Dark Chocolate Orange Cake

I made this dark chocolate and orange cake and adapted the instructions for a North American audience. The recipe calls for chocolate chips; I made it as requested, but I really feel like miniature chocolate chips would be better here, especially since they all sank to the bottom. But when I voiced my opinion, both the Engineer and the Little Prince said that they love the texture of those chips in the cake and would not change it. So I guess it’s your choice how you make it!

For the cake
1 ½ cups plain flour
½ cup cocoa powder (I used 50 g)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
zest of 1 orange
1 cup dark chocolate chips (see note above)

For the icing
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
zest of 1 orange
juice of ½ an orange

To decorate (optional)
sliced orange, physalis, sliced kumquats, chocolate curls

Preheat your oven to 350 °F, grease a large cake tin (I used a 9” springform pan) and line the bottom with greaseproof paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients with a whisk. Make a well in the center and add your wet ingredients and the orange zest. Whisk together until a thick but pourable batter forms. Fold in the chocolate chips and pour into the cake tin. Bake for an hour, until the cake no longer jiggles when shaken and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean (because of the chocolate chips it won’t come out completely clean.)

Set aside to cool completely in the tin; once cooled, refrigerate for an hour or overnight top make sure that the chocolate is really set.

Remove your cake from the fridge and carefully take it out of the tin. Make the icing by combining all the ingredients and mixing thoroughly until you get a thick, spreadable mixture. Pour all the icing onto the middle of the cake and, using a spoon, spread the icing carefully to the edges of the cake, allowing some to drip down the sides (but not too much.)

Top with physalis, or whatever you fancy using to decorate it! This cake is delicious as it is, but is also really fudgy and comforting when eaten warm (if you want to eat it warm, just pop your slice in the microwave for 20 seconds and enjoy!).