Monday 6 July 2009

Chocolate Orange Drizzle Loaf Cake~Sweet and Simple Bake!


I’m late posting my entry for Sweet and Simple Bakes; however I am so glad I managed to find time to bake this cake! This month Rosie presented us with one of her all time favourite cakes, Chocolate Orange Drizzle Loaf Cake! The cake is absolutely amazing and has now entered the top 10 favourite cakes in my home. The sponge is fluffy, light and very moist, with the chocolate and orange blending together perfectly! If you find the orange/chocolate combo irresistible, then this is a “must” bake!! Please pop over to Sweet and Simple Bakes to view more cake entries!


Chocolate Orange Drizzle Loaf Cake
Ingredients
For The cake
175g (6 oz) softened butter
175g (6 oz) caster (super fine) sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour, sifted
2 tbsp milk

For The Orange Syrup
Juice of 1 orange
100g (4 oz) granulated sugar

For The Topping
50g (2 oz) dark chocolate or milk chocolate – your choice
Sprinkles of choice (optional)

You will need a 900g (2 lb) loaf tin – greased with a little butter and lined with greaseproof paper or non-stick baking paper.

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

In a mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy in appearance. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well until fully incorporated. Add the orange zest, flour and milk and fold in gently with a spatula or large metal spoon. Turn into the prepared tin, smooth the top of the mixture and bake in the oven on middle shelf 35 -45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. When cool make little holes in the cake with a skewer, (this is important for pouring the syrup onto the cake to ensure the syrup soaks in fully.)

For The Orange Syrup
Put the orange juice and granulated sugar into a pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil for a couple of minutes. Pour over the top of the cake. When all the juice has soaked in, carefully remove the cake from the tin.

For The Topping
Melt the chocolate by placing a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, pour over the top of the cake. Either smooth the top over with a spatula or make a little pattern with the prongs of a fork. Add sprinkles if desired, leave chocolate to set before cutting into the cake.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks fantastic! It would have been such a misfortune to have missed this recipe. So glad you made it. As for next months Carrot cake...who could resist!

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks lovely, makes me want to eat it all over again! ...and again, and again because I felt the same when I saw everyone elses last week as well ;)

♥Rosie♥ said...

Hi Maria I'm SO pleased you could join us in this bake. Your cake looks amazing and I just adore those sprinkles too :0) I am highly honoured this cake has made it into your top 10 favourite cakes!!

Hayley said...

That is the most perfect icing job I have ever seen!! How on earth did you manage to stop it running down the sides?! It does look super yummy though :-D xx

Lucie said...

That looks delish, I am going to have to make another now! Best wishes Lucie :)

Maria said...

Glad you made this one. It looks heavenly!

Reeni said...

This looks incredible! Moist and delicious - love the chocolate and orange flavors.

Laura Schaefer said...

Mmm, thank you for sharing!

Arundathi said...

Your cake looks fabulous! We loved it too - the flavors were spot on! :)

Anna said...

Ohh I'm really wishing I'd kept up my blog-reading over the past few months, this sounds so good! My dad would love this; I might bake it and take it some round to him =D.

The Girl said...

This was great wasn't it?! Everyone who tried it absolutely loved it. I definitely want to make it again, but there's so many new things I want to try out as well I don't know how I'll find the time!

Still no sign of the Fred. Made up some posters which Mum is putting in some of the local shops and the vets nearby, just in case.

Katiecakes said...

Argh, I really wanted to make this months Sweet and Simple Bake but I forgot all about it!

Yours looks fantastic. I love chocolate and orange! I feel I missed a winner!

Katie xox

Heather said...

Looks delicious! Definitely on my "would love to make" list.

Maria♥ said...

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments ;o)

Maria
x