven door, I realized the cake  was still quite wobbly in the center.
Then suddenly an idea struck me!! I rang up our local bakery shop, which is hardly a kilometer away and requested him if he could help me out by baking the cake in their oven, though I wasn't really sure if it would work. Thankfully the bakery guy was sweet enough to oblige. I drove to the bakery as fast as I could By the time I  reached there, the cake had already sunk a bit. I handed him the cake with a heavy heart as deep inside I  was pretty sure that nothing much could be done with it. Instead of waiting there, I decided to go around the market and finish my chores, all the while mentally preparing myself to bake a fresh cake as soon as I reached home. 
I came back after an hour and was told that the cake was done.Thanking him profusely, I returned home.The cake looked ok and seemed to have risen well, except the top crust was a little burnt and hard. Not expecting much, I gently ran a knife around the cake to loosen the sides and unmolded it. 
 I just couldn't believe my eyes.... To my utter surprise, the cake had baked to perfection - nice, dark, spongy and smelling heavenly. In fact, It was so moist that I did not even have to soak it as I had planned earlier. And needless to say everyone just loved it.
After all, as the saying goes - All's well that ends well.......




Ingredients
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp dried orange powder (Dry roast orange peels in a microwave for about 20 minutes and then grind into a powder)
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp yoghurt
1/2 cup orange juice
Grated zest of 2 oranges
For  the Ganache
200 ml cream 
150 gms dark cooking chocolate (cut into pieces)
50 gms butter, softened


Method
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Generously grease and flour a Bundt pan and keep aside.
Beat together the oil and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy, then add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. 
Sieve together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. 
Add the yogurt, vanilla essence,and orange juice.
 Beat by hand or with a mixer on low speed just until well-combined, about 1-2 minutes. 
Stir in the orange powder and the grated orange peel.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan, spreading so that it is evenly distributed.
Bake in a preheated oven for about 50 minutes or until a tester inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely in the pan for about an hour before inverting onto a serving plate.
Pour on the chocolate ganache glaze and let it set for at least 1 hour before serving.





Making the Ganache -
In a small saucepan bring cream just to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate and the  softened butter. Let ganache stand for 3 minutes and whisk until chocolate is melted and well combined. Let it cool for 10 minutes before glazing the cake.It can also be prepared in advance and then gently reheated in the microwave.



 

                                                                                                  

9 comments:

  1. That looks wonderful!
    I could never get the perfect settings for baking a cake in a microwave. The auto-cake feature does not give the desired results. I prefer to bake cakes using the pressure cooker. It is easy and less time consuming. Seeking help from the local bakery is a good idea.

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  2. Many congratulations! 18years, wow! Yr kids are wonderful.
    And the cake, awesome, I think I shud do this every time, ask the local baker to bake my cake. Loved the way it looks. Also found the dried orange powder very interesting.

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  3. Wow.. 18 years ..Happy anniversary and you look so young. The cake looks yummy. Have to find a house near a bakery and keep praying he turns out to be equally nice. Love the small surprises that life keeps throwing at us.
    Love Ash.

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  4. What a lovely cake. I am new to your blog, so I took some extra time to browse through your earlier posts. I'm so glad I did that. I really like the food and recipes you share with your readers and I'll definitely be back. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  5. Thanks Mary. I am so glad that you liked my recipes.

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  6. Yummilicious bake , perfectly done!!
    You have a fab space , happy to follow your space:-)
    Hope u'll drop by my space n join it too..

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  7. Thanks Julie for being part of my blog. Do keep visiting!

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