I'm joining in with the Cake Slice Bakers again this month baking from The European Cake Cookbook by Tatyana Nesteruk
A couple of the choices seemed really complicated but I was immediately drawn the the Marbled Chocolate Orange Bundt cake as a chance to use my beautiful Rose Bundt tin, which has languished unused in the back of the cupboard. And being the Easter weekend chocolate seemed a good choice.
The photograph in the book shows a simple glaze that shows off the beauty of the shaped cake and I was anxious whether my cake would turn out quite so beautifully.
I greased and floured my tin well. The actual cake was straightforward to make, it baked beautifully and turned out of the tin like a dream... I just wish I had taken a photograph at this stage! I then made the glaze according to the recipe and didn't really clock that it seemed more like an icing than a glaze. I poured it liberally over the cake but instead of sinking in and leaving just a touch of frosting as in the book it just sat and looked gloopy all over the surface! Not an attractive look!
I almost didn't share these photos! It's definitely not my best effort and it is hard to believe I used the same glaze recipe as the book, but I did! Fortunately my chief cake tester is not that discerning thought it looked just fine.
Of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating... and it tasted okay but for me it was neither one thing or another. Not quite orangey enough to be an orange cake, yet not overly chocolately either. So I'm not sure I'll be making it again, although if I do the glaze will be replaced with an orange drizzle... or I would bake it in a plain tin.
The recipe should you want to try it for yourself:
Ingredients
227g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar
4 large eggs
1 tspn vanilla essence
1/2 tspn orange oil
Grated zest from one orange
227 ml milk
250g
plain flour
4 tspn baking powder
100g white chocolate, melted
100g 72 % dark chocolate, melted
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C (160 fan) and grease a 23 cm bundt tin. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, along with a spoonful of flour with each addition and beat in well. Combine the flour and baking powder and fold into the batter with the zest, vanilla, orange oil and milk. Divide the mixture into two bowls and stir the white chocolate into one and the dark chocolate into the other. Gentle fold the two together to give a marbled effect and pour into the prepared tin. Bake for approximately 55 mins until baked through.
Cool in the tin for 15 mins and then turn out and cool completely. Combine 50 ml double cream with 125g icing sugar and the zest of an orange and pour over the cake for a nice gloopy topping!
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My other chocolate offering this weekend was a Mint and Pistachio chocolate fridge cake from Ottolenghi's book Simple. This is not hanging around and will definitely be made again!
Wishing you all a happy Easter and I hope there will be chocolate for you too!
Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The European Cake Cookbook by Tatyana Nesteruk. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!
Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.
The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.
Our choices for April 2019 were ~
1. Poppy Seed Smetanik
2. Rhubarb Strawberry Tea Cake
3. Opera Cake
4. Marbled Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake
Poppy Seed Smetanik
Marbled Chocolate Orange Bundt
Rhubarb Strawberry Tea Cake
I am drooling at the thought of both those cakes. How disappointing that the first recipe didn't come up to your expectations. You could probably tweak it to make it more flavoursome. The fridge cake looks so tempting. I am glad I am not near enough to eat a piece and ruin my efforts to lose a bit more weight. I find one lapse invites others!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear Ottolenghi came up trumps after the chocolate orange disappointment. Hope there was at least one piece with your name on it! Happy Easter.
ReplyDeleteWell full marks for getting the cake out of the tin intact, thats what I say, a feat in itself!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter Gina.
What a beautiful beautiful bundt tin and always a relief when the cake comes out of the tin in one piece! A shame though that the recipe was disappointing. On the other hand, the fridge cake looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThat pan! It's gorgeous. I had the same issue with the glaze. It was too thick and there was so much!
ReplyDeleteIt was frustrating as it would have been okay on a regular cake, just not the bundt!
DeleteWhat a beautiful cake and that pan is everything! Bundt pans are a weakness for me. Sometimes I treat them like a shoe or purse purchase. You know the routine, "Oh this? I've had it for a long time!"
ReplyDeleteMe too! I have had this one lurking in the cupboard for far too long
DeleteThank heavens your fridge cake was so tasty, but how disappointing that the glaze recipe was wrong when you had done such a magnificent effort in turning the cake out of the bundt tin on one piece! XX
ReplyDeleteI love your rose bundt pan. I've been thinking I need to buy a second bundt pan if I'm going to keep making cakes in them. I also was disappointed with the taste.
ReplyDeleteWell I've moved my blog to Wordpress and still cant comment from the iPad so I guess it's a general Google/iPad problem. Love the mint choc pistach!!!!
ReplyDelete