Orange-chocolate syrup cake
Love jaffa vibes? Then get on this cake. It’s seriously delicious, with sour cream adding to the overall choc-orange-butter-eggs richness. And, as if 275g of sugar in the batter wasn’t enough, there’s a whole heap more lurking in the syrup plus in the glazed orange situation that goes on top. Which you could skip, BTW, if you can’t be buggered making it, although it ain’t that hard. You just need a good sharp knife to neatly slice the fruit, and to remember to soak it in boiling water the night before you cook. This helps soften the skin. The gloopy orange slices do give the whole thing an impressive-looking finish though, and for relatively little effort. And sometimes, we are ALL about relatively little effort. Well, OK, most times we’re about this. It’s a good cake for any occasion; a birthday, a dessert to take to your mates, or just to whip up for the absolute heck of it. You need it on your weekend baking schedule, stat!
MAKES 1 x 21cm CAKE
185g softened unsalted butter
1 tbsp grated orange rind
275g (1¼ cup) caster sugar
4 eggs
185g (¾ cup) sour cream
300g (2 cups) plain flour
½ tsp baking soda
100g dark chocolate, chopped
Orange syrup
110g (½ cup) caster sugar
60ml (¼ cup) orange juice
4 tsp lemon juice
Glazed oranges
2 navel oranges, thinly sliced
500ml (2 cups) boiling water
275g (1¼ cups) caster sugar
For the glazed oranges, place the oranges in a heatproof bowl, pour over the boiling water, then stand overnight. Transfer the mixture to a smallish saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, then cook for about 35 minutes or until the orange rind is tender, adding a little more water if necessary to keep the orange just covered. Add the sugar, then simmer for about 45 minutes or until the liquid is very reduced and syrupy and the oranges are glazed. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 165C. Grease and flour the side of a 21cm cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
For the orange syrup, combine the ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, then cook for 5 minutes or until reduced and thickened slightly. Set aside.
Using electric beaters, cream the butter, orange rind and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each. Sift together the flour and baking soda, then stir the mixture into the creamed mixture, alternating with large spoonfuls of the sour cream. Stir in the chocolate, then spoon into the prepared tin, smoothing the top even. Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester withdraws clean.
Use a wooden skewer to make holes all over the surface of the cake, then slowly pour over the syrup. Stand the cake in the tin to cool and the syrup to absorb.
When the cake is cool, turn it onto a serving plate and decorate the top with the glazed orange slices.
