Chocolate and Orange Chiffon Cake
And goodbye from me for a little while...
Long-time subscribers will know that I love a chiffon cake, and this year’s Christmassy cake is a chocolate and orange version. If you’re not into chocolate cake, check out last year’s cranberry concoction here. Today’s recipe is my last until February next year, as I’m taking a little maternity break from the newsletter. Turns out being a Mum is equally exhilarating and exhausting – who knew!!! Thank you SO much for your support of WTYCT this year, with particularly huge thanks to all you paid subscribers, who enable me to keep producing the newsletter at all. It’s been great fun. All monthly paid subs will be paused. Have a simply wonderful Christmas and a relaxing time!
So this is Christmas. And we come to the end of another year of recipes. I hope you’ve found some new dishes to enjoy, and would love to hear of any of your favourites, please do let me know! Here’s a very-last-minute reminder of some of the Christmas recipes I love the most:
I hereby add today’s recipe to that list… Chocolate cake isn't known for being light, but the meringue that's whipped into the batter in a chiffon cake makes for a sponge you could almost blow away. And that’s why I LOVE it. I’ve made this cake for various friend and family birthdays, and I think it’s safe to say it’s popular with the people.
The streusel decoration is completely optional, you could easily use some chocolate shards or flakes, or simply more candied orange, for the sides of the cake, but the crunch is a nice textural addition.
I’ve tested this cake with not one, but three different kinds of chocolate icing. The best, by a mile (and the one you see photographed here) was Nicola Lamb’s exceptional chocolate frosting, found on page 238 of her exceptional cookbook SIFT or here on her untouchable Substack, Kitchen Projects. Nicola has kindly allowed me to reprint it for you below! Thanks, Nicola!
Please note, you can halve the cake recipe successfully if you don’t want such a mighty and tall dessert, or if you don’t want to use 10 eggs in one go (which I can understand).
Chocolate and Orange Chiffon Cake