Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

With Chocolate Orange Sour Cream Frosting

 Chocolate and orange are paired perfectly in this fudgy Bundt cake. The moist chocolatey taste is emphasized by the fresh oranges, highlighting the chocolate like morning sunshine. Just the right amount of both chocolate and orange are able to complement one another, yet they still remain distinct.  Once you try it this Bundt will be an impressive member of your recipe repertoire, called upon to perform for special occasions.  In fact the Chocolate Goddess feels it would be a perfect chocolate edition to your Easter dessert table.

 Bundt cakes were inspired by a traditional cake known as Gugelhupf that originated in Austria and became popular in Germany, Switzerland and other nearby European countries.  Gugel meant bonnet in old southern German dialect. The earliest recipe for a Gugelhupf was found in a cookbook written by Marx Rupolt in 1581 in which he describes it as a hat cake, as recounted by Dara Goldstein, editor in chief of The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets.  Dara writes often on fascinating topics of food history, www.daragoldstein.com.

The Gugelhopf style ceramic mold as we know it, was reinvented as a metal mold in 1950 by owner of Nordic Ware, H. David Dalquist.   A group of Zionist women in Minnesota had asked him to make a pan for a circular cake with a hole in the middle that they had enjoyed in Europe with their bund, or group of people.   Mr. Dalquist took the ceramic ring and reinvented it as a metal cake mold with ripples so that the indentations it left on the cake would make it easier to slice evenly.  He added the letter t at the end of the word bund, and this Bundt pan began production by his Nordic Ware company.  It was not a success at all in the 1950’s, in fact it wasn’t popular until Ella Helfrich won second place at the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1966 with her Tunnel of Fudge cake using the Bundt pan. The pan was on fire now, and quickly hundreds of thousands were sold.  More than 50 million have now been sold worldwide.

So there you have it, a little history about the origins of the cake you are about to bake!

 Happy Baking!

And Remember

Always Stay in Touch with Your Inner Goddess!

Chocolate Orange Bundt Ingredients

2 cups of All Purpose Flour

1 ½ teaspoons of Baking Powder

1 ½ teaspoons of Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Salt

The zest of 3 Large Naval Oranges

3 Large Eggs

½ cup Sour Cream

1 cup (2 sticks) Butter

¾ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder sifted

1 cup Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice (juice from approximately 3 large oranges)

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Chocolate Orange Sour Cream Frosting

6 ounces Unsweetened Chocolate, roughly chopped

6 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1½ cups Powdered Sugar (sifted)

¼ cup Sour Cream

3 tablespoons Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

1 teaspoon Pure Orange Extract

 Serves 10

Instructions for Chocolate Orange Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour Bundt pan.

Place orange juice, butter, and cocoa in a small saucepan and heat, stirring, until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and let cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

While the mixture is cooling, place flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.  Set aside.

Mix eggs, and sour cream, vanilla and grated orange zest with and electric mixer until thoroughly combined.

Mix in cooled chocolate mixture until thoroughly combined.

Add dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.

Bake for 40 -45 minutes.  Test for doneness with a long cake tester. The Chocolate Goddess’ Bundt pan was light in color so you must watch the cake carefully.  Dark pans bake quicker.

Remove the cake from the oven, wait 10 minutes, and turn the pan over onto a cooling rack. After 5 more minutes, lift the pan off the cake. Let the cake cool completely before icing.

Cool thoroughly before frosting with glaze.

 Instructions for Glaze

 Put chopped chocolate and sliced butter in top of a double boiler oversimmering water. Heat, stirring frequently, until fully melted.

Add half the powdered sugar and whisk to combine well.

Add the sour cream and whisk to combine.

Add orange juice and orange extract and whisk together well.

Add the remaining powdered sugar and whisk until smooth.

When fully mixed, the glaze should be thick and shiny.

You may have to add a few more drops of orange juice to achieve the right consistency.

Spoon mounds on top of cake and smooth frosting downward in slanted direction with a small recessed spatula.  Frost the inside of the ring too.

Let the glaze set 4 hours or overnight.

Decorate in variations preferred.  The Chocolate Goddess went for the Flowered Easter Bonnet Look.