Two layers of rich chocolate orange cake sandwiching an orange sponge cake, filled with orange tinted buttercream and frosted with chocolate buttercream. Finally the cake is dripped with chocolate ganache and decorated with candy.
Happy belated Halloween!! Hope you all had a wonderful time.
This cake should have been posted on Halloween.  I would have posted it sooner, but I wanted to do a video for the post as well. I had to rope in my Mr to help me with the video. He was brilliant. If you want to see how I made this cake, please visit my instagram page, Bakes By ChiChi. It’s a minute long. Scroll down for a longer version of the video. I lost light at the end of the video :-(.
Drip cakes are so popular and trendy right now. To be honest I am in love with them. They are visually appealing and what I love also is that  you can let your imagination run wild when making these cakes.
To start off you need your favourite cake. As it is Halloween themed cake I went with a chocolate and orange layer cake. Two layers of chocolate orange cake and one layer of orange cake. The cake is bursting with gorgeous orange flavours. Orange and chocolate make such a wonderful pairing. It is just spot on.  The filling for the drip cake is vanilla buttercream tinted orange. And finally I frosted the entire cake with rich chocolate buttercream tinted with black gel colour.
Here are some helpful tips for making a drip cake:Â
1.Use whipping cream to make your ganache.
2. The consistency of the drip is very important. Â Too runny and the glaze slides right off the sides and pools at the bottom of the cake board. Â Too thick and you have to practically force your drip to the edge of the cake ending up with blobs on the side of your cake.
3. I use a ratio of 2:1 for dark chocolate and 3:1 for white chocolate. If the ganache is too thick, I thin it with vegetable oil. I add the vegetable oil a little at a time until I am happy with the consistency. Melt the cream and chocolate at 30 second bursts in the microwave until chocolate has melted. Let the ganache set for about 10 minutes before using.
4. If you want to tint your ganache, gel colours are best. To colour, add the gel colour to the white chocolate chips or chunks and cream before melting.
5. Make sure your buttercream cake is thoroughly chilled before dripping. Keep the cake in the fridge until you are ready to drip.
6. I use a squeeze bottle to add drops of ganache around the edges of the cake, before filling the centre of the cake with ganache and then using an angled spatula or spoon to even out the ganache.
7. Finally decorate your cake with favourite treats. You can make your own candy bark, lollipops, chocolate, fresh fruit. Use whatever you have at hand.
This cake is not just visually pretty,  it is also delicious. The flavours of the chocolate orange and orange sponge cake compliment each other, making it just perfect for any occasion.
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Ingredients
- 125 g (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 200 g ( 1 cup) sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons orange extract
- 120 ml (1/2 cup )full fat or semi skimmed milk
- 160 g ( 1 1/3 cup) plain flour
- 60 g ( 1/2 cup) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoons level baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) hot water
- 150 g ( 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) butter
- 150 g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange extract
- 2 eggs
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) plain flour
- 11/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) milk
- 120 g ( 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
- 45 g (1/4 cup) trex
- 300 g ( 3 cups) icing sugar, sifted
- 30-60 ml (1/8 - 1/4 cup) whipping cream
- drops of orange gel colour
- 240 g (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 95 g (1/2 cup) trex
- 500 g (5 cups) icing sugar
- 120 g (1 cup) cocoa powder
- 200 g (7 ounces) dark chocolate
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- drops of black gel colour
- 120 g (4.2 ounces) dark chocolate
- 60 ml whipping cream
Instructions
Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius. Grease and dust the bottom and sides of 2 X 6 inch baking tin with flour.
Boil some water. Pour your hot water onto your cocoa and whisk until your cocoa dissolves completely. Set aside to cool slightly
Beat unsalted butter and sugar for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
In a mixing bowl sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Set aside.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition occasionally scrapping down the sides of bowl. Mix in orange extract.
Alternatively add the flour mixture and milk in 3 parts, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Mix in cocoa mixture.
Divide chocolate batter equally between the two tins.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Leave to cool tin on wire racks for 10 minutes, then invert onto rack gently and leave to cool completely.
Wrap cakes in cling film and chill in the fridge for 1- 3 hours.
Grease and line the bottom and sides of a 6 inch baking tin with grease proof paper.
In the bowl of stand mixer beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy about 5 minutes.
Sift together flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.
Add whole eggs one after the other beating well after each addition. Add orange extract and beat until combined.
With mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Pour batter into cake tin.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes minutes or until tooth pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Leave to cool tin on wire racks for 10 minutes, then invert onto rack gently, discard greaseproof paper and cool completely.
Wrap cakes in cling film and chill in the fridge for 1- 3 hours.
In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and vegetable shortening until light and creamy, about 5 minutes.
Add icing sugar a cup at a time and beat well until combined. As frosting thickens add whipping cream and beat until frosting is light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and a few drops of orange colour and beat until evenly incorporated.
To make the chocolate ganache, place chopped chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl. Melt in 30 second bursts in microwave, stirring with a whisk after each time, until completed melted. Stir ganache gently with a whisk until smooth and no streaks of cream remain.
In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and vegetable shortening on medium speed until light and creamy, about 5 minutes.
Turn down speed to low and add sifted icing sugar a cup at a time, then add cocoa powder and beat well until combined. Mix in chocolate ganache. Add black gel colour until desired black tint is achieved.
Add vanilla extract and beat until frosting is light and fluffy.
Use a serrated knife to level your cake layers, if needed.
Spread a thin layer of icing on your cake board. .Place one chocolate layer of cake, flat side down on top . Fit a piping bag with a large round piping nozzle, fill with orange buttercream and pipe the buttercream onto the cake.
Stack the orange sponge cake flat side down. Pipe orange buttercream onto the cake.
Then place the remaining layer of chocolate cake, flat side down.
Spread a thin layer of chocolate frosting on the sides and then top of cake. It helps to use a turntable when frosting a cake. Hold a scraper flat against the side of the cake and then turn the turntable and scraper to make a nice, smooth coat of icing. Smooth the top of cake with scraper, drawing the peaks o the top edges of cake into the centre.
Chill crumb coated cake in fridge for 30 minutes until buttercream is nice and firm.
Once cake is chilled, cover evenly with chocolate buttercream using an off set spatula and then use a scraper to smooth the edges.
Place the cake back in the fridge for an hour.
To make the chocolate ganache, place chopped chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl. Melt in 30 second bursts in microwave, stirring with a whisk after each time, until completed melted. Stir ganache gently with a whisk until smooth and no streaks of cream remain.
Leave chocolate ganache to cool for about 10 minutes before using.
If ganache is thick, add a couple of teaspoons of vegetable oil until you are happy with the consistency.
Spoon some of the ganache into a squeeze bottle.
Remove the cake from the fridge and add drips of ganache using a squeeze bottle or a spoon over the top edge of the cake. Next, spoon more ganache on the top of the cake, pushing it just to the edge with a small offset spatula or back of the spoon.
Decorate the top of the cake with candies of sweets of your choice.
Tools used to make this cake
I really like this recipe,craving for this food!
Thank you Erik 🙂