Chocolate & Orange Upside-down Tea Cake

If you follow my blog or Instagram page, you will probably know I have a bit of a weakness for any bakes containing either Chocolate or Orange.  So, naturally, when I came across this recipe in Country Life Magazine a while back, I just had to make it!!

Like many upside-down cakes, it has a layer of fruit in the bottom of the baking tin which when cooked and inverted leaves the caramelised fruit on the top. In this case it is a layer of thinly sliced orange rounds which line the base and the juice from these filter down through the cake as it bakes leaving a lovely moist sponge which is helped somewhat by the addition of buttermilk in the recipe.

I wouldn’t consider this an overly sweet cake, but I’ll let you be the judge of that if you get the opportunity to bake it 🙂 (which I hope you do!!)

Ingredients:
3 Oranges (use 2 if they are large)
100g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
85g Soft Brown Sugar
85g Caster Sugar
3 Eggs (use free range if you have them)
1 Teasp Vanilla Extract
100g Plain Chocolate Chips
150g Self-Raising Flour
50g Cocoa Powder
1 Teasp Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
200ml Buttermilk

To Serve:
250ml Double Cream
2 Teasp Orange Zest
Juice from half an Orange
Icing Sugar, to taste

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC, 160ºC (Fan), 350ºF or Gas Mark 4
2. Line an 8 inch round cake tin with greaseproof paper and then grease the paper using melted butter (or use baking spray as I do!)
3. Grate the zest from the oranges ensuring you don’t use any of the bitter white pith.  Cut the remaining peel and outer pith from the oranges using a sharp knife and then slice horizontally into the thinnest slices you can
4. Arrange the slices in a single layer in the base of your tin slightly overlapping them – I used 3 medium oranges for this cake and kept back half of one orange to squeeze for juice to add to the whipped cream for serving
5. Cream the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl.  Add the eggs, one at a time mixing well between each one.  Add the vanilla extract and the zest from two of the oranges and mix again.
6. In  a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa.  Add one third of these dry ingredients to the egg mixture.  add half the buttermilk followed by a third of the flour mix, the second half of the buttermilk and then the final third of the flour – mix well between each addition.  Finally, mix in the chocolate chips.
7. Pour the cake batter into the tin and spread lightly.
8. Bake in your preheated over for 45 – 50 minutes and ensure it is cooked by dipping a skewer into the centre.
9. Once out of the oven, allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes in the tin then invert it onto a wire rack to cool.  Be careful when removing the greaseproof paper as the oranges may stick.
10. While the cake is cooling – lightly whip the cream and then add in the orange juice, the reserved zest and the icing sugar (approx 4 teaspoons or to taste)
11. Serve the cake warm with the whipped orange cream on the side

Enjoy x