Chocolate is great on it’s own but add a touch of orange and, in my opinion you have a truly magical combination.
I had a craving for a chocolate orange hit recently, so I decided to make this chocolate orange cake. For the cake base I adapted Ina Garten’s delicious Beatty’s Chocolate cake recipe, which is deliciously dark, rich, moist and almost sticky cake. I then made a tart orange curd which I spread in the middle of the cake and covered it in a dark chocolate and orange buttercream.
So you have a rich,moist and sticky chocolate cake with that sweet tart orange hit in the middle, which provides somewhat of a break from the richness of the chocolate. What could be better than that?
While the outer layer of frosting wasn’t as smooth and perfect as I had hoped (I obviously need lots of practice frosting cakes), the flavours are all there. So don’t let it’s imperfect looks deceive you.
Are you a chocolate orange fiend like me?
Chocolate Orange Layer Cake
- Butter, for greasing the pans
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- ¾ cups good quality cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
- zest of 1 large orange
- Preheat the oven to 175 Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) and butter 1 8-inch/20cm round cake tin and line with baking paper.
- Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and add the sugar and mix on low speed until combined.
- In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs,orange zest and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry.
- With mixer still on low, add the orange juice and mix until just combined.
- Pour the cake batter into two 20cm prepared cake tins and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn out onto a cake rack and cool completely.
- zest of 2 large oranges
- 1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 eggs
- Combine the sugar, orange zest, and juice in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat until light.
- Add some of the juice to the eggs and beat in well to combine to prevent it from curdling when added to the saucepan.
- Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and cook until mixture thickens, stirring constantly.
- Set aside to cool.
- 225g of room temperature butter
- 5 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
- ⅔ cup of milk
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups of cocoa, sifted
- zest from a small orange or half a large orange
- In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment fitted cream the butter until light.
- Switch the mixer to it’s lowest speed and add the orange zest and then the dry ingredients alternately with the milk.
- Add the vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy.
- 1 ½ cup (330g) caster (superfine) sugar
- ⅔ cups (160ml) water
- 1 orange, thinly sliced
- Place the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Add the orange slices and bring to the boil and cook for 12–15 minutes or until the syrup has thickened and the oranges are translucent.
- Scoop the orange slices and draining on a cake rack and allow them to cool and firm up before topping the cake.
- #ingredient#
- Once the cake is cooled, slice across the middle each cake in two, creating 4 layers. Slice the top of each cake to create an even surface.
- Place the first layer onto a chopping board or flat plate, which you will use while assembling the cake. Spread an even layer of the buttercream frosting over the cake. Add the second cake layer and top this one with the orange curd in an even layer.
- Carefully top with another layer of cake, being careful not to push down too hard as the curd will flow out the sides of the cake. Top with an even layer of buttercream.
- Top with the final layer of cake and give the cake an overall coating with the buttercream and refrigerate for an hour to set. Then coat with another layer of the frosting.
- Top the cake with slices of candied orange.
the cake looks PERFECT!!
Thanks so much Anh :D The frosting was messier than I hoped. I guess I need to work on that.
I am also loving the choc orange combo atm - your cake loooks so yummy!
Chocolate and orange truly is pretty much the greatest combination ever. When I was a kid, the most fantastic thing I could ever be given for a treat was a few pieces of Terry's Chocolate Orange. They're way too sweet for me now, but I still adore the flavour combination so much. So... I want that cake! :)
I used to love Terry's Chocolate orange too. My favourite now is a block of Haigh's chocolate orange, when I can get my hands on it.
I'm still trying to create the perfect chocolate cake for us... but it's not easy sticking with the vegan ingredients only :)
This one looks gorgeous though! And beautiful photos as always :)
Thanks so much Nadia. :D I am sure you will come up with a wonderful chocolate vegan cake soon.
Divine. I can't wait to bake this cake! Orange and chocolate are such a beautiful combination, and one of my favorites :)
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You bet I'm a chocolate orange fiend! I ahve a staple recipe I use for chocolate cake but when you described this one as sticky, I'm now really tempted to try it!
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The cake really does have an almost sticky texture because it's so moist. Honestly, its the best chocolate cake recipe I've tried. It also lasts well too, that is if you don't eat it all :D
Drooling over your piece of cake at Foodgawker and just have to hop in:D
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Thank you so much Jeannie :D
Ah! This recipe by Ina is my go to chocolate cake and love it to bits! Fruit curds are fabulous. I love them though lemon curd seems to be my favorite :-)
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It's my go to chocolate cake too! I love Ina, she's a genius!
