I love orange and chocolate – combine these flavours with some bitter coffee, and you have a sophisticated trifle. Sort of.
I know this isn’t a proper trifle, but it has layers and is in a dish. It works for me; an iced cake smothered in cream!
This is a pretty rich dessert (my favourite type), because all the cream and butter keeps you nicely satiated. You can, as I die, serve it with plain yoghurt if you want to cut through the richness.
Look at those layers! Buttery, dense chocolate cake; rich, sweet frosting; fluffy cream.
I actually made double this recipe, and cooked half the cake in a loaf tin to give as a birthday present. You can do this if you like – just serve the cream alongside.
Serves 6
Preparation time: 30 minutes (plus cooling)
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
Cake:
– 125 grams butter, softened
– zest and juice of 1 small orange
– 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
– 4-5 Tablespoons dextrose, to taste
– 2 eggs
– 1/3 cup cocoa powder
– 1 1/4 cups plain flour
– 2 teaspoons baking powder
– milk
Icing:
– 75 grams butter, softened
– 1/3 cup cocoa powder
– 3 Tablespoons dextrose
– 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder (I used decaf)
– milk
Topping:
– 1 cup cream, whipped
– 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
– pinch dextrose
– 1 Tablespoon coconut oil, melted
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a 20 cm oven-proof dish with butter.
2. Blend the butter, half the zest/ juice, cinnamon, and dextrose in a food processor until creamy. Blitz in the eggs, cocoa, flour, and baking powder. Blend in enough milk to form a soft-dropping batter.
3. Spread into the dish and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until an inserted skewer emerges clean. Let the cake cool before refrigerating until cold.
4. Meanwhile, blitz together all ingredients for the icing (plus remaining orange juice and almost all the zest) until creamy. Add enough milk to make it spreadable. Smooth onto the cake.
5. Top the iced cake with cream. Mix together the cocoa, dextrose, and coconut oil, then drizzle this onto the cream and garnish with the last orange zest. Chill until ready to serve, and enjoy! 🙂
