Hello, everyone!  This is Helena from Heritage Organic Cakes, and we’re back with another installment of our monthly cake posts!  But before we get into the details, can we please talk about the weather?

I mean, WOAH.

While some of you have been sipping iced tea on your porches in shorts, others have had to dig themselves out six foot tall snowbanks!  Whether good or bad, the weather has reached astonishing extremes for this time of year. So with that in mind, this month’s cake represents both winter and a hint of spring with lively citrus notes peeking out from under dark, rich chocolate.

This double chocolate cake was blended with melted milk chocolate and studded with a quarter of a pound of dark chocolate morsels.  Then it was layered with rosy grapefruit-hibiscus curd, covered in chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream, and painted with dark chocolate.  Finally, it was topped with a few slices of candied pink grapefruit and blood oranges for a punch of color.

There’s a play of textures between the soft cake, creamy curd, silky icing, crunchy coating, and chewy candy.  Altogether, this treat is a little dark, a little light, a little rich, and a little bright – a perfect balance to the temperamental seesaw of seasons that is February.

Thanks for reading, and here’s to mild weather!

xo Helena

Kaitlin, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of something so special!  And thank you, dear readers, for supporting my baking shenanigans by tuning in each month.  You continue to make it possible for me to have the best job ever.  You’re amazing!

Photography by Michelle Able Photography / Styling by Kaitlin Holland / Cake Design by Heritage Organic Cakes / Venue: Barr Mansion