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Hey guys, I want to make a chocolate orange flavoured cake, I was thinking I would like to have a go at making Paul Chocolate cake and wondered wether I could swap the dark chcolate for Orange flavoured chocolate or add juice from an orange to the mix? Or should I just stick to the recipe and make chocolate orange buttercream instead?? Any advice would be great, thanks.

Hi scarr

The quickest and most intense way is to substitute the cocoa in the recipe for orange flavoured cocoa. Here’s an answer to a similar question which you may find useful:

Flavouring a cake

There are other ways like adding the zest of some oranges and also the juice. It depends on how big the cake is as to how much you’d need to use. You could also infuse the cake with orange flavoured liqueur or orange flavoured simple syrup. Ganache can be made with orange liqueur such as Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Curaçao, Mandarine Napoleon and triple sec.

I normally soak the zest of a couple of oranges in a couple of table spoons of liqueur and let it steep overnight. Make sure the steeping recepticle is covered with clingfilm to stop the alcohol evaporating.
Next day, strain off the zest and add the alcohol to the ganache. At first it will look as if it is separating but as you mix, it will incorporate and emulsify. For buttercream, use natural flavoured orange flavouring.

There are some great natural flavours which you could use. I can recommend Foodie Flavours but if you google natural food flavours for cake, you’ll see many other brands.

Hope this helps. 🙂

Thank you, I didn’t even no you could get orange flavoured cocoa!
If I was to use the zest and just from an orange instead, how much do you think I would need for a 10 inch square cake?
Thanks for your help

For a 10″ square, cake I do the zest of three and the juice of two. As you are adding more liquid to the mix it will be necessary to adjust the water which is used for the coffee. The water can not be omitted, the adjustment will be less the amount of juice you get from the oranges. 🙂

ps did you take a look at the answer in the link?

Yes I have thank you, just one more thing, how do I make an orange flavoured simple syrup? I’ve never made/used it before, do I just brush it on when the cake comes out of the oven?

Boil up for a minute equal quantities of orange juice and sugar ( add the zest too, don’t let it go to waste 🙂 Once the syrup is cool, use a pastry brush and brush each layer of the cake before filling. For a 10″ square cake you will need
approx 300 grams sugar and 300 g orange juice or water. You may have some left over, it can be used up on another cake or stored in the fridge in a sterilised bottle.

Thanks very much for all your help.

Sorry one more question, what brand of dark chocolate should I use for the cake, all the ones I’ve looked are either above or below Paul’s recommended cocoa percentage.

Paul used to use Belcolade brand but he uses all different types of chocolate including supermarket own brands. Lately he has been enthusing about Carma couveture. I haven’t ried it yet but I know it’s got to be good because it comes from the same stable as Callebuat. Both can be purchased at the Cake Decorating company. Peek at the link for the Callebaut and search in their website to see the Carma couveture.

https://www.thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk/chocolate-supplies-c30/chocolate-candy-melts-c55/callebaut-dark-belgian-couverture-chocolate-p5236

I have been using the Callebaut for a number of years with perfect satisfaction. 🙂

Thank you, I’ll have a look at that for the future but im just looking for something from then supermarket tesco/lidl or aldi for this cake.

I’ve used Lidle Finn Carre which is really inexpensive but more than acceptable in taste, texture and cocoa content. The dark chocolate is 50% cocoa . The milk chocolate is 45% and the white 29%. I have tried Aldi brand but found it s but on the soft side so it doesn’t st as well. All the other supermarket brands work well but good to shop around and watch the cocoa content. Please let me know if this helps. Post back if you need anything else. ?

I’ll go for the lidl one then! Thanks alot!