Chocolate Marmalade cake and my German Friendship cake

I was in the Lake District a few weeks back and tasted the loveliest chocolate orange cake in a little cafe. I asked the man in the cafe for the recipes and he informed me it was Nigella Lawsons Chocolate marmalade cake (although like mine, he had covered his cake in a chocolate orange ganache.)

So this week I found the recipe and decided it was time to recreate the tasty cake. The cake itself turned out nice, it tasted a lot better than it looked but that was my fault. It was lighter in colour and not as rich as I remember, I might add a little more chocolate last time although I think it doesn't need it with the chocolate Ganache. The cake sank a little in the middle (as had the man's in the cafe) so I might play around with the recipe a little to try and rectify this next time. Overall though it tasted great and the topping made it rich enough that you didn't need to much (but still had to much, in my case.) As I said it tasted better than it looked and this was my fault mainly because on removing it from the tin I managed to drop it on my chopping board so it was a little pieced together and flattened before i covered it. Any way, here it is:

And here's how it's made :

125g Unsalted butter
100g Dark chocolate
300g good quality orange marmalade
150g Caster Sugar
a pinch of salt
2 Large eggs
150g Self-rising flour

Melt the butter slowly in a saucepan. When it's almost melted, add chocolate pieces, stir and take off the heat. Stir with a wooden spoon, until chocolate has melted.
Add the marmalade, sugar, salt and eggs. Stir thoroughly (it's okay to leave small visible chunks of marmalade in the batter).
Add sifted flour, stir and pour into a buttered and floured 20-22 cm loose bottomed cake tin.
Bake at 180˚C oven for 45-50 minutes, until the cake has set. Leave to cool in the tin slightly then finish cooling on a wire rack.

To cover the cake I used

100ml Double Cream
180g  Dark Chocolate, chopped into chunks.
2-3 drops of orange essence
zest of orange (optional)

Warm the double cream gently in a pan with the orange extract and add the chocolate, stir until melted. 
Leave to cool slightly before spreading over the cake and then garnish with a little zest of orange and leave to set in the fridge.
Also this week I got to bake my German Sourdough friendship cake that I mentioned in my last blog. Before adding the remaining ingredients and baking I split the mixture into 4, gave one part to my sister, one to my Mum and one to a friend in work. They have started at step one and I followed the recipe on the instructions, adding a little extra here and there and an extra egg (so it was big enough to bake in my bunt tin rather than a tray)  and then it was done, and before I knew it it was gone! It was really tasty, I took half into work, which didn't last long and left the rest at home and that was gone almost half as quick. I will definitely be making another one of these in the future, maybe making my own starter mix so I can carry on baking them at will. Any way here it is:

The darker patches are where it was drizzled in melted butter and sugar, mmmmmmm.

Filled with apple and raisins.

Any way that's all for today, I have to go and make another cake now as it's my little brothers birthday tomorrow.

Cupcake Kris xxx