I had no intention of sharing this recipe but it turned out too pretty and too delicious not to!

I absolutely love birthdays and celebrating them. I think it stems from the fact that my birthday is two days after Christmas and it always seemed to get swept in with all the other holiday activities going on. When I was younger, my parents and grandparents were always good about making sure my birthday was celebrated and I got a birthday present that was not a combine with Christmas. But we were usually at a family member’s house on my birthday celebrating Christmas, so I didn’t have many birthday parties with friends. Even if I did have a birthday party, other kids were rarely available as they were also doing Christmas related things. As I’ve gotten older, while most people are less interested in their birthday, I love sending cards or small presents or baking a cake to celebrate the people I care about. This past weekend we had friends over for dinner. Her 30th birthday is this coming Friday and I decided to bake a cake for our dessert. I asked her husband what her favorite flavor was and he quickly responded “Chocolate!” I was thrilled with his answer. She is also gluten free and I had a cake recipe I had been wanting to try for a while.

The original cake recipe comes from Nigella Lawson. While I’ve completely complicated the process with the ganache and the candied orange slices, the cake itself is very easy. If you’re looking for a simple cake, this is it, forget the additions and just serve the cake plain with a little powdered sugar for decoration. The cake is all of seven ingredients. The hardest part is boiling the oranges. That’s right, you boil two oranges whole for two hours.  Trust me, I also thought that was weird, but it turned out great. After that, you blend everything together in a food processor (orange peel included), pop it in the oven and voila…an incredibly moist, scrumptious (happens to be gluten free) cake! Dress this up or down as much as you like and enjoy!

Chocolate and Orange Almond Cake

Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 3 hours
Yields: One 9" cake

Ingredients

Cake

2 small oranges

6 large eggs

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 cups almond flour/ almond meal

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Chocolate Ganache

8 oz or about 1 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Candied Orange Slices

1 orange

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

 

Instructions

Cake

Place the oranges in a medium sauce pan and cover with water. Bring the pot to a boil then cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until oranges are soft, about 2 hours. Once the oranges are cool enough to handle, slice them in half and remove any large seeds. Place the oranges in a food processor and pulse until smooth. This part can be done up to two days ahead of time.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Add the orange puree and the remaining ingredients to the food processor. Pulse a few times, stir, and then pulse, repeating until the mixture is well combined.

Grease an 9 inch round spring form pan. Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Candied Orange Slices

Thinly slice an orange. Bring 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water to a gentle boil in a saucepan. Place a single layer of orange slices in the boiling syrup and cook, flipping occasionally, for 15 to 30 minutes or until slices are softened and translucent. Use tongs to remove the slices and place on a wire rack to cool.

Ganache

Place the chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl. Bring heavy cream to a simmer on the stove top, stirring occasionally. Just as soon as you see a simmer, remove from heat and pour over chocolate chips, swirling the bowl to make sure all chips are covered.

Place lid on chocolate chips to trap the heat and let sit undisturbed (no mixing) for 5 minutes. Remove lid and whisk, starting in the center and working outward until smooth. Once it’s smooth, let it sit uncovered at room temperature (70˚F) for about 10-15 minutes before pouring it over your cake.

Place cake on a wire rack over a rimmed platter or rimmed baking sheet. Pour your ganache evenly over the top of your cake until desired coverage is reached. You can lift up the wire rack and re-use the chocolate ganache that drips onto the platter. Using an offset spatula, smooth the top and sides.

Once the ganache is cool, decorate with the orange slices.