Nigella Lawson Pantry Shelf Chocolate Orange Cake Recipes

CHOCOLATE CLOUD CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of the cake pan with baking parchment.
• Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or a microwave, add the butter and let melt in the warm chocolate.
• Beat the 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with 1/3 cup of the sugar, then gently add the chocolate mixture, the orange-flavored liqueur and the orange zest.
• In another bowl, whisk the 4 egg whites until foamy, then gradually add the remaining sugar and whisk until the whites hold their shape but are not too stiff. Lighten the chocolate mixture with a dollop of egg whites, and then fold in the rest of the whites. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake is risen and cracked and the center is no long wobbly. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack; the middle will sink as it cools.
• When you are ready to eat, place the still pan-bound cake on a cake stand or plate for serving and carefully remove the sides of the pan from the cake. Don't worry about cracks or rough edges, it's the crater look we're going for here. Whip the cream until it's soft and then add the vanilla and orange-flavored liqueur and continue whisking until the cream is firm but not stiff. Fill the crater of the cake with the whipped cream, easing it out gently towards the edges of the cake, and dust the top lightly with cocoa powder pushed through a tea-strainer.

NIGELLA LAWSON'S CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE

Steps:

• Note: You can leave out the baking powder and bicarb if dietary requirements make that desirable, but in that case, I'd use a 23cm tin instead and expect it to need slightly less cooking time. Put the whole orange or oranges in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours or until soft. Drain and, when cool, cut the oranges in half and remove any big pips. Then pulp everything - pith, peel and all - in a food processor, or see below if you're proceeding by hand. Once the fruit is cold, or near cold (though actually I most often cook the oranges the day before I make the cake), preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C. Butter and line a 20cm springform tin. Add the eggs, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, almonds, sugar and cocoa to the orange in the food processor. Run the motor until you have a cohesive cake mix­ture, but still slightly knobbly with the flecks of puréed orange. Or you could chop the fruit finely by hand, and with a wooden spoon beat the eggs one by one into the sugar, alter­nating with spoons of mixed ground almonds and cocoa, then the oranges, though I have to say I've only ever made this the lazy way. Pour and scrape into the cake tin and bake for an hour, by which time a cake tester should come out pretty well clean. Check after 45 minutes because you may have to cover with foil to prevent the cake burning before it is cooked through, or indeed it may need a little less than an hour; it all depends on your oven. Leave the cake to get cool in the tin, on a cooling rack. When the cake is cold you can take it out of the tin. Decorate with strips of orange peel or coarsely grated zest if you so wish, but it is darkly beautiful in its plain, unadorned state.

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE

Steps:

• Place the oranges in a medium sauce pan and cover with water. Bring the pot to a boil then cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until oranges are soft, about 2 hours.
• Once the oranges are cool enough to handle, slice them in half and remove any large seeds.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Place the oranges in a blender and pulse until smooth. You should end up with about 1 1/2 cups of puree. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the powdered sugar, to the blender. Pulse a few times, stir, and then pulse, repeating until the mixture is well combined.
• Grease an 8 inch round spring form pan. Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool, then sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Or frost with your favorite frosting.

NIGELLA LAWSON FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE

Steps:

• Put the whole orange or oranges in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours or until soft.
• Drain, and when cool, cut the oranges in half and remove any big pips.
• Then pulp everything - pith, peel and all - in a food processor.
• Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C Butter and line a 20cm springform tin.
• Add the eggs, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, almonds, sugar and cocoa to the orange in the food processor. Run the motor until you have a cohesive cake mixture, but slightly knobbly with the flecks of puréed orange.
• Pour and scrape into the cake tin and bake for an hour, by which time a cake tester should come out pretty well clean. Check after 45 minutes because you may have to cover with foil to prevent the cake burning before it is cooked through, or indeed it may need a little less than an hour; it all depends on your oven.
• Leave the cake to get cool in the tin, on a cooling rack. When the cake is cold you can take it out of the tin. Decorate with strips of orange peel or coarsely grated zest if you so wish, but it is darkly beautiful in its plain, unadorned state.

NIGELLA LAWSON PANTRY-SHELF CHOCOLATE-ORANGE CAKE

Steps:

• Oven@ 350.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan and then add the chocolate and stir until melted.
• Take off of the heat.
• Add the marmalade, sugar, and the eggs and combine.
• Gradually beat in the flour.
• Pour into a greased 8-inch springform pan.
• Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
• Cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out.

QUADRUPLE CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE

Steps:

• Take whatever you need out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, putting in a baking sheet as you do so.
• Put the flour, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into the processor and blitz until a smooth, satiny brown batter. Scrape down with a rubber spatula and process again while pouring the boiling water down the funnel. Switch it off, then remove the lid and the well-scraped double-bladed knife and, still using your rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips or morsels.
• Scrape and pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and put into the oven, cooking for about 1 hour. When ready, the loaf will be risen and split down the middle and a cake-tester will pretty well come out clean.
• Not long before the cake is due out of the oven (when it has had about 45 to 50 minutes), put the syrup ingredients of cocoa, water and sugar into a small saucepan and boil for about 5 minutes, to give a thick syrup.
• Take the cake out of the oven and sit it on a cooling rack, still in the tin, and pierce here and there with a cake tester. Pour the syrup over the cake.
• Let the cake become completely cold and then slip out of its tin, removing the foil as you do so. Sit on an oblong or other plate. Sprinkle the chocolate splinters over the top of the sticky surface of the cake

CHOCOLATE FRUIT CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• Line the sides and bottom of an 8 by 3 1/2-inch deep, round loose-bottomed cake tin with a layer of reusable silicon baking parchment. When lining the tin with the parchment, cut the material into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself (it is easier to use two shorter strips of parchment, than one long strip); the height of the strips protects the cake from catching on the outside of the cake tin.
• Place the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange zest and juice, mixed spice and cocoa into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, the mixture will have cooled a little. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and baking soda, and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula until the ingredients have combined.
• Carefully pour the fruitcake mixture into the lined cake tin. Transfer the cake tin to the oven and bake for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, or until the top of the cake is firm but will has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a sharp knife into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.
• Place the cake on a cooling rack. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.
• To decorate, place the chocolate-covered coffee beans in the centre of the cake and arrange the gold stars around the perimeter of the top of the cake. Then sprinkle some gold mini-balls over the whole cake and sprinkle the top with edible glitter.