My blood orange obsession is still going strong! When blood orange season is only a few months long, you’d better believe I’m buying up all of the blood oranges I can find for my baking. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a couple more recipes on here featuring them before the season is over. I’ve already got a few ideas lined up!
This week, the blood oranges are the stars of our frosting. And this isn’t just any frosting. It’s a Swiss meringue buttercream.
So yes, it takes longer to make than your regular old American buttercream and you have to heat up your egg whites and sugar before you start aggressively whipping them before very slowly adding in the butter, but it’s worth it. I promise.
I like Swiss meringue buttercream because it isn’t as sweet as a traditional buttercream and I also just have better luck applying it to cakes. What can I say, frosting cakes is not my forte.
This cake uses my favourite chocolate cake recipe. I love it. It’s light, fluffy, filled with chocolate flavour and has a heavy dose of coffee involved to really make the chocolate pop.
I like that as the cake bakes a slightly rounded top comes out. Slicing it off to level the layers means you have some cake to snack on while you’re decorating!
Depending on how vibrant your blood orange juice is, you may need to add some pink food colouring to get that nice blood orange colour. I used a little to make it pretty, but it can absolutely be left as is.
This cake is maybe one of my favourites. The chocolate cake is delicious, and the blood orange frosting really shines with the perfect orange flavour to complement the chocolate. I mean, who can say no to a combination of chocolate and orange?
The chocolate drip glaze on top is totally optional. I just like it because I think it adds a little something to the overall look of the cake. You can also never have too much chocolate, so…
Grab yourself some blood oranges, make the cake and share it with a couple of people. My taste testers were lining up to try it!
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- Butter or nonstick cooking spray, for the pans
- 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp. all purpose flour, plus more for the pans
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 cup hot strong-brewed coffee
Blood Orange Frosting:
- 4 egg whites
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Juice of 2 small or 1 large blood orange
- Zest of 3 small blood oranges
- pink food coloring (optional)
Chocolate Glaze:
- 2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
- 2 1/2 oz. heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 6-inch cake pans and set aside.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the oil and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer on, add the eggs and vanilla extract. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- Turn the mixer to low and add the flour in three batches, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stop and scrape down the bowl. With the mixer on low, stream in the coffee. Mix on medium-low for no more than 30 seconds, or until combined.
- Evenly divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Let them cool on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes before removing the cakes from their pans.
Blood Orange Frosting:
- Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk them together by hand to combine. Fill a medium saucepan with a few inches of water and place it over medium high heat. Place the mixer bowl on top of the saucepan to create a double boiler. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the water.
- Whisking intermittently, heat the egg mixture until it registers 160°F on a candy thermometer or is hot to the touch. Once hot, carefully fit the mixer bowl onto the stand mixer.
- With the whisk attachment, beat the egg white mixture on high speed for 8-10 minutes, until it holds medium-stiff peaks. When done, the outside of the mixer bowl should return to room temperature and no residual heat should be escaping the meringue out of the top of the bowl. Stop the mixer and swap out the whisk attachment for the paddle.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, then the vanilla. Once incorporated, turn up the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the buttercream is silky smooth, 3-5 minutes.
- Mix in the blood orange juice, zest and food colouring, if using, and beat until silky smooth.
Chocolate Glaze & Assembly:
- To make the chocolate glaze, place the chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl. Melt in the microwave for 20-second increments, stirring between each one, until the chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Once the cakes have completely cooled, level them and choose which layer will be at the bottom. Place it on a cake plate or serving dish. Spread on the Swiss meringue frosting with an offset spatula. Place the next layer of cake on top and repeat. Put in the fridge for 15 minutes to set up, then frost the top and sides of the cake Drizzle on the chocolate ganache.
