Chocolate and Orange Mirror Glaze Cake

 This works brilliantly for a big celebration, especially with the glaze and decoration! The chocolate and orange flavour is a classic. If you want, you can replace the orange zest with chopped mint leaves.

Makes 1 large cake

Ingredients:

For the orange sponge:

200g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

200g self raising flour

4 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp baking powder

2 oranges, zested and juiced

For the chocolate ganache:

400g milk chocolate (good quality)

300ml double cream

For the chocolate mirror glaze:

150ml double cream

135g caster sugar

3 gelatine leaves

55g cocoa powder

Method:

To start, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line two circular (18cm diameter) tins with baking paper and set aside. To make the cake mix, cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until lighter in colour and fluffy. Next, gradually pour in the beaten eggs mixing after every edition. Finally, sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture along with the orange zest and juice, fold it in until it is just combined (don't overwork it otherwise the mixture will rise unevenly). Pour the mixture into the 2 prepared tins and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until they are golden brown and firm to touch. Once they have cooked, set aside to cool.

To make the ganache, heat up the cream in a small saucepan until it has started bubbling and immediately pour it over the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and stir until the chocolate has melted (if the mixture starts to curdle, don't panic! Use a whisk and whip it hard and it will return to one texture) and mixture is one colour (it should be a light brown). Chill this in a fridge so it will become thicker and it will hold its shape better.

While the cakes and the ganache are cooling, make the mirror glaze.

To start, place the gelatine leaves in water (luke warm would be best) and add enough water so that it just covers the leaves. Next, put the cocoa powder, sugar and the cream in a saucepan and heat it up on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Keep stirring while the heat is on to stop it from sticking to the pan. Bring to the boil and boil for 2 minutes and then turn off the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Once it has cooled squeeze the gelatine leaves to remove the excess water (they should be very easy to squeeze, I they aren't, leave them in the water for a bit longer). Stir them into the glaze and stir until they have dissolved and let it cool to a temperature below 38 degrees C.

To assemble the cake, place one of the cakes on a cooling rack and spread ALL of the ganache on top of it. Then add the second cake on top and stick a kebab stick through the middle of the cake to support it as it will probably be quite tall. Stir the glaze as it might have created a skin, and pour it over the cake using every last bit. Use a palette knife to encourage the glaze to fall over the edge of the cake and cover it completely. Set aside for the cake to firm up and then decorate with any fruit you like. Serve immediately and enjoy!

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