Dorie Greenspan's Orange Loaf Cake with Chocolate Drizzle for #Christmas by Lucy Burdette

 

LUCY BURDETTE: Mostly this post is about a new cookbook, DORIE’S ANYTIME CAKES, that any baker, cook, or enjoyer of baked goods might love to get as a gift— including probably you! In my family, I’m giving three away as gifts, plus I also bought one for myself. There are so many gorgeous cakes in this book—I had a hard time choosing one.  But fresh orange with a drizzle of chocolate sounded like Christmas to me.

I will paste Dorie’s recipe ingredient list below so you can follow it exactly. I replaced the oranges with clementines that came from my sister‘s tree. My shopper bought milk chocolate chips instead of semi sweet or bitter sweet chocolate. The chips refused to drizzle properly, so I frosted the cake with melted chips instead. I think the sharper chocolate would have set off the orange taste better. Exactly as Dorie said. 😁

Heat the oven to 350. Prepare a loaf pan by buttering it, then pressing in two layers of parchment, that will act as a sling to lift the cake out later. Butter the parchment.

Wash and dry the clementines or oranges. Grate the fruit over the sugar. Using your fingers, combine the zest with the sugar. It should all smell delicious and look slightly orange. Squeeze the clementines for juice, reserving 1/4 cup for the syrup.

Combine the rest of the dry ingredients and set aside.

Beat the butter into the orange zested sugar. Beat in one egg until well combined. Beat in the second egg, then add 2 tablespoons of the dry ingredients and beat that. Beat in the third egg. With your mixer on low, add half of the dry ingredients and beat that in. Beat in the orange juice and vanilla, and then mix in the remainder of the dry ingredients on low.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake around 50 minutes plus or minus until a tester comes out clean. Meanwhile, dissolve the 1/4 cup sugar into 1/4 cup freshly squeeze juice from your clementines or oranges.

Remove the cake from the oven and poke holes in it using a toothpick or skewer. Carefully pour the drizzle syrup over the top and let the cake cool in the pan.

Remove the cake from the pan and put it on your serving plate, drip melted chocolate over the top. Serve and enjoy!

USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.

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