The original recipe doesn’t have orange but I added it as an extra flavor.

Cake can be made to a day ahead; keep, covered, in fridge.

Ingredients:

185g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 ½ cups sugar
4 eggs, separated
¾ cup self-raising flour (in none add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder to plain flour)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
¾ cup buttermilk (if none add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar to a measuring cup then add milk till it reaching ¾)
Zest of 1 medium orange

Ganache:

100g dark chocolate with orange flavor
1/3 cup cream (can be whipping cream)

Method:

1) Grease deep 23cm round cake pan. Cover base with baking paper, grease paper.

2) Cream butter, orange zest, essence and sugar in a small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy.

3) Beat in egg yolks until just combined.

4) Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in sifted flour and cocoa and butter milk.

5) Beat egg whites in a small bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form; lightly fold through the cake mixture in 2 batches.

6) Pour mixture into pan, bake at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for about 1 hour or until firm. Wait a few minutes then remove from pan and turn onto a wire rack to cool.

7) Ganache: When the cake is cold put chocolate and cream in a small saucepan over low heat until the chocolate melts and it is combined with the cream. Spread ganache over cake.

Adapted from: The Australian Women’s Weekly, Chocolate