Readers, I’ve been on a baking mission this week. I am also away for work this weekend and
right now, I’m in a lonely hotel room, awaiting a room service fish dish… So I figured, no better time to blog.
This week, one of my colleagues left work, so I promised her
a celebration cake. Chocolate had to get
involved in some way. (For her benefit, not mine, I promise!)
The lovely Sophie from Sophie Loves Food recently developed
an amazing Chocolate and Orange Marmalade Devil’s Food Cake Recipe for
Great British Food Magazine and this seemed like the perfect celebration
cake solution. I pretty much stuck to
Sophie’s recipe, apart from swapping golden caster sugar for regular caster
sugar, as it was all I had in the house.
I also used 2 x 8in cake tins, as I didn’t have 3 x 7in ones. I decided to use a sweet orange marmalade as
well, rather than the traditional bitter marmalade which Sophie worked with.
However, the recipe turned out well.
I also amended the frosting and decoration to create more of
a celebration cake. My colleagues were delighted with the cake and I believe, when I return
from my trip next week, I’m being greeted by an empty Tupperware tub!
The version of the recipe I used is below or to find
Sophie’s original recipe, click here
I have entered this recipe into #recipeoftheweek held at A Mummy Too
Chocolate and Sweet Orange Marmalade Devil’s Food Cake
Cake Ingredients
2 x 8in cake pans
3 large eggs, room temperature
280g unsalted butter, softened
340g caster sugar
125ml sour cream, room temperature1 tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
300ml boiling water
115g dark chocolate, chopped
75g cocoa powder
75g cocoa powder
Buttercream Ingredients
4 heaped tbsp sweet orange marmalade
100g dark chocolate, broken into squares
160g unsalted butter, softened
350g icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
Cake Method
- Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease two 8-inch deep sandwich tins and line the bottom of each with greaseproof paper.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in a teaspoon of flour with each egg to prevent curdling. Then beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and
salt and mix until well incorporated.
Mix minus chocolate ingredients - In a separate bowl, whisk together the boiling water,
chocolate and cocoa powder until smooth. Fold into the cake batter until just
incorporated.
Finished cake batter - Divide the batter evenly between the two tins, smooth the tops with a spatula and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Place the cakes in tins to cool on a wire rack. Whilst cooling, brush the tops of each with 2 tbsp of Mackays marmalade loosened with a dash of hot water.
- Allow to cool fully, remove from tins and prepare your buttercream.
Buttercream Method
- Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Beat the butter for a few minutes to soften and become easier to work with.
- Sift in the icing sugar. Continue to beat until you have a light, fluffy buttercream.
- In a separate bowl, decant from the jar 3 dessert spoons of
marmalade. Pass through a sieve and into
your buttercream. Ensure the peel doesn’t
pass through the sieve. Discard the peel. Beat into buttercream mixture.
Preparing the marmalade
Beat in the prepared marmalade - Beat in the cocoa powder, then, beat in the cooled
chocolate.
Delicious chocolate buttercream - Using a pallet knife, spread the buttercream over the top of one half of the cake and place the second half on top. Then, cover the top of the cake with buttercream and also the sides, to create a smooth, even finish.
- Add additional decorations and piping if desired.
Et Voila! Finished cake!
Claire’s Tips
- I stored this cake overnight in the refrigerator to help the frosting harden up and to ensure the cake retained its shape. I removed it a couple of hours prior to serving.
- I would store the cake in a refrigerator overnight once it’s been cut (if it’s not all eaten in one sitting!)
- Try adding an additional colour to the cake, with fancy piping on the top.
- A simple vanilla frosting would also work well with this
cake.
Close up of piping