This soft and moist chocolate orange cake has the richness of chocolate and the freshness from seasonal winter oranges to make a delightful Valentine’s Day or Holiday treat!
Do you guys love the easy to peel mandarin oranges that you get in this season? We go through several such bags in the winter. But our latest bag turned out to be a sour lemon (or orange, in this case). The fruit was too sour for the little one to take to school and even I couldn’t get past its pucker-worthy sourness.
I knew what was coming next. The hubby gleefully suggested an orange cake. After all, it’s his favorite cake in the entire world! I couldn’t decide between an orange pound cake, upside-down orange cake, glazed orange muffins or cookies. But I wanted to do something different, like put together flavors that were new to me.
Chocolate and orange are both excellent flavor power-houses on their own and even better when put together! Don’t believe me? Well, imagine an intensely rich chocolate sponge cake. And just as you are savoring it, you get the tangy-sweet flavor from fresh orange zest and juice. It smells incredibly amazing and tastes so so so good. Really, I cannot think of any proper adjectives that will do justice to how this cake smells and tastes, so let’s just leave it at so so so good!!
This dark chocolate orange cake needs nothing else but a light dusting of powdered sugar and a side of coffee or warm milk.
But if you can be patient enough to let the cake cool down to be frosted, I suggest that you try a simple whipped cream frosting. I used some mocha whipped cream leftover from this crepe cake post and it was simply amazing. It is light enough but the added coffee and chocolate notes in the frosting really elevates this cake to another level.
This chocolate orange cake gets better in a day or two, but let’s not kid ourselves because there aren’t going to be any leftovers.
This cake is simple enough to be made any day and can also hold its own for special events. If you are looking for a break from all the strawberry and red-colored foods this Valentine’s Day, then this cake is for you. Or if you want to surprise your little one with a slice in his snack box, then go ahead!
Here’s the recipe for Chocolate Orange Cake with Mocha Whipped Cream. If you do not like coffee (gasp!), feel free to make just chocolate whipped cream. A silky chocolate ganache or a rich chocolate buttercream will work equally well here. That being said, you can also enjoy this cake without frosting. Just do whatever suits you!
- All-purpose flour - 1 cup
- Dark unsweetened cocoa powder - ¼ cup
- Sugar - 1 cup
- Baking soda - 1 tsp
- Baking powder - ½ tsp
- Salt - ½ tsp
- Orange zest - 2 tsp
- Egg - 1, large
- Buttermilk - ½ cup (see Notes)
- Oil - ¼ cup
- Fresh orange juice - ½ cup, slightly warmed up
- Vanilla extract - ½ tsp
- Orange extract - ¼ tsp
- Heavy cream - ½ cup
- Dark unsweetened cocoa powder - 1 tbsp, heaped
- Instant coffee powder - ½ tsp (leave it out for plain chocolate whipped cream)
- Powdered sugar - 2 tbsp
- Vanilla extract - ¼ tsp
- Chocolate Orange Cake: Pre-heat oven to 350 deg.F. Grease a 9" round cake pan with oil and dust with cocoa powder. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and grease the paper thoroughly. Set aside.
- Sift the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add orange zest and stir or whisk until evenly mixed.
- Take the wet ingredients in a measuring cup or bowl. Slowly add to the dry ingredients and whisk by hand or use an electric beater on medium-speed to combine until smooth. Batter will be runny.
- Pour batter into the prepared cake pan. Tap the pan a few times on the countertop to get rid of air bubbles.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the cake passes the toothpick test. Do not over-bake.
- Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a blunt knife around the cake's edges, then invert to a plate, and remove the baking paper.
- Cool the cake completely before frosting or dusting with powdered sugar.
- Whipped Cream Frosting: Take all the ingredients in a cold mixing bowl and using a cold whisk attachment, beat on low-speed to dissolve the powders in the heavy cream. Then increase the speed and beat on high-speed until stiff peaks are formed. Whipped cream can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator.
- Frosting the Cake: Spread the whipped cream frosting evenly on top of the cooled chocolate orange cake. Decorate with grated chocolate or sprinkles, if desired.
- Store leftover cake covered in the refrigerator.
Enjoy this rich and delicious chocolate orange sponge cake and treat your loved ones to a simply but delightful dessert.
Don’t forget to PIN & SAVE this recipe for later.
Have you tried orange flavored chocolate cake? Do give this recipe for chocolate orange cake with chocolate frosting a try and let me know how you like it.
Here are more Valentine’s Day desserts to get you started on planning the perfect Valentine’s night-in with your loved ones.
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I am sharing this over at Fiesta Friday.
I just made this without the frosting and it’s Amazing ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I just made this without the frosting and it’s Amazing ❤️❤️❤️❤️tastes and smells sooooo goooooood. This is definitely a keeper. Thanks a lot.
Thank you! I’m do glad you liked it
This cake turned out so good. Moist and the flavor of orange comes through beautifully.
Loved it and as finished within a day.
This is one of our favorites, so glad you liked it!!
Let me tell you .i made this cake and it was a hit . Loved it thank you
This is one of our favorites as well, glad to know you liked it!
Hi Anjana,
I searched for a good recipe for a chocolate orange cake that actually uses orange juice and stumbled upon yours. I followed your recipe to a T and the result was a scrumptious cake loved by everyone in the family. Thanks a lot for a simple, wonderful yet all the more tasty recipe!
I am so glad you liked this recipe! It is one of our favorites as well. I have more orange cake and cookie recipes on the blog, do check them out too!
Hi Anjana,
What can we use instead of egg?
I have not tried baking this recipe without eggs. You can try using a flax egg or yogurt, if you wish. Do let me know if it works for you!
I love that I don’t have to melt chocolate for this recipe. Now, I need to look for dark cocoa powder. This sounds absolutely heaven!!
Me too! I almost always make chocolate cake with cocoa powder!
The cake looks so so inviting, Anjana. I especial like Citrusy cakes and so this is tempting me.
A coffe flavored frosting only increases the appeal of this cake to this South Indian heart. (The gasp in your post has my vote :D)
True to all that, Aruna. Chocolate, orange and coffee – the perfect trifecta in cake form!!
Chocolate and orange are one of my absolute favourite flavour combinations. Your cake looks so yummy and your photos are so pretty.
Thank you so much!!
Anjana you are so great at taking photos, I feel like the cake is right in front of me! Adjectives for so so so good? how about utterly amazing or totally delicious as that is what you’re describing! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing this at Fiesta Friday this week, maybe this will be my baking tomorrow! 🙂
Aww… thank you so much dear 🙂