COMC-with-OBI-and-BCG

What exactly does that mean? Well, it's the shortest way I could come up with to describe this cake. It's a chocolate orange marble cake with orange buttercream icing and a bittersweet chocolate ganache. As I mentioned last month, I'm in charge of the once-a-month office birthday cake. This month, Mikey requested a marble cake and I was like, "seriously?? how booooring"...which of course led him to give me crap about it and in the end he said, "fine, do what you want, I guess it must be YOUR birthday every month...sheesh". Mikey and I jokingly fight with each other at least once a day. He's like the annoying brother I never had. Oh wait, that's right, I had three. Only difference is that they grew up and no longer annoy me. Sorry, Mikey. :)

Anyhow, in the end I caved to his request...well, kind of. He asked for marble cake with white icing. I just took the liberty of creating whatever marble cake I wanted, with icing that was "almost" white in color...so I think that counts. I can't really tell you if it turned out yet. I'll let you know the feedback tomorrow. I also was completely worn out from baking (I had to make 2, so it took a while), so I apologize for the crappy pictures. It's a miracle I took any.

I'll be posting the recipe on my tasty kitchen recipe book sometime tomorrow, so I'll post the link when it's up. Basically, the quick rundown is that I made an orange cake using your basic cake ingredients as well as buttermilk and fresh orange rind. I spread 2/3 of the batter into 2 pans and then added a mixture of melted bittersweet chocolate, water, butter and soda to the remaining 1/3. I dropped spoonfulls of the chocolate/orange batter onto the orange and swirled away with a knife. Baked. Cooled.

While the cake cooled, I made the orange buttercream frosting using butter, egg yolk, powdered sugar, orange juice and fresh orange rind. I frosted the top of the bottom half, covered with a can of drained, crushed mandarin oranges. Placed the remaining cake on top and finished icing. Big fan of the frosting...I think it turned out great. Spreads on perfectly and sets nicely with a bit of a shiny coat.

I placed the cake in the fridge to allow the icing to completely set, then started on the chocolate ganache. I combined bittersweet chocolate, butter, heavy cream, a little rum and some vanilla for an added kick. Mostly bitter, but goes so well with the sweetness of the orange buttercream. Once it was completely melted and combined, I allowed it to cool and then began pouring it on the top-center of the cake, allowing it to drizzle down the sides as it pleased. Garnished with a few mandarin oranges and leftover orange peel and viola! I hope it turns out well...you just never know when you throw an idea together, but it's a great way to test out new things (especially since I'm getting paid to do it! :)). I'll let you know how it goes!