Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

Ever since I started Flavia's Flavors, I quickly came to realize that Daylight Savings Time is one of the biggest saboteurs of food blogger's photo efforts once the clocks fall back an hour in the Fall.  It's been driving me batty since Sunday, November 1, 2009.  My little point-and-shoot takes decent pictures, but it's just not equipped to capture great indoor photographs indoors under incandescent lighting (as evidenced by some of the garish photos in previous posts; yikes.).  That will soon be changing, as we are currently in the market for a digital SLR camera, and are diligently doing our homework on brands, body styles and lenses.  Fortunately, for this post, I managed to get some pretty good pictures since I made this decadent cake in the afternoon with plenty of natural light streaming through our windows.  I am especially more disciplined in practicing my (still very amateur) photography skills as I participate in Project 365, where I am basing the bulk of my daily photo posts on food, so that as this blog evolves, so will the quality of my food photos.  Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes.

Thankfully, there was no learning curve when it came to making this cake, due largely in part to the fact that Ina Garten's recipes always work.  I've read countless times how you should never attempt to make a new recipe for a dinner party until you've done a test run, but I've broken this rule umpteen times because I know if I'm making one of Ina's recipes, it will always turn out well.  This cake was no exception.

 

If you have always been skeptical about the orange-chocolate combination, let me just tell you this: you're missing out and you need to discover (quickly!) the lusciousness of this flavor combination.  Even better is the rich, buttery pound cake that's flecked with orange zest, studded with partially melted chocolate chunks, perfumed with orange juice, rendered unbelievably moist with buttermilk, and then given even more flavor by being lightly basted with an orange juice-sugar syrup while it is still warm.  Oh, and then it's topped with more chocolate--ganache, no less.  Still skeptical?  I didn't think so.

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten

For the cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

¼ cup grated orange zest

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

¾ cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

For the syrup

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

For the ganache

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

½ cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. instant coffee granules, optional (I omitted this and it still tasted good)

Preheat the oven to 350°  Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.  Zest the oranges and squeeze the orange juice for both the cake and the syrup, and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.  In a measuring cup or bowl, mix together the orange juice, buttermilk and vanilla extract and set aside. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time and then add the orange zest, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary and making sure all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Over medium-low speed, add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Toss the chocolate chunks with 2 tablespoons of flour in a small bowl (this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the batter when the cake is baking) and then stir them in over very low speed or by hand.

Pour the batter into the Bundt pan, smooth out the top with a rubber spatula and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

While the cake is cooling, make the syrup.  In a small saucepan, over low heat, combine the remaining ¼ cup orange juice with the sugar and allow to cook until the sugar dissolves, stirring frequently.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

Remove the cake from the pan and set it on a cooling rack over a baking sheet and spoon the orange syrup over the cake.  Allow the cake to finish cooling completely.

For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream and coffee granules (if using) in a double boiler until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.  Do not allow the water in the bottom of the double boiler to boil rapidly--you want it to be at a gentle simmer and the water should not come in contact with the bottom of the bowl where you are melting the chocolate.  Place the cake on a rack over a baking sheet and drizzle the ganache over the cake.  Serve and store at room temperature.

Comments

[Flavia]

Thanks for your comment, Michelle. This cake was very, very good and was a hit at the dinner party I brought it to--everyone loved it. Have fun making it--your kitchen is going to smell wonderful when it's baking!

[Michelle Nichols]

Oh man oh man! This cake looks amazing! I have every thing I need in my pantry I might have to make this tonight!!

Great picture!!

I know what you mean about the time change, I hate it. I also I have a little point and shoot, does no good in my kitchen once the suns sets.