Orange Chocolate Marble Cake

Hello all. Picking up my blog after a looooong gap. With hubby and daughter and home, cooking proper meals three times a day and other house hold chores like sweeping, mopping, washing, cleaning etc keeps me occupied the whole day. I am drained by the end of the day and in no mood to experiment with recipes and bake something new. The only one

these days are weekly bread and occasional cookies. Plus I do bake some pavs and buns at times. I know my readers are upset with the fact that they are not seeing any new posts from me. I am extremely sorry about it.

So let me start this month with a delicious, moist and flavourful eggless orange chocolate marble cake. My brother on law claimed that it was the yummiest cake he had in a long time. So a very happy me 🙂 Since oranges are in season, it’s ideal to try out this recipe now. Use the Malta oranges. It’s recommended to use freshly squeezed orange juice. I have used a 240 ml cup. Please follow weight measurements for better results. For more orange based recipes like an orange cake, orange cookies,orange cranberry bread, cupcakes, marmalade, candied peel etc, please do click here. I am sure you would thank me for it. Till then stay happy, stay safe.

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour 200 gm (~1.5 cup)
• Cocoa powder 2 tbsp
• Salt a pinch
• Sugar 50-60 gm
• Cane sugar 50-60 gm
• Baking powder 1 tsp (scant)
• Baking soda 1/2 tsp (scant)
• Oil 80 ml (1/3 cup)
• Orange zest 1 tbsp
• Orange juice 120 ml (1/2 cup)
• Milk 120 ml (1/2 cup)
• Orange extract 1/2 tsp
• Chocolate extract 1/2 tsp
• Coffee powder 1 tsp

Method:

• Preheat the oven at around 150-160 degree Celsius for around ten minutes.
• Line an eight inch or seven inch round cake tin with butter and dust it with flour. Remove the excess flour.

For the orange batter:

• Sieve together 100 grams of flour, half teaspoon of baking powder and one fourth teaspoon of baking soda with a small pinch of salt 2-3 times.

• Wash an orange and pat it dry. Using a zester, take the orange zest, taking care not to scrape the white pith.

• Carefully transfer this zest directly from the zester to the bowl containing the dry ingredients.
• Squeeze the orange and collect the juice. (I got exactly half a cup of juice with one orange)
• Powder around one fourth cup or 50 grams of granulated sugar and add it to the juice.
• Now add three tablespoons or around 40-45 ml of unflavored oil and mix well.
• Add orange extract and combined.
• Pour this mixture into dry ingredients and fold gently. Do not overmix.

For the chocolate batter:

• Sieve together 100 grams of flour, two tablespoons of cocoa powder, half teaspoon of baking powder and one fourth teaspoon of baking soda with a small pinch of salt 2-3 times.

• Mix together half a cup of milk, one teaspoon of instant coffee granules, 50 grams of cane sugar, three tablespoons of oil.
• Add chocolate extract and mix.
• Pour this liquid into the dry flour mixture and fold gently.

To bake the cake:

• Pour the two batter alternately into the prepared tin and make swirls using a fork or toothpick.

• Tap the tin 2-3 times to remove air bubbles if any.
• Place the cake tin in the middle rack and bake for 30-35 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

• Remove the tin from the oven abd place it on a cooling rack. Let the cake stay in the tin for 5-6 minutes.

• Transfer the cake onto the wire rack and cool it completely.

• Slice and enjoy with your evening tea.

• You may drizzle some orange sauce or frost it with orange flavoured cream.

Notes:

• You may use a drop or two of orange colour in the batter for a more visually orange look. I haven’t used any.
• You might require a tablespoon more of orange juice/water and milk to make the batter smooth. So adjust it depending on the nature of your flour.
• You may even follow the zebra cake pattern and make it look more attractive.
• I am using my Borosil Prima 60 litres OTG and I have placed the cake tin on the wire rack in the second from top (third from bottom) rack of the oven.
• I have used both rod settings with the fan mode on and baked at around 150-160 degree Celsius.
• You may adjust temperature according to what works best in your oven.
• I was happy to get an even flat top with no cracks.
• Earlier I had faced issues with baking cakes in this oven with only the bottom rod and fan mode on.
• You can replace orange extract and chocolate extract with vanilla extract.