Orange Chocolate Bundt Cake

Amarante

Tue, Feb 23 2021, 10:47 am

I love a good Bundt cake since it always looks impressive since I don't have impressive skills at decorating with frosting/icing. Also they are one bowl and are easy to make

If you don't have buttermilk curdling cream works just as well to provide the acid for taste and rise. There is nothing as delicious as desserts made with real butter - so I seize the opportunity of making when I am serving fish or straight up dairy. Smile

And Bundt cakes freeze well - I slice and wrap really well and then they are perfect portions for a nosh.

Orange and chocolate are classic flavor combination but the use of the orange peel and the chocolate chunks makes it a bit more sophisticated.

Orange Chocolate Bundt Cake

Excerpt From: Ina Garten - Barefoot Contessa Parties!

MAKES ONE 10-INCH BUNDT CAKE

For years, Barefoot Contessa has been making a wonderful orange pound cake that is moist and flavorful. When my friend Anna Pump at Loaves and Fishes added chocolate chunks to her orange cake, I thought it was such a good idea that I borrowed it and added chocolate chunks to ours. The combination of tart, citrusy orange with sweet chocolate has been a big hit.

½ pound unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
¼ cup grated orange zest (4 large oranges)
3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¾ cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups good semisweet chocolate chunks

FOR THE SYRUP

¼ cup sugar
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

FOR THE GANACHE

8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the orange zest.

Sift together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chunks with 2 tablespoons flour and add to the batter. Pour into the pan, smooth the top, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the sugar with the orange juice until the sugar dissolves. Remove the cake from the pan, set it on a rack over a tray, and spoon the orange syrup over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely.

For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Amarante

Tue, Feb 23 2021, 11:01 am

Lets_Eat_Pie wrote:

This sounds amazing!

And I'm the same way with bundt cakes - sadly can't decorate to save my life, so I appreciate when the bundt pan does the work for me Very Happy

And my layer cakes almost always are a bit lopsided so the cake looks slanted LOL

Not to mention that frosted cakes don't freeze well so they really need to be eaten very quickly.

My mother had the patience for layer cakes as she was meticulous - she quilted and sewed so that carried through. She even made one of those 7 layer cakes where you use string and toothpicks to make thin layers with the baked layers. Can't Believe It