A Pudding-like Orange Chocolate Cake

The Most Delicious Orange Chocolate Pudding-Like Cake

 

 

 

We frequently made our own cakes at home when we were kids in Karachi. It was often a special occasion and more of a pleasurable treat. While we always had to fight for our favourite to be baked, I was fortunate enough to be able to bake in my mother's well-equipped kitchen.

This cake was especially popular because access to liqueur was limited and infrequent. There was no LCBO to visit, nor was Grand Marnier or Cointreau available. The chilled leftovers for breakfast the next morning were a real treat. It had its own unique flavour..

 

Many of my friends loved it, but one family in particular clearly adored it enough to request it for many of their wedding functions. I am sharing this recipe in the hope that this legacy continues for generations to come.

This is prepared in 3 stages and takes a day to complete. Baking the cake, preparing the sauce to pour over (allow it to soak in well), and icing it with a creamy chocolate frosting.

Makes two 9 1/2 inch/ 24 cm round pans

Sponge Cake

4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup boiling milk
2 tbsp salted butter

 

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Boil the milk and butter together. Keep aside At a high speed, beat all the eggs until light and tripled in volume. Lower the speed and pour in the sugar slowly. Add the vanilla. On the lowest speed, add 1/3rd of the dry ingredients, then half the liquid, followed by the dry, wet, and ending with the dry. 

Each cake pan measures 9 inches (23 cm). Line each one with parchment paper, butter and flour. Divide the batter equally and bake for 25 minutes in a preheated oven of 350F (180C). Test with a skewer to ensure the cakes are properly cooked through. The skewer must come out clean.

Prick the cakes all over to make holes for the juice/sauce to soak in easily. Allow the cakes to cool before icing them.

It's the second one from the right that it looks like!!


Juice - Sauce

3 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (strained)
1/2 cup sugar
Peel of half an orange (this will be thrown away after 
5 tbsp of orange liquor - Grand Mariner, Cointreau or Drambuie

Juice - Sauce

 Bring the orange juice, sugar and peel to a boil, then reduce to a low heat and continue to cook until the skin is soft and the syrup is slightly sticky. Add the orange liquor of your choice. Strain it into a large measuring cup. 

Pour 1/4 of the prepared sauce into the freshly baked first cake while it is still warm. Repeat with the second cake. Wait for 30 minutes. 

Overturn one layer on the serving plate. Repeat with the remaining sauce. Cool completely. Frost the top of the inverted cake before adding the second layer. Chill it in the refrigerator until firm. Remove and invert the second cake, pour the sauce over it, and return it to the refrigerator to chill and firm. Once it has soaked up all the juicy sauce, frost the rest of the cake. 

Start by gently applying the chocolate frosting on the sides. With a piping bag or piping tube, generously frost the cake. If the cake is too soft and you are short on time or are unable to keep it neat, frost the whole cake with the help of your piping tube or bag to look like this.

The cake will look like this when not chilled enough before icing it




Chocolate Frosting

In a pan mix together
1 cup sugar
10 tsp cornstarch/cornflour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
mix well and add
1 cup cream
1 cup whole milk
Over a low to medium flame keep stirring and cooking bringing it to a boil and allowing it to thicken for 2 to 5 minutes.
Take off the heat and add
2 tsp vanilla extract

You may add a touch of cognac or rum and reduce the vanilla extract by half. Once cool, beat it with an electric beater to get a smooth and lighter texture. This step is optional.

 

Tips 

Cognac can be a good substitute for orange liquor. Pick a flavourful orange and not a sweet or flat-tasting fruit. Clementine, narangi, kinoo, or a combination of blood and navel oranges, as well as Seville oranges with a sweet and tangy flavor, bring the delicious orange flavour to robust. If you only have very sweet oranges, add half a lemon to the mix. The cake and the frosting are sweet enough. Building it up like a trifle is also an easy way to serve it. Using a springform pan to keep it together, chill, remove, and ice it afterwards is yet another simple way to make sure you have a pudding to serve up. While all food should look good enough to eat, it is the taste one really looks forward to.

My published cookbooks are available for sale through myself and on amazon.

The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders is a 3 award winning book. It has been self published in July 2019 and will be going into its second print in 2022. 

The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine was published in 2016 by Austin Macauley and continues to be available through amazon book depot book depository and from the publishers.