Fantastic chocolate cake

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Today I want to share an amazing dessert that will go perfectly with your afternoon tea. We'll prepare a moist chocolate cake with a hint of orange that we will decorate with a simple mascarpone-based filling.

 
The chocolate and orange combination is simply fantastic. Incredibly moist chocolate cake tastes almost as if it was soaked. Both cocoa and orange flavour are easy to get, while cake sweetness is perfectly balanced with bold chocolate filling. The cake is essentially fairly simple to make, yet it is guaranteed to impress your guests.

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients (circular tin, 20 cm in diameter)

  • 175 g (1 heaped cup) wheat flour
  • 50 g (~4 tbsp) dark cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 125 g soft butter
  • 250 g (~1 and 1/4 cup) sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 200 ml orange carbonated drink (I'm using Fanta)
  • Zest of 1 orange

Filling and decoration

  • 250 g mascarpone cheese
  • 250 ml whipping cream
  • 150 g dark chocolate
  • 2 squares dark chocolate, for grating

Method

  1. Sift 175 g wheat flour, 50 g dark cocoa, 1 tsp baking soda and 0.5 tsp baking powder into a large bowl. Once you remove all lumps, stir through the contents of the bowl with a whisk, until everything gets evenly distributed in flour.
  2. Put 125 g soft butter and 250 g sugar into a separate large bowl. Cream them together with an electric mixer until sugar dissolves and smooth, quite fluffy mixture forms.
  3. Once you get desired texture, start adding 3 large eggs, dry ingredients and 200 ml carbonated orange drink in turns. Mix batter shortly until each ingredient at low speed only until combined. Try not to overmix the batter to avoid tough, dense cake. The batter may look like splitting after each drink portion. It's completely normal; once you add flour everything should combine without any problems. At the end mix in zest of one orange.
  4. Pour ready batter into a greased baking tin, 20 cm in diameter, lined with baking paper. Spread batter across the surface and even out the top with a silicone spatula.
  5. Put the cake into an oven preheated to 160 deg C (no fan) for around 60 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Take ready cake out of the oven and set it aside in the baking tin to cool slightly, for 10, 15 minutes. Take it out of the baking tin then, place it on a wire rack and set aside for at least 2 hours to cool completely.
  6. Once cake is cool, prepare a simple chocolate filling. Put 150 g dark chocolate (72%) into a small ovenproof bowl. Put the bowl into a microwave oven for 15 seconds, take it out, stir chocolate shortly and return it into the microwave for another 15 seconds. Repeat the steps until chocolate melts completely. Set chocolate aside to cool slightly, until it becomes lukewarm.
  7. Put 250 g cold mascarpone cheese into a separate large bowl and add 250 ml cold whipping cream (36%). Cream them together with an electric mixer until the mixture becomes thicker and the mixer beaters start leaving visible traces. Don't beat cream until stiff; it will thicken up even further once you add chocolate.
  8. Add cool chocolate to cream and mascarpone mixture. Mix it in shortly at low speed, only until chocolate becomes evenly distributed in cream.
  9. Cut cool cake in half using a long serrated knife or a string knife. Even out the top if you want. Cake will be very delicate shortly after cooling, so be careful not to break it.
  10. Smear a bit of chocolate filling on a cake board or plate you'll serve it on. This will prevent the cake from shifting. Place the bottom cake half on the plate, cover it with 1/4 of chocolate filling and spread it with a spatula across the whole surface. Place the second cake half on top and cover it with the next part of filling. Use enough to cover the cake and bind any crumbs that will make decorating more difficult. Move on to the sides next. Cover them with chocolate filling and fill any potential gaps between the cake layers. Take excess filling off with a wide spatula and fill any holes that may appear. Repeat these steps until you're happy with the result. Once cake is ready, grate two squares of dark chocolate on top.
  11. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

  • 410 kcal
  • Carbs: 33 g 
  • Fat: 28 g
  • Protein: 6 g
  • Fibre: 1 g

1 slice (recipe makes 12 slices)

  • 484 kcal
  • Carbs: 38 g 
  • Fat: 34 g
  • Protein: 7 g
  • Fibre: 2 g

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