Valentine’s Day and Orange-Chocolate Bundt Cake

2013 will continue to be another year of firsts for us—first Valentine’s Day with food allergies, food introductions, and new Swiss experiences nearly every day.

We just wrapped up our first Valentine’s Day here in Switzerland, and since our 20-month old son is not yet in school, the holiday didn’t present any major challenges. Plus, at least in our small corner of Switzerland, Valentine’s Day isn’t much of a kids’ holiday. Our 5-year old didn’t make a Valentine’s “mailbox” for his classmates, he didn’t exchange cards or candy, and there was no party.

This actually works out well for me because I’m not a huge fan of doing kids’ bricolage. Last year, I just covered a shoebox with tinfoil for my son’s Valentine’s Day cards (check out my friend’s more creative example in the photo below).

Baseball Stadium mailbox for Valentine’s Day

Even so, we still wanted to help our kids celebrate the holiday, and our Valentine’s Day certainly needed some chocolate. While I couldn’t recreate a Swiss chocolate penguin, like our local handmade chocolate shop, I could make heart-shaped Linzer Cookies and an Orange-Chocolate Bundt Cake. The bundt cake was a total experiment based on my Crazy Cake recipe, but I’m happy to report that it worked.

Handmade Swiss chocolate penguins

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Orange-Chocolate Bundt Cake

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons rum
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 cup orange juice
1 cup water
3 tablespoons cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and flour a 10-cup bundt pan.

In a large bowl, sift together the first four ingredients—flour, sugar, baking soda and salt—until well-blended.

Add wet ingredients—cider vinegar, vegetable oil, rum, orange peel, orange juice and cold water. Whisk ingredients just until blended. Take out about 2 cups of the batter and transfer to a smaller bowl. Add 3 tablespoons cocoa powder and whisk together.

Making the chocolate cake batter

Pour half the orange cake batter into the prepared bundt pan. Then, add all of the chocolate cake batter.

Adding the chocolate cake batter to the bundt pan

Pour in the remaining orange cake batter. Bake for roughly 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Cool in pan for about 15 minutes, and on a wire rack, if possible. Then invert and remove from bundt pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Orange-Chocolate Bundt Cake dusted with powdered sugar

A slice of the Orange-Chocolate Bundt Cake

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I hope you all had a wonderful (and safe) Valentine’s Day!

And, please remember to read food labels carefully. We had a close call this week—partially due to a labeling mistake—which I’ll write about soon.

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