Chocolate & orange cake

For the chocolate biscuit:

• Bitter chocolate (with at least 70% cocoa content) - 200 g | 7.05 oz
• Butter - 50 g | 1.75 oz
• Instant coffee - 1 tsp | 1.00 tsp
• Hot water - 1/4 cup | 2.00 fl oz
• Orange liquor (orange juice) - 50 ml | 1.70 fl oz
• Zest from one orange | 1.00 item
• Eggs - 6 pieces | 6.00 items
• Flour - 150 g | 5.30 oz
• Cocoa powder - 50 g | 1.75 oz
• Sugar - 200 g + 2 tbsp | 7.05 oz + 2.00 tbsp
• Salt - a pinch | 0.00 pinch

For the orange custard:

• Orange - 4 pcs | 4.00 items
• Butter - 60 g | 2.10 oz
• Sugar - 75 g | 2.65 oz
• Eggs - 2 pcs | 2.00 items
• Egg yolk - 1 pc | 1.00 item
• Corn starch - 2/3 tsp | 1.00 tsp
• Cream (33%) - 400 g | 14.10 oz
• Sugar - 100 g | 3.55 oz

For the orange syrup:

• Orange juice - 100 g | 3.55 oz
• Sugar - 50 g | 1.75 oz
• Zest from half an orange | 1.00 item

For the chocolate glaze:

• Dark chocolate (with at least 70% cocoa content) - 100 g | 3.55 oz
• Cream - 150 g | 5.30 oz

For decoration:

• Orange - 3 pcs | 3.00 items

1. Melt the chocolate with the butter in a water bath.
2. Dissolve the coffee in boiled and hot water. Add the coffee to the chocolate, and stir. Add the orange zest and the warm juice; mix everything well.
3. In the meantime, divide the eggs into whites and yolks (not a piece of yolk should get into the egg whites). Whip the egg whites (with 2 tablespoons of sugar). At the beginning of whipping, you can add a couple of lemon juice drops to the egg whites. Place the whipped egg whites into a separate container.
4. Sift the flour with cocoa, and add a pinch of salt.
5. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy.
6. Add the chocolate mixture to the whipped eggs, and reduce the mixer speed; or you can mix the ingredients manually until smooth.
7. Add the sifted flour with the cocoa in several passes, and gently mix it with a spatula; you should get a thick chocolate dough.
8. First, add a couple of tablespoons of the whipped egg whites to this dough, and stir it very gently with a spatula. Add the egg whites in several passes, and mix it gently; make sure that the egg whites don’t settle.
9. Place the homogeneous and fluffy chocolate dough in a mold with a diameter of 21 cm (8.3 inch), greased and covered with parchment; bake the biscuit in the oven preheated to 180C (356F) for about an hour, and check the readiness with a toothpick.
10. Leave the finished biscuit in the turned off oven for 10 minutes. Then, take it out, and put a flat dish on top of the biscuit; turn it over, and cool it.
11. When the biscuit has cooled, turn it over again; gently remove it from the mold.

1. Cook the orange custard. Grate the zest from one orange on a coarse grater. Squeeze the juice from 4 oranges. It turns out approximately one glass of juice.
2. Add the sugar to the finished zest, and mix. Add the orange juice, and stir; leave the mix for 30 minutes, so that the zest gives all its flavor.
3. Whip the eggs and the yolk; add the starch, and whip well so that there are no lumps (you can use a mixer).
4. Put the juice with the zest and the sugar on the heat; mix and cook, but don’t boil. Add the whipped eggs, and cook the custard until thickened.
5. Strain the finished custard through a sieve; add the butter, and cool it very well.
6. Whisk the chilled cream and the sugar until soft peaks (don’t overwhip!). Add the orange custard to the whipped cream in several passes, and stir with a spatula until smooth.

1. Cook the orange syrup. Boil the orange juice with the sugar and the zest from half an orange in a small container.

1. Cut the biscuit into 3 layers. Place the first biscuit layer in a mold, and soak it with the warm orange syrup. Grease the richly soaked cake with the custard (the cake should cool after soaking!), and put the next cake on it. Soak it as well, and cool (you can soak the cakes separately); cover it with the last biscuit layer, but you don’t have to soak this one.
2. Pour the ready-made glaze or the ganache on the last biscuit layer. Break the chocolate into pieces, and pour the hot cream; stir gently so that there are no bubbles, and let it cool a little. The ganache is ready!
3. Place the finished cake in the fridge, preferably for a day. Decorate it with oranges.

Bon Appetit!