That chocolate-orange looks divine. I can't remember having just chocolate and orange together - but I've had an artisan chocolate bar of dark chocolate, cardamom, and orange peel. Which is delicious. Just as I'd imagine this cake is.
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oh myyyyy, this sounds like my perfect cake, i cannot resist the chocolate orange combo! If im feeling adventurous i might well give this beauty a go :) Gorgeous recipe indeed!
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Thank you so much Sasha :D I can't resist chocolate orange too.
Oh what a gorgeous cake! I love that chocolate orange combination. My favorite are the orangettes from Valrhona.
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This chocolate cake looks stunning! Rich, unique and decadent... lovely!
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Beautiful cake! I love chocolate and orange combined.
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Thanks Naomi :D
I'm not much of a chocolate orange kind of person but I do like the way you describe the texture of the cake! :D
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Hai Dear
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Aarthi
The cake sure looks mouth-watering. I hope you don't make this any less of me but I haven't tasted any chocolate orange before. I guess I was never that adventurous with chocolates, though. I only prefer the dark ones but didn't dare go for flavors like mint chocolate or for this case, chocolate orange.
But seeing this picture, I sure have regrets now. I guess I must go grab some chocolate orange in the supermarket or something. Thanks for posting! :)
Chocolate and orange is truly a match made in heaven! This cake looks scrumptious!
Hi. I'm making this cake for my husband's birthday tomorrow and I'm a bit confused. The cake instructions repeat, so does that mean I should double the quantities for two cakes? The first line only says to prepare one pan but the mix is poured into two pans.....
Please help, thank you
Hi Tes,
The repeating cake instructions is my fault. I updated the recipe formatting and accidentally repeated the instructions. All is fixed now, and no, the one cake is enough as it's quite large.
Let me know if you have any other questions. :D
This is a fantastic cake. The husband loved it and my 3 little boys. The cake is terrifically moist and the orange in the cake and icing is really more of an aftertaste - far more subtle than I was expecting. The icing is wonderful - will be using this recipe for chocolate cakes too in future. I had no luck with the orange curd - one batch curdled, the other never thickened (and I was worried about curdling it so took it off the heat before it could) so we used it as a sauce. I found it extremely sweet, perhaps Navel oranges weren't the right ones to use. Seville could have been better for my personal taste. Planning to use your other recipe with the chocolate oranges decorating it for the next family birthday shortly.
Thank you for your fast clarification with the recipes and the excellent photos you provide.
Hi Tes, :D thank you so much for letting me know how your husbands birthday cake went. I am so glad you all enjoyed it. The chocolate cake is my favourite, I just love how deliciously chocolatey and moist it is. I'm sorry that you had difficulty with the orange curd though. :( I found when the orange curd was sandwiched between the layers you had a contrast of a subtle chocolate orange taste from the cake with a more intense orange hit when you reached the orange curd.
Let me know how you go with the other chocolate orange cake. That is deliciously moist too :D
Thanks again for letting me know how it all went, and happy birthday to your husband. I hope he had a great day!
ouch I actually didn't like orange chocolate combo a couple of times that I have tried. But you cake makes me give it a try. (Beatty's chocolate cake is my got to chocolate cake too!)
Droooooooooooooling... I think I'm in love with your cake!
Thanks :) It was pretty delicious ;)
Okay, 4 layers from one cake...not sure my cake pans are tall enough. Can I use two rounds instead? Just made the curd, it curdled slightly, but I pushed it through a fine mesh sieve and it seems salvageable. Tastes great! I love curd. I doubled the recipe and plan the serve some with cranberry muffins for breakfast later this week.
Hi Meghan,
I make the cake in a 20cm cake tin and the cake does rise quite a lot while baking. However I have also made it using two 20cm cake tins and it works just as well. Also makes it easier to cut too :D Just go with whatever is easier for you. I hope you enjoy it. It's my favourite chocolate cake recipe as it's so moist. Just note it is a little sticky, so bear this in mind when cutting it. Enjoy :D
Hi Jennifer, I love chocolate orange so I HAD to make this when I saw your post. I adapted mine slightly, filling it with Italian meringue buttercream and covering it with a chocolate orange ganache. I absolutely loved it, as did everyone else who had a slice, so thank you for sharing your recipe! I posted about my version of it here http://www.cupofteasolveseverything.com/2013/01/chocolate-orange-layer-cake.html.
Love your Italian buttercream adaption. :D I've fallen in love with Italian buttercream recently and definitely prefer it over regular old buttercream.