This was one of those cakes that had me struggling not to lick my fingers as I mixed it up, going back for seconds right after the first slice, then eating every crumb off the platter after everyone else had their portions. I didn’t lick the platter clean, but then I was at church. Obviously I’ll be making it again.

Last week I tried the Ginger Ale Spice Cake recipe from Marcy Goldman’s A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking. Next week I may try to follow a more strict Passover recipe as our study of the “Feasts of Israel” begins to cover the details of the Passover seder and preparations, but this one was chosen simply because it sounded delicious.

Do you love those sectioned chocolate orange candies they sell around Christmas? Is pound cake a bit too boring to serve with coffee and tea, but you want something more interesting than a danish and simpler than a traditional cake with frosting? This should suit all your needs, the only possible problem that you may just create a new craving that offers many more servings than a basic Terry’s Chocolate Orange.

This recipe is (VERY) moist and rich. I love the extra punch of orange flavor from using orange juice concentrate in the batter. Still, it doesn’t take too much fuss to mix up, except for the orange peel zesting. I baked it in a tube pan, which took about an hour, perfect for me to get in the oven early before getting dressed and ready for church.

Marbled Chocolate Orange Cake

(note: the photos show 4 eggs – we were running out, so I used what I had. I think 5 would have been better, it was a bit softer and crumblier than it should have been)

Cake Batter:

• 1 cup canola oil
• 2 1/4 c. sugar
• 5 eggs
• 4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• finely grated zest of 1 orange (just the orange part of the peel)
• 3 1/4 cups flour
• 3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweeet chocolate chips

Orange Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• for garnish: long shreds of orange zest

Preheat oven to 350º F. Choose a pan: 2 9×5″ loaf pans or 1 large bundt or angelfood tube pan. The tube pan will take longer to bake than 2 loaf pans.

Blend oil and sugar together and beat in eggs. Add in vanilla, water, orange juice, and grated zest. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix into the wet ingredients.

To create the marble effect, 1/3 of the batter will need to be removed and mixed with the chocolate ingredients. I measured the finished batter and got a little less than 7 cups. In a smaller mixing bowl that can hold at least 3 cups of batter, mix together the cocoa and 3 Tbsp. oil. Add in the third of the regular batter (I would say 2 1/3 cup, if you want to be exact) and stir in the chocolate chips. Mix until it is consistently chocolatey.

Scoop the two batters into the prepared (greased) pan or pans – don’t bother to swirl them, just add scoops of the batter alternately and it will mix together more as it bakes. For the large tube pans, bake 55 to 60 minutes. For loaf pans, bake 35 – 40 minutes. The top may crack a bit, that isn’t a problem – just make sure it’s lightly browned and springs back to the touch.

Cool in the pan, then remove and either dust with powdered sugar or glaze when cooled a bit. The glaze will soak into the cake. Top with curls of orange zest.

Yield: 12 servings.

Note: if the slideshow below doesn’t appear, you can view the photos directly on my flickr account.

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