Say hello to your new favorite chocolate cake recipe! This moist chocolate orange cake is hands down one of the best cakes I've ever eaten. It's so simple to make, tastes fantastic, and combines two of my absolute favorite flavors.
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👩🏻🍳 Why You'll Love This Chocolate Orange Cake
Chocolate and orange is such a lovely flavor combination, and they are best paired in a cake. The moist chocolate base has just a hint of orange, and the cake is later coated with an orange flavored smooth buttercream icing.
It's such a simple recipe, and impossible to fail. And even better - if you use a vegan butter substitute, it's a nut free, dairy free, and egg free cake. Perfect if you're baking for a crowd with various dietary requirements.
As chocolate is such a strong flavor compared to orange, we use a combination of orange juice, orange extract and orange zest to bring out the fruit. This creates the perfect balance between the two.
The secret ingredients in this recipe are the vegetable oil, which keeps it really moist and soft, and the baking soda + vinegar combination which gives the cake a nice rise while still feeling dense.
If you love a good chocolate cake, you'll definitely love this one.
🥘 Ingredients Needed
- Sugar - White sugar adds sweetness to the cake.
- All-purpose flour - Is the key component to make a good cake.
- Cacao powder - Gives the cake its chocolate flavor.
- Baking soda - Helps the cake rise.
- Orange juice - Adds liquid and a subtle orange flavor.
- Vegetable oil - Makes the cake super moist!
- Vanilla extract - Because all cakes are better with a little vanilla.
- Vinegar - Activates the baking soda. It's an essential ingredient, and don't worry - you can't taste it!
- Powdered sugar - To sweeten the frosting.
- Butter - Makes the frosting buttery smooth.
- Orange extract - Adds a prominent orange flavor.
- Orange zest - For even more orange flavor!
🔪 Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 360 °F / 180 °C.
- Combine sugar, flour, cacao powder and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
- Combine water, orange juice, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and vinegar in a second mixing bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine.
- Line two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper, and divide the cake batter between.
- Bake the cake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Leave the cakes to chill for about 20 minutes in their pans, then carefully remove them and place them on a cooling rack until completely cooled.
- Make the buttercream frosting by combining powdered sugar, butter, orange zest and orange extract in a bowl, and whisking until stiff.
- Add about 2/3 of the frosting sandwiched between the two cakes, and spread the remaining frosting on top and on the sides of the cake.
- Decorate the cake with your favorite toppings. Orange slices, chocolate sprinkles, orange zest, chocolate orange slices, and a chocolate drizzle are all great options.
👪 FAQs
Yes. The cake can be made up to 3 days ahead, and stored in the fridge. You can also add the icing on the cake the day before serving, and store it in the fridge overnight.
Absolutely. The cake will taste great without the added orange extract. You can optionally add extra orange zest to make up for the loss of flavoring.
You want to make sure to use the zest of oranges that are unwaxed, as the wax can add a bitter taste to your cake. Organic oranges are often unwaxed!
Orange zest is simply tiny pieces of the orange peel. Use a fine microplane style grater, and grate the peel off of an orange.
💭 Top Tips
- This cake is a naked cake, which means that you only frost a very thin layer on the side of the cake, allowing the cake to be visible through it. If you want to add more frosting to cover up the sides, you can multiply the ingredients in the recipe with 1 1/2.
- The cake can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- You can freeze the cake as long as you don't add frosting to it. This is a great make ahead option, as you can bake the cake and freeze it. Whenever you need a cake, you simply thaw it in your fridge overnight, then add the frosting before serving.
- If your butter is a little too soft, you might want to add a little extra powdered sugar to get the frosting stiff enough. The frosting should be quite compact.
📖 Variations
- The orange in this recipe can be substituted with equal amounts of mandarin or clementine juice and zest for a sweeter version.
- Make the cake vegan by using a vegan butter substitute. The base of the cake is naturally vegan.
- You can replace half of the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour and omit the frosting to make it a little healthier. It still tastes good!
🥗 Serving Suggestions
Not sure what to serve alongside your chocolate orange cake? Here are some ideas for amazing cake toppings, beverages or other accompaniments that pair well with this dish.
🎂 Additional Dessert Recipes
Here are a few more dessert ideas for you!
Chocolate Orange Cake
Love this recipe? Awesome! Please give it a 5 star ⭐ rating below! And if you make this, snap a photo and tag me on Instagram. You can find me at DizzyBusyandHungry or #dizzybusyandhungry!
📋 Recipe Card
Chocolate Orange Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons cacao powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2/3 cups orange juice
- 1 cup water
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons vinegar
Icing
- 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
- 5 ounces unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 360 °F / 180 °C.
- Combine sugar, flour, cacao powder and baking soda in a mixing bowl.1 1/2 cup sugar, 2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 6 tablespoons cacao powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda
- Combine water, orange juice, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and vinegar in a separate mixing bowl.2/3 cups orange juice, 1 cup water, 2/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons vinegar
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine.
- Line two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper, and divide the cake batter between the two.
- Bake the cake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Leave the cakes to chill for about 20 minutes in their pans, then carefully remove them and place them on a cooling rack until completely cooled.
- Make the buttercream frosting by combining powdered sugar, butter, orange zest and orange extract in a bowl, and whisking until stiff.1 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, 5 ounces unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon orange extract
- Add about 2/3 of the frosting sandwiched between the two cakes, and spread the remaining frosting on top and on the sides of the cake.
Notes
- If you want to add a full, thick coat of frosting all over the cake, you can multiply the frosting ingredients by 1 1/2.
- You can refrigerate the cake for up to 3 days.
- The base of the cake can be frozen, but only if the frosting has not been added. Thaw the frozen cake in the fridge overnight before use.
Video
Nutrition
Tonje is the owner of Hintofhealthy.com, where she shares easy and healthy everyday recipes. Follow her on Facebook or Instagram for more family friendly meal inspiration.
Jan Heppner
You left off half the ingredients in your recipe. You don't list how much oil, vanilla and vinegar. Thanks a lot.
Kristin
So sorry about that, Jan! As hard as I try to avoid them, sometimes I make mistakes. It has been corrected now. I appreciate you leaving the comment so that I could fix the problem. Hope you have a great day!
saif
I am familiar with chocolate cake but with orange? Now that looks delicious. I love the presentation of your cake. Looks gorgeous.
Julia
I don't know if it's a coincidence or meant to be, but I just bought Terry Orange chocolate, so must give this delicious cake a try:)
Jere Cassidy
I love the flavor pairing of chocolate and orange so this is a must-try recipe. I agree with adding the vegetable oil in cakes for moistness.
Emily Liao
I never would have thought to put chocolate and orange together - but this cake was so delicious and decadent! Everyone loved it.