Dark chocolate and orange cake

Chocolate and orange - a match made in heaven. The sweet-scented orange compliments the slight bitterness of the chocolate.. Ahhh.. They are just perfect together. I can never have enough of them. That's why I can eat Lindt - Orange Intense chocolate bar all by myself, despite the fact that they don't do any good to my waistline.

Well, so is this cake.. or any other food if not taken in moderation. However, I always feel that if the food is not delicious, then it is not worth the calorie. I don't know the calories for a slice of this cake, but I can assure you that it would totally be worth it.

It was my youngest sister who first made this cake a few months ago and to her disappointment, it didn't turn out quite right. I'm sorry to say this, Hani, but the cake looked horrible. As not to waste the cake, she still made the ganache to be poured on top. Surprisingly, everyone loved this dense yet moist cake and it left us craving for more. Well, everyone except my cousin who hates dark chocolate.

If you're not a fan of dark chocolate, you may not like it as much as we do. But you can still substitute the dark chocolate with milk chocolate and you might have to reduce the sugar, or else it would be a little bit too sweet.

Ingredients:

• 1 Seville orange
• 100 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 3 eggs
• 270 g caster sugar
• 240 ml sunflower oil
• 25 g cocoa powder
• 250 g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Pierce the orange with a skewer (right through). Boil it in a pot of water for 30 minutes, until soft. Blend the orange to form a smooth puree and let it cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 9 inch cake pan. 

3. Melt the chocolate over a pot of simmering water, or in a microwave for 2 minutes on high, stirring after 1 minute. Let cool. 

4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and oil. Gradually beat in the pureed orange and melted chocolate. 

5. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Pour into the cake tin.

6. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Let cool.

• 120 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 90 g semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

1. Bring the cream to a simmer, then pour over the chocolate.

2. Leave for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth.

3. Set aside until it is firm enough to spread over the cake.

Source and adapted from : BBC Good Food