Saturday, October 6, 2012

Chocolate Orange Spider Web Cake

Have you ever combined two things that you love,
to discover that together they make something even more awesome?

That's what is going on here today.
Because, chocolate + orange = WOW!!

Chocolate Orange Cake


I was inspired by those yummy chocolate oranges you smack on the table to break into slices.
And orange sticks. And Jaffa cakes (it's a British thing).

I added orange extract to my favorite chocolate cake,
covered it with orange cream cheese frosting,
and topped it all with chocolate ganache.

And this flavor combination just happens to make Halloween colors.
So I put a spider web on the top to make it fun.


Chocolate Orange Cake
by Bird On A Cake

Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk (OR 1 c. milk mixed with 1 T. vinegar)
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon orange extract
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
  • 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 5 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • orange gel food coloring
Chocolate Ganache
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of three 8 inch round cake pans with wax paper and grease the sides. Bring a small pan of water to a boil and keep it simmering while you mix the other ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and orange extract. Beat with mixer until combined.

Add 1 cup of the boiling water and carefully stir until it is mixed in. Beat for 1 1/2 minutes with mixer. Batter will be thin. Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for 18-22 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Allow cream cheese and butter to stand at room temperature and soften. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, orange extract and vanilla. Gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar. Mix in food coloring.

Chocolate Ganache
Place the chocolate chips in a metal bowl. Heat the cream over medium heat. Watch it closely and immediately remove from heat when it starts to boil. Pour over chocolate chips. Let sit for 2 minutes. Slowly stir the mixture until all the chips have completely melted and it is thoroughly combined. Stir in the vanilla. Let the ganache cool if you prefer a thicker consistency.
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To Make the Spider Web:
Reserve some of your orange frosting, and put it in a decorator bag or ziploc with the corner snipped off. Immediately after spreading the ganache on the cake,  use the frosting to pipe a spiral that covers the top. Using a knife, start in the middle of the cake and pull lines through the frosting to the edge (like spokes on a wheel).

Helpful Hint: Don't use orange candy melts like me. They harden too quickly.


 Enjoy!

 Would you like another yummy orange cake recipe?
Try my Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes!

 I share my recipes & tutorials at these fun link parties.
   
This post was featured!
I Heart Nap TimeThe 36th AVENUE
mop it up mondays featureTidyMom

36 comments:

  1. Your chocolate orange cake looks gorgeous. You are right, the combination of orange and chocolate are fantastic!

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  2. Happy Halloween! This cake looks absolutely delicious, orange + chocolate IS delicious!
    X
    Aurélie

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  3. All of your cakes are awesome! =) Love the flavors of this one, and the spider web is so cool!

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  4. That looks amazing!!

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  5. This cake looks awesomely delicious! I wish I could bake and decorate cakes like that! If you're interested in linking at a new link party, stop by mine! It's called Submarine Sunday. :-) I hope you'll visit.

    T'onna

    Submarine Sunday @ http://navywifeypeters.blogspot.com/2012/10/submarine-sunday-1-linky-party_7.html

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  6. This looks delicious and beautiful! I'd love to have a slice.
    Thanks for sharing

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  7. This will be perfect for our Halloween party!

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  8. Great tutorial on making the spider web look

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  9. Es una maravilla!!! me encantan todos los pasteles que hace, soy gran admiradora suya. Un beso desde España.

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  10. Uh Oh you had me at Orange! looks so good!

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  11. oooo love this cake!!! Came over from Tip Junkie... Would love for you to share this at Tasteful Tuesdays. http://www.nap-timecreations.com/2012/10/pumpkin-pie-apple-crisp-and-tasteful.html

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  12. Your cake looks gorgeous ! Chocolate and orange mix must taste delicious !

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  13. When I first glanced at this picture, I thought it was a chocolate peanut butter cake, but no, it's orange!!! How awesome!! What a great combination and of course what a gorgeous cake!

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  14. This cake looks amazing and would be perfect for a Halloween party!

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  15. Being a Brit and a lover of Jaffa cakes and Terry's chocolate oranges too, I strongly approve of such a flavour combo! Great work! You've also helped insure me to set up my own blog! Thanks

    ZoBird
    Www.zobirdscookabillykitchen.co.uk

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  16. I love those chocolate oranges that you whack! I will have to try this cake for sure, I love the combination. Thanks for sharing.

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  17. This looks amazing. My sons birthday party would be a good trial for that cake!

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  18. This looks so amazing and I'm sure it's delicious! Pinning! Thanks so much for sharing at the Iron Chef Mom - Chocolate Edition! I would also like to invite you to link up to my party if you get the chance: http://www.momontimeout.com/2012/10/your-creative-timeout-linky-party-no51.html
    Hope you're having a great week!
    -Trish

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  19. That does look amazing! You have talent. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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  20. Perfect design for the season and I love chocolate and orange together.

    <3 Christina at I Gotta Create!
    Wildly Original linky party is open

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  21. Another amazing cake!! You are so talented. I hope you will stop by and link this up to my Wickedly Creative Halloween Ideas Party if you haven't already.

    http://www.itsybitsypaperblog.com/2012/09/2012-wickedly-creative-halloween-ideas.html

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  22. OOH - I love orange chocolate! what a gorgeous cake

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  23. a perfect cake for Halloween! and gorgeous too!

    Thanks for linking up! I featured your post in my wrap up http://tidymom.net/2012/halloween-projects/

    Have a great rest of the weekend!

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  24. Fantastyczny tort:)))) wygląda bardzo apetycznie:)Twoje wszystkie ciasta są cudowne.
    Pozdrawiam serdecznie!

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  25. Chocolate and orange is something I never would have thought to put together. But it looks absolutely amazing and I bet tastes even better!!! Thank you so much for sharing on Trick or Treat Tuesday!!!

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  26. okay, I can eat a box of orange sticks in like 5 seconds. I love that combo! Thanks for the recipe. :) I would love to have you stop by ‘Or so she says…’ today and share some of your great ideas with my readers! The ‘Your Great Idea’ link party runs every Sat through Tuesday. Hope to see you there! http://www.oneshetwoshe.com

    * Also, we’ve got a great giveaway going on with over $500 in prizes!

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  27. This cake looks delicious! Thanks for joining the party at Keep Calm and Link Up! Come back again this Thursday night!
    Barbara at Chase the Star
    chasethestar dot net

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  28. Chocolate also helps balance your mood, as it contains serotonin which is a natural anti-depressant, and it tastes good so that alone helps already. So incorporating moderate amounts of dark chocolate into your diet is beneficial for your health without any doubt.

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  29. Here is another easy Halloween cake!

    http://createbakecelebrate.blogspot.com/2012/10/create-mummy-cake.html

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  30. Hey,

    Loved the recipe, just made it today however it was a tad bit too sweet for me. When I make this in the future, I would perhaps add maybe just 2 cups of icing sugar instead of 5 as I found it incridibly sweet even though i only used 4 cups of icing sugar. The cake was absolutely amazing though. Never had a chocolate cake so moist, not as sweet and as decadent as yours! It was a hit! Will be using this cake for anything chocolate related from now on.I am blabbing on but I must also emphasize the recipe could not have been easier to follow. Once again, absolutely amazing. Good on you Robin :)

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  31. Hi. Any suggestions on how to make this cake with orange juice/zest instead of orange essence?

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  32. This cakes looks so delicious. The orange cream cheese frosting have made this spider cake perfectly smooth and flawless and a decorated cake. I will definitely try such a beautiful shaped cake in next coming occasion at home.

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