Spiced Chocolate Orange Cake

Okay I confess this cake isn’t exactly golden in colour – more a hazelnut brown but I’m allowed a little poetic license aren’t I? It is a Spiced Chocolate Orange Cake with an Orange Toffee filling. 

The ‘gold’ comes from the chocolate I used; Green & Blacks Maya Gold a dark chocolate with a warm hint of orange offset by cinnamon and vanilla.  A lovely chocolate to eat, a really delightful chocolate to bake with.

Inspired by reading The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook: Old-Fashioned Recipes from New York’s Sweetest Bakery (Jennifer Appel & Allysa Torey) I decided to measure out my ingredients in American cups.  I always used to find cups rather confusing – give me a set of weighing scales any-day but now, so long as I don’t have to measure out butter, cups suit me just fine.

I decided to use sunflower oil instead of butter to make a lighter crumb, especially with using pulped oranges which kept the cake incredibly moist. 

The filling really was just an experiment; something I’d never tried before but will definitely do again.  I couldn’t believe that three basic ingredients (condensed milk, orange flower water and honey) could become something so moreish, yum!

Orange flower water seems to be something you either love or hate, there is no middle ground. 

It is is a clear, distillation of fresh bitter-orange blossoms that is most frequently seen used in Middle Easter cuisine. 

In my opinion it is a gorgeous ingredient, I love it, but the smell can be rather fusty and off putting, however the taste is mellow and provided you don’t go adding it by the bucket load isn’t that strong. 

In this recipe the flavour is nicely offset by the bitter edge of the chocolate and sweetness of the condensed milk.