It’s finally Christmas Day!
No matter how you plan on celebrating, this cake is the perfect cake to make for any occasion – racially considering its the holidays!
The cake starts with 3 layers of chocolate sponge cake, brushed with a simple syrup then they’re filled with chocolate Italian buttercream and a chocolate orange spread and coated with the same buttercream. Then applied an orange choc chip border around the bottom of the cake, a drip, piped rosettes on top. Then in-between the rosettes, slot in some Terry’s chocolate orange segments=, then on top of the rosettes sprinkle over some of the orange choc chip mix.
This cake screams out all chocolate orange flavours, mostly because its packed with as much orange as possible.
I can’t believe we have reached the end of Bakemas 2021 – this year has been something different but overall, it’s been a breeze. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?
Ingredients:
Cake:
375g butter.
375g granulated sugar.
2 large oranges, zested.
5 eggs.
1-2 tsp orange oil/orange extract.
325g plain flour.
50g cocoa powder.
2 tsp baking powder.
salt.
Italian buttercream:
I have a full recipe write up on this recipe, so why don’t you check that out? It’s right here.
Filling and decoration:
Orange choc chip mix.
Orange chocolate spread.
Terry’s chocolate orange, segments.
Method:
Before you get into making this cake, you’ll want to do some prep work. I personally like to start by weighing up all of the ingredients, lining 3×6 cake tins with some parchment paper, preheating the oven to 180˚c/350˚f and preparing any equipment such as a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and a spatula.
To start on the cake, you’ll want to grab your mixing bowl and place in the butter and granulated sugar. Beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this should take around 7-10 minutes but may take more time, depending on how you’re mixing them together.
You can then go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.
Now you can go ahead and add in the eggs, roughly one at a time, beating well in between each addition. You may notice as the egg is added, that the mixture starts to curdle slightly and this is normal (you will be able to fix it at the next stage).
Don’t forget to give the bowl another scraping down, again just to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully incorporated.
You can now go ahead and add in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder, passing them through a sieve first (this is to remove any lumps that may be in the mix).
Start the mixture on a medium-low speed, working your way up to a medium-high speed, just until the flour has been incorporated. You may need to add some milk to help with the consistency (I find a tablespoon at a time works really well).
Give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated earlier on.
You can then transfer the cake batter into your lined cake tins, spread and level it out and then place into the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
While your cakes are in the oven, its the perfect time to make the Italian meringue buttercream.
Allow the cakes to cool fully before you use them.
To start I start by levelling the cake, so you have two layers and then generously brush over the simple syrup. Leave the cake layers on a cooling rack until you need them.
To start the assembly, take your board/plate/stand and smear a small amount of buttercream into the centre. This is to secure the cake into place and ensure it stays there, then top a layer of cake on top. Top this with a liberal amount of buttercream and level it out, spread over a generous amount of chocolate orange spread and repeat the process until you have no layers of cake left.
Pipe buttercream all around the cake, then scrape away excess and place into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of choice.
Around the bottom of the cake, I take the orange choc chip mix and create a sort of border but this is optional.
Place the cake into the fridge and allow to cool. Now is the ideal time to warm the chocolate orange spread, just enough to make sure it runs down the cool cake enough, if its too hot, let it cool down until its the right consistency.
Remove the cake from the fridge and apply the drip. I find adding the chocolate into a piping bags gives me the most control but you do it however works best for you. Allow the cake to chill in the fridge until he drip has firmed up some.
Now you can take the excess buttercream and pipe rosettes on top of the cake, filling the centre with chocolate orange spread and topping the rosettes with the matching orange choc chip from the bottom edge. In between the rosettes, I like to place Terry’s chocolate orange segments, to further enhance that chocolate or age flavour
Then chill until needed.
That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.
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