Confession: so, until a few weeks ago I’d never eaten a blood orange. I’d seen them in magazines, and decided they were gorgeous but probably not very yummy since I’ve never really been a fan of oranges anyway. But after tasting them, I’m eating my words these days (AND ALL the blood oranges I can get my hands on). In fact, I celebrated turning 35 by testing out a flavor combination that I was pretty sure would be dynamite… blood oranges and dark chocolate. OH y’all. It’s a grown-up cake for feeling like a real grown up. It takes a few steps but not nearly as many as a Momofuku layer cake and it’s absolutely worth it for a special occasion.
NOTES about this cake: Make sure to make the candied oranges the day before as they take a while to harden
Also, the ganache takes a little while to harden, so plan to put the cake in the fridge after frosting, or wait a few hours.
Lastly, this type of cake dries out quickly.. so if you don’t eat it immediately, make sure to wrap it up tightly and put it in the fridge.
- CANDIED BLOOD ORANGES
- 2 blood oranges, scrubbed and sliced into ¼" rounds with the peel on
- 2 Cups Water
- 1 Cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Corn syrup
- 2 tsp Bourbon
- BLOOD ORANGE CHIFFON CAKE
- 2 Cups cake flour (leveled)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ Cups sugar
- ½ Cups coconut oil, melted
- 6 Large eggs, separated
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- Finely grated zest of 4 Blood Oranges
- 1 Cup fresh orange juice (from the blood oranges. About 4-6 oranges, depending on size)
- CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- ¾ bag to 1 entire bag of dark chocolate chips (or 16 oz of other dark chocolate, rough chopped)
- 1 16 oz can coconut cream, OR 2 Cans of Full Fat coconut milk, unshaken and unemulsified with the cream skimmed off the top
- 1 Tablespoon blood orange zest
- FOR the CANDIED BLOOD ORANGES
- Boil the water and add the sugar and corn syrup.
- Wisk the sugars in the water until dissolved.
- Add in the orange slices, not letting them touch one another.
- Let them simmer for one hour, and then remove from the water onto a rack. You can either wait 24 hours for them to cool and dry OR put them in a crock pot on low for 4 hours, then in the refrigerator for 1 hour. I imagine 100 degrees in an oven would do the same thing.
- FOR the BLOOD ORANGE CHIFFON CAKE
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and oi/flour 3 8" cakepans or 1 10" cake pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 cup sugar together.
- Make a well in center of flour mixture.
- Add oil, egg yolks, orange zest and juice, and ¼ cup cold water; whisk batter until smooth.
- With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.
- Gradually add the remaining ½ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
- Using a spatula, gently fold half of egg-white mixture into batter. Fold in remaining egg-white mixture just until combined.
- Pour equal amounts into each cake pan, and bake at 325 degrees for 35 mins or until the top is brown, the sides slightly pull away from the pan and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool slightly.
- FOR the CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- Heat the coconut cream over medium-low heat until it steams.
- Add in the chocolate and zest and stir continuously until it has melted entirely and the combination turns a dark, creamy brown.
- Remove from heat.
- PUT IT TOGETHER
- Using a bread knife (or better yet, an electric knife) cut off the tops of each cake until they are entirely flat (it feels sad to loose this much of the cake, but it's how to make it look even).
- Spread a thin layer of ganache over the top of each layer and stack each one on top of the other.
- Spread a layer of ganache over the sides and top of the cake, let stand for 30 minutes to slightly harden. This will be your "crumb layer" which will serve to keep all the crumbs from mixing with the ganache.
- Once the ganache has hardened on the cake slightly, spread another layer on the top and sides of the cake.
- Garnish with the candied orange slices. You may serve warm, OR wait until the ganache hardens entirely.
- If you wait to eat it, make sure to wrap the cake tightly and put it in the refrigerator since this type of cake dries out quickly. It can also be wrapped tightly in saran wrap and frozen for over a month.
You can see here how the warm ganache seeped into the warm cake… heaven!
We’re the kind of people who order one big dessert and get 4 spoons. The folks who say “taste this! It’s AMAZING!” and let everyone sip the cocktail we ordered. Ones who drive everybody crazy because we want to dip our fork into your plate because what you got just looks so darn delicious. And then we pass you our plate whether you wanted it or not. Sharing food is our thing. (Unless you’re my dad. He wants the food on HIS plate and don’t you dare take a bite unless he gives it to you. But then, if you ask for a taste he’ll always give you the best bite anyway because he’s just kind like that. Must be the PRINCIPLE of the thing, huh?)
