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I’m a sucker for certain chocolates. Dark. Dark with caramel. Dark with raspberries or dried cherries. Dark with orange. This week, a wicked craving for the latter led me on an orange chocolate hunt. I’ve had my share of Tobler chocolate “oranges,” which break apart into sections when given a good whack, but this week I wanted something inspiring and different. Turned out the pickin’s are slim. Chocollage featured dark chocolate-covered candied orange peel – chewy, tangy and balanced in both flavors. I dug ‘em.

But the only others I could find here were chocolate orange crèmes (the filling reminded me of a room temperature Creamsickle) and a subtly-infused Grand Marnier Joseph Schmidt truffle. Truffles are too truffle-ish and can’t be relied upon for hard core orange action. The hunt continues.

Meanwhile, cooking without recipes came to an abrupt halt this week when the only thing noteworthy I had time to make was a buttermilk birthday cake for my son . For the cake, I leaned on Nigella Lawson’s Domestic Goddess recipe for buttermilk layers. Despite high marks from the crowd, I was disappointed. Why is it when I bake yellow cakes this always happens? I want flavorful, spongy and moist, but I can never do better than two out of three.

Eat on.