Orange flavoured Marbré Cake with cream cheese (or how another childhood cooking illusion was shattered...)

This recipe is not Greek at all of course but it seems that it is with us since..... forever!!! Loooong before the average housewives started to discover all the fancy cooking magazines and books or cooking TV programmes or (even more) the Internet, in Greece this was one of the most popular type of cake!!! In a way, I think, responsible for this (and for other recipes that they are not native to Greece but still made mine and previous generations initially to believe they were), is a gentleman who was one of the first who published a complete cooking book in the country. Nikos Tselementes (1878-1958), born in Sifnos island, was French and Vienna-educated chef. When he returned in Greece he started becoming known through a cooking magazine of the time (1910) called "Cooking Guide". Later he left Greece for higher level of studies in cooking (he also worked as a chef in the most glamourous Hotels of the time) and he came back in 1932 where he opened a small cooking and baking school and it was then when he published his book which had, after the first printing, another 15 official reprints during the decades that followed!!! Obviously, influenced by the French cooking, he was the one who first introduced to the Greek housewives what "Béchamel Sauce" means or how the "Piroshki" are related to the Greeks or why a "Bouillabaisse" is "a must" instead of the humble traditional Greek fish soup... Still nowadays there are those who "swear on his name" and are loyal fans of his guidelines and recipes (my mother still has one of the reprints at home, it must be an antique by now...), but there are also those who accuse him for the "distortion of the Greek cuisine with unnecessary European influences"... and with this happening it took us afterwards a few decades to recover and "go back to basics and into the traditional way"... Imagine the impact his work had that in cooking books of the '30s, '50s and even '60s when referred to the "Moussaka" without the béchamel sauce, but sprinkled on top with fine breadcrumbs or beaten eggs with grated cheese, it was mentioned as a "Moussakas Imitation"!!! Well, I will agree with both sides because I can not deny that Tselementes tried his best and introduced us to a great amount of guidelines and knowledge and recipes which, maybe, could not find their way to our tables if things were different. And, between us, I'm not sure that I would prefer my "Moussaka", "Pastitsio" or "Aubergines Papoutsakia" without a luscious béchamel sauce on top:-)).... As for the "Marbré Cake" we have a different version of it here today with the addition of cream cheese which makes it fluffier and more moist. You could also use Mascarpone cheese for a richer taste and texture or the Greek unsalted Anthotyro cheese for a lighter and slightly sour taste

Adapted from a recipe of Dimitris Andreou,
from "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients

For the cream cheese batter:
250gr. of plain cream cheese (Philadelphia type), at room temperature
50gr. of granulated sugar
3 tbsp of fresh orange juice
2 tbsp of fine orange zest
10gr. of corn flour
1 egg, beaten

For the cake batter:
180gr. of dark chocolate (50%), cut in pieces
75gr. of self-raising flour
40gr. of butter or margarine
2 eggs, beaten
150gr. of granulated sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a medium size rectangular (or square) cake tin with baking paper.

Start with the cake batter first. Melt the chocolate with the butter in a glass bowl with the "bain marie" method in low heat.

Take off the heat and when the chocolate is slightly cooled add the sugar, the vanilla, the eggs and in the end the flour. Stir well with a wooden spoon so to allow the ingredients to blend and leave aside.

In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese with the sugar until they are well blended. Add the corn flour and the egg and keep beating. In the end add the orange juice and the zest and mix well until you have a smooth mixture.

Empty the chocolate batter in the prepared tin and shake a bit so the batter spreads evenly covering the corners as well. On top empty the cream cheese mixture and using a fork gently swirl a bit the two mixtures so to create the desired "marbled waves".

Put in the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until poking the centre of the cake with a toothpick or a skewer which comes out clean and dry.

Take the cake out of the oven and leave for a few minutes to set in the tin and then turn onto a rack and leave to cool completely before you slice and serve.