Cake makers. Your urgent help required.

[Spidermama]

I'm making my dd's birthday cake this evening and she wants chocolate and orange cake. It's a new one on me.

Can I do an ordinary Victoria sponge and put a little orange juice in it? Or would that stop it from rising?

What's the best way to get the orange flavour in there?

Ideas or recipes please.

That probably would be ok. Just make sure its not straight from the fridge cold, try using a bit of orange zest and just in case put in a little extra baking powder.

Chocolate Orange Cake

1. 10oz dried fruit
2. 2oz sugar
3. 1/2 pint orange juice
4. 1 egg
5. 10oz SR flour
6. 1oz cocoa

Soak number 1, 2 and 3 together
Ad 4, 5 and 6.

Stir well

Put in a greased loaf tin.

Cook on 180c for 45 mins.

You could leave out the fruit and use chocolate orange bashed up to make choc chips?

You can add zest of an orange to the cake mixture, and maybe some choc chips/chunks plus a couple of tablespoons of cocoa in place of a couple of tablespoons of flour. If icing it, you could either go with orange butter cream (knob of butter, juice of an orange, icing sugar), or perhaps melted choc drizzled over cake? How about Maya Gold (Green & Blacks) for extra choc orange flavour?

Fantastic. Thanks anniediv. I'll go and make it now (If you see me on any other threads tell me off and remind me about my dd's birthday ).

I'll report back to let you know how it went.

I will add zest too. Though I always worry that I'm putting grated wax into cakes.

Oh no! Stress! Hope it turns out okay!

Spidermama, did you make it and was it okay?? I feel responsible for your dds happiness!!

Annie I haven't got round to it yet. I've decided I can do it after work tomorrow (I finish work at 9AM ).

I think I may do choc chips rather than dried fruit though as previous dried fruit attempts have been heavy.

I'll let you know and if it all goes wrong it'll be entirely your fault.

Thank you so much, I feel much better now......

Well CalifFF (great name) I panicked in the end and went for a different take on a tried and tested recipe. Victoria sponge when orange peel grated in and orange juice made into syrup and drizzled in (like lemon drizzle). I also had choc chips and thin orange icing to stick on grated chocolate.

It was lovely. Really moist. We all feel sick now. I must go and say goodnight to the birthday girl.

Thanks for all your help. I used bits and pieces of inspiration, but stuck to what I know in the end.

Phew, good, I couldn't have lived with the responsibility

Sounds a bit late now, but there is a Nigella recipe that uses chocolate and marmalade in a cake, and that turns out just like a choc orange cake. Think it it The Domestic Goddess book.
DS1 (5) ate it and he doesn't like marmalade.
Might be useful for future reference.