Orange and Rosemary Drizzle Cake with Browned Butter and White Chocolate Buttercream

I’ll take any excuse to bake a cake. It doesn’t need to be a big life event, just the fact that it’s a Tuesday, I’ve got the day off work, and the sun is shining is enough for me, but when my brother and his fiance got the keys to their new house last week it seemed like as good a reason as any to preheat the oven and line my baking tins.

I wanted to bake (and eat) a cake that felt fresh and sunny but which still felt appropriate for early March so orange was the perfect facilitator for my vision. It’s bright, happy and zingy but, especially with the addition of rosemary, still feels sufficiently seasonal - we’re only just defrosting into spring after all!

As for the buttercream, I wanted to do something a little more extra than your standard buttercream and admittedly, I kind of winged it but was super happy with the end result. It’s light and airy which works well in contrast with the depth of flavours: sweetness from the white chocolate, a hint of salty savouriness from the browned butter and rosemary and a bright zesty life from the orange.

I’d say this cake is a bit more effort to bake than your average viccy sponge, but if you have the time on your hands and something worth celebrating then you won’t regret it.

Without a Tupperware big enough, I braved walking with this cake out in the open along Holloway Road which, if you know Holloway Road, was a very brave thing to do indeed. It arrived at my brother’s new house safe and sound, although I can’t say the same for my jacket which took a hit from the buttercream the moment I left the house.

Happy baking!

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Recipe

Ingredients:

For the cake:

225g softened butter

225g caster sugar

1 orange, zest

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

225g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

2 tbsp milk

For the drizzle:

100g caster sugar

1 orange, juice

2 rosemary sprigs

For the buttercream:

250g butter

150g white chocolate

300ml double cream

3 rosemary sprigs

150g icing sugar

1 orange, zest

To decorate:

3 rosemary sprigs

1 egg white, lightly beaten

50g caster sugar

2 oranges, segmented

1 small bar white chocolate

Method:

Sponge:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C and grease and line the base of two 20cm round cake tins.

2. Cream together the butter, sugar and orange zest, for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.

3. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a small bowl.

4. Add in the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour mixture after each one. Fold in any remaining flour at the end with the milk to loosen.

5. Divide equally between the two cake tins and smooth over the top with the back of a spoon.

6. Place in the oven for 20 minutes until golden and coming away from the sides.

7. Once baked, remove from the oven and liberally brush the sponges with the orange syrup. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Drizzle:

1. Heat together all of the ingredients over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a simmer then remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Buttercream:

1. Place 50g of the butter into a small pan with one of the rosemary sprigs and heat over a low-medium heat. Once the butter has melted, continue to heat until the butter begins to foam and go a golden brown colour. This will take around 4 minutes, but keep an eye on it - although we do want burnt butter, we don’t want BURNT butter! Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

2. Chop the white chocolate into quite small chunks and place in a heatproof bowl

3. Gently heat the double cream in a pan with 2 rosemary sprigs over a low heat until just beginning to simmer. Once hot, pour the hot cream over the white chocolate through a sieve to catch the rosemary sprigs. Stir quite vigorously until the two have combined into a thick and glossy ganache.

4. Beat the cream together with the orange zest and juice until light and fluffy then, whilst continuing to whisk, add the white chocolate ganache and once combined, add the icing sugar through a sieve. Continue to whisk until very light and fluffy, and thick enough to hold its own when you take the whisk away.

Crystallised rosemary:

1. Snip off small fronds of rosemary from the stalk so that they stay in small bunches, set aside.

2. Place the lightly beaten egg white in one bowl, the caster sugar in another and line a plate with baking parchment.

3. Dip the rosemary bunches in the egg white and toss in the caster sugar until evenly coated. Place on the plate lined with parchment and repeat. Leave for a couple of hours to crunch up.

Assembly:

1. To assemble, place one sponge top-side-down onto your serving plate. Spoon one third of the buttercream on top and spread evenly out to the edges of the sponge. Arrange half the orange segments on top, spoon over a little of their juice.

2. Place the second sponge on top, then cover the rest of the cake all over with the remaining buttercream. Use a spatula or butter knife to smooth it over the sponges evenly.

3. Arrange the remaining orange segments on top of the cake along with the crystallised rosemary. To make the white chocolate shavings, carefully scrape a sharp knife along the back side (the side without the portion indents) of the chocolate bar using the full length of your knife. This should create chocolate shards which you can top on your cake for a final flourish!