Chocolate Orange Birthday Cake

My first birthday cake creation was for my housemate, Dan. Chocolate Orange obsessed, and known by way too many people ( as he ended up receiving about 20 chocolate oranges, having bought himself chocolate orange cookies and ice lollies... as I said, obsessed.) I therefore planned a wonderful Chocolate orange cake with a few little surprises within, not knowing that everyone else was on the same wave length! It did, however, go down a treat and here's how I did it... 

The plan:

The ingredients:

The method:

Firstly the chocolate sponge:

• 125g/4½oz sifted cocoa powder
• 6 large free-range eggs
• 100ml/3½fl oz milk
• 350g/12oz self-raising flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 200g/7oz softened butter, plus extra for greasing
• 550g/1lb 2oz caster sugar
  
  

The orange cake pops:

• 100g/4oz softened butter
  100g/4oz caster sugar
  100g/4oz self-raising flour
  1tsp baking powder
  2 large free-range eggs
  1tsp orange extract
  Either orange colouring or in my case a mix of red and yellow (bare in mind that the colour fades during baking)
  You will also need a Cake pop mould. I bought mine off of Amazon.co.uk and it works brilliantly! 
  
  

The chocolate orange ganache:

    300g dark chocolate (I used the cheapest available and it was still great!)

    350ml double cream

    1 tsp orange extract (or to taste, depending on how strong you want the flavour)

The method:

1. Preheat the oven to about 180ºc fan depending on your oven. 
2. Firstly make the basic sponge mix by creaming together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one by one, mixing in between and then sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well. Add the orange extract and then gradually the colouring to give you a night bright orange mix. 
3. Spoon the mixture into one side of the cake pop tray filling the moulds so that in actual fact they are only half full when you place the other side on top. 
4. Bake the cake pops for around 10-15 minutes checking them with a cocktail stick inserted into the whole in the top of the tray. 
5. To make the chocolate sponge, mix the sifted cocoa with 200ml boiling water in a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until the mixture resembles a smooth, thick batter. 
6. Line your two baking tins with baking parchment and smooth a thin layer of batter over the bottom of each. Carefully arrange the cooled cake pops in the tins and cover evenly with the remaining chocolate cake mix. 
7. Bake the cakes in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until well risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Be aware that the cake pops do float and therefore the top  of the cake will not be smooth. When assembling the two layers of the cake be sure to sandwich the tops of the cakes together so that the smooth bottom of the cake is on top. 
8. To make the ganache: usually they say to boil the cream and then pour over the chocolate. I have found that putting both the chocolate and the cream over a bain marie and stirring works perfectly well!
9. Once the cream and chocolate are combined, add the orange extract and leave to cool and thicken. This can take a while so it might be best to start with the ganache if you are working on a time limit! 

Arranging the cake pops

Cake iced with chocolate orange ganache

• 
  

  I topped the cake with a Terrys Chocolate Orange and it went down a storm! Happy 22nd Birthday Dan! xx
• 
  
•