Chocolate Orange Cake

Sometimes I watch/listen to TV while I am making baskets.  It is solitary work and I listen to blogs or music or TV.  This time I was watching the Food Network and Trisha Yearwood was cooking.  She was making a chocolate cake and Valentine's Day is coming up, so I watched more than I sewed. 

Then I printed out her recipe and I made it.  My self control is no longer under control.  I hope I find it again soon.

I debated whether I should put the recipe here.  After all, I used her exact recipe with no changes, except for substituting some reconstituted orange juice for the fresh squeezed.  I decided to put it on my blog, as you are already a visitor.  If you want to check her site, and it has lots of delicious recipes, go here .

 

Trisha Yearwood's Chocolate Orange Cake

2 Tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice plus 2 Tablespoons finely grated zest (about 4 large oranges for the juice)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons balsamic
1 teaspoon vanilla

 

You will need a Bundt pan for this recipe.

Set the oven to 350°. 

 

Mix the softened butter and 1 Tablespoon of the cocoa powder.  Smear and paint the inside of the Bundt pan with the mixture. 

 

This will prevent sticking and will not leave a white flour residue on the outside of your cake.  Set aside.

 

Use an electric mixer.  I used my Kitchen Aid.  Place the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and the remaining 1/2 cup cocoa powder and then place the bowl on the stand.  Mix on SLOW until well blended. Don't go too much or you will have a powdery mess all over.

 

Wash and zest two oranges.  This should give you the 2 Tablespoons you need.  I only had two oranges.  I squeezed them and only got 1 cup of juice.  I keep frozen orange juice on hand for emergencies, so I made a pitcher and then I had my two cups, but not all fresh squeezed. 

 

Add the juice, mayo, vinegar and vanilla and mix just until combined.  Remove the bowl and fold in the orange zest.  Evenly distribute the batter into the Bundt pan.  Tap it gently a few times on the counter to eliminate bubbles, or voids, in the batter.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan or a cooling rack for ten minutes.  Not much longer.  This allows the cake to firm up a bit.

 

Place the rack on top of the cake and flip the cake over.  Shake gently to loosen, and lift off the Bundt pan.  Cool completely.


Chocolate Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2 Tablespoons and a bit more freshly squeezed orange juice (or not)

 

Mix the sugar and cocoa.  Add the juice one Tablespoon at a time, until the glaze is the right consistency to drizzle over the cake. 

 

There will be more glaze than you need. 

 

Save the remainder to drizzle over the cake as you serve it.

 

The oranges gave a nice flavor to the cake.  Have you ever had one of the chocolate oranges they make around Christmas time?  Kind of like that.  Chocolate cake is a fabulous flavor all by itself, but it is nice to have something different every now and then.

 

Ice cream is also not a necessary addition to a cake, but really, it ought to be!