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Orange-Chocolate Chip Mini Cake

I have this problem with icing. I always make it too thin. Every time. This time it started out fine, then I refrigerated it until the cakes cooled, and then it seemed too hard so I added a little rice milk. It did not for a second occur to me that it was hard because it had been, oh, let's see... in the fridge? Man I'm smart. So that's why the icing looks all melty and weird here. In retrospect I could've just added some more powdered sugar, but apparently icing is my kryptonite so of course I didnd't think of that at the time.

Anyway. This is an orange-chocolate chip cake with orange marmalade between the layers and chocolate frosting. The cake was modified from this recipe, and the frosting was a slightly modified version of the one on the back of the Hershey's cocoa box. For the cake I reduced the sugar to 3/4 c, added about 1/4 c of extra flour, used whole wheat pastry flour, used 3 1/2 Tbsp of applesauce and 1 Tbsp of oil in place of the fat, orange juice in place of the water/soymilk, no almond extract, only 1 tsp of vanilla, and a little less than 1 Tbsp of orange extract. I also added about some orange zest to the mix, and of course mini chocolate chips - about 3 Tbsp. So including the marmalade, there are 4 types of orange flavoring at play here. It's orange overload!

Chocolate and orange is one my favorite flavor combinations, so I love this cake. The only problem I had was that I should've halved this recipe, because it made enough for 4 mini round cakes. I put the excess batter into my mini bear and bunny pans, and they stuck like a mofo. They stil taste good, though. The round pans stuck a bit as well, but I think that's my fault for not letting them cool completely. Plus the chocolate chips always make things a bit stickier.

Overall I'd call this experiment a success. The cake itself is really good, even without icing. The icing itself is the only part I'm not happy with, and that's just because it's ugly.

So there you have it.

Oooh, Orange and Chocolate always make for a delicious combination. You're too hard on yourself, I think the icing looks good in the pic, even if it may be hard in real life :)

BTW, I made the Three Bean Dal last night for dinner. It was yummy!

Hey,
About that sticking, did you grease and flour the tins? the flouring bit helps so much...when i make chocolate cakes, i flour with cocoa instead of flour, so it doesn't turn the chocky cake white.

xo
kittee

vegan diva - Aww, thanks. :) Icing is my achilles heel. I'm glad you liked the dal!

jessica - The thing with the dots is actually a folder that works very well as a photo backdrop. It's the Official Backdrop of Desserts @ Vegancore. :) About the icing, I should've just done a ganachey thing. This cake didn't need all that icing. So that's what I'll do next time. It still tastes good, though. The note about lubing up the pans is ridiculous. I thought you weren't supposed to have to do that to silicone? Anyway, the first cake came out fine, so I think it was the chocolate chips that made this one stick so badly.

kittee - I didn't grease or flour, because I thought silicone pans were by nature non-stick... which I guess they are to some degree, but melty bits of chocolate sort of win that fight, I guess. Next time I'll grease and flour them a bit if there's something sticky in the cake.

I like the sort of melty look to the icing, gives it that nice homebaked fresh look instead of the stuff manufactored preservatives looking kinda cake :) And i bet it was delicious.. ahh looks to die for, maybe I'll try making one too this weekend (your modified version)!!! :)

Ahhh, ur such an inspiration :)

I think it looks super tasty, and do you have polka dot wallpaper? Is it that awesome??

orange and chocolate go together like urban vegan and omniman. what an adorable photo!

I appreciate the dots as well! Orange and chocolate are a stellar combo. And believe me that looks stellar, the cake as well as the lovely orange plate. That looks like a little slice of heaven! I don't think I would call the icing ugly! Nice all around! Thank you for sharing.

miss tiffie - Aww, thanks! I hope you like it if you do try it out. That's a good white cake recipe all around.

jess - I do not have polka dot wallpaper. If I did I would be much happier all the time. It's actually a folder that I just think makes a nice dessert backdrop. :)

urban vegan - Thanks! You guys are totally one of my all-time favorite flavor combos, then. :)

kleo - Thank you! The icing isn't that bad, it's just that I can never get it right no matter what recipe I use. It still tastes good, though. :)

I recently discovered that carob and orange is also a delicious combo - I was never much of a chocolate fan as either a omnivore, vegetarian, or regular vegan (I'm raw now). At this very moment I'm planning a raw carob-orange treat so I think we are definately thinking on the same wavelength! Pity about the icing but this still looks amazing! I've always had that icing problem too actually - you just look at it and go "oh now come on, that's clearly too thick, I'll add some more liquid... oops, now it's water"!

I've never actually tried carob. I always mean to, but then I just... don't. I've always loved chocolate, but I think I actually eat less by itself now that I'm vegan and my tastes have grown accustomed to better quality stuff. You took the words right out of my mouth regarding the icing - it looks like spackle, so I add just a smidge of liquid... and then it's pudding. Grrr.

On one hand I'm now going to browse through all the folders in the school supply section of walmart to fine great backdrops, on the other hand I'm dissapointed to find out that you don't have polkadot wallpaper.

The cake looks yummy. I've never had chocolate & orange as a combo but I love both parts individually so why not? Somehow I thought you'd had carob before.I've tried carob, it is pretty good and tastes a lot like dark chocolate. At least i think so.

p.s. Love the orange plate.

I'm always on the lookout for new backdrop things, so you're not alone. :) You're right to be disappointed about the wallpaper, though. I always knew I didn't have it and I'm still disappointed.

You've never had chocolate and orange?!? That's just... a travesty, is what that is. You need to combine them, stat. Get a Newman's Own chocolate orange bar, or a Green & Black's Maya Gold. Mmmmm Maya Gold. I'm going to get some kind of carob next time I'm at the health food store, so soon I'll be able to check that off my list.

I never photograph things on that orange plate because it's usually too harsh a color. But it was a natural for this.

question - do you love those silicon baking dishes? They scare me a little. Plastic in the oven? I feel like plastic chemical stuff must leach into the food.

I've been meaning to get some colourful backdrops. Thanks for the reminder.

I wouldn't say I love them yet, but I've only used them twice. If I could've found mini metal pans I probably would have bought those, just because I'd never used silicone before. They're colorful, which is always fun, and things bake just fine in them, so I guess I have no complaints. It's definitely food-grade silicone, so I don't worry about that part too much.

ooh my first visit here! i came in search of your minestrone recipe.

the cake looks AMAZING. icing doesn't have to be pretty, just yummy. :) wtg!

Thank you! I agree, yummy is a bigger factor than pretty when it comes to cake. :)

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