Perfect Chocolate Orange Cake

There’s no shortage of easy chocolate desserts on Scrummy Lane already. This 6-ingredient gooey Swedish chocolate cake is legendary. Make this rather classy no-bake chocolate truffle cake in just 10 minutes. There’s even a 30-minute healthy chocolate cake, but don’t worry no-one will ever know it’s a healthier cake when they taste it! 😉

But when it comes to chocolate cake, there’s always room for one more. What sets this one apart is that it’s a layer cake with a zesty twist – perfect for afternoon teas, birthday parties and more. Chocolate fudge cake lovers – this is for you. Trust me when I say you’re going to love it!

• It’s got great flavour. It’s super moist, rich, chocolaty, decadent and fudgy. Most fudge cakes are made with oil. This one is buttery without being overly sweet.

• You can really taste the orange with the juice and zest of 2 whole oranges (plus extra zest!) in the batter and ganache.

• It’s almost (but not quite!) a one bowl chocolate cake. The butter is melted, so all you need is a wooden spoon to stir everything together. No stand or hand mixer necessary.

• Everyone loves it. It’s perfect for birthdays and special events, or just an afternoon tea with family and friends.

• The frosting/decoration is so easy. You need just 3 ingredients and a few minutes to make the chocolate ganache. Use half to sandwich the 2 cake layers together and the other half to spread over the top. I like to finish with a small grating of chocolate and some dried orange slices if I have them. But grated chocolate and fresh orange slices works just as well.

• It keeps for 4 to 5 days in an airtight container. Great for making ahead!

• All in all… this is one of my ‘most tested’ recipes! I tried many different versions before landing on the final recipe. I feel like it’s the best it can be. Try it for yourself and see if you agree!

Buttermilk: This helps to make the cake extra moist and delicious. My little trick is to make something very like ‘buttermilk’ by mixing orange juice with ordinary milk.

Butter: For richness and taste. The butter is melted, which means it’s just mixed into the other ingredients rather than having to be creamed with the sugar first.

Dark chocolate: Just a little – 50 grams or 1.75 ounces, for extra richness and moisture.

Cocoa: You can either use ordinary unsweetened cocoa powder or Dutch processed. Dutch processed is a little darker and richer in flavour. I usually use ordinary cocoa powder.

Sugar: Light brown sugar. I try to keep my cakes on the less sweet side these days, so I use just 1¼ cups or 225 grams in the batter.

Hot coffee: This is another of the ‘secret’ ingredients! You won’t taste it – it just intensifies the chocolaty taste. Instant/Americano/Long black all work.

Eggs: 2 whole large eggs (around 60 grams or 2 ounces) plus 1 extra yolk for moisture, structure and lift.

Flour, salt, baking soda: I use self-raising flour (UK/Australia) for ease. If you’re in the USA, use plain flour and 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder (not self rising flour which isn’t exactly the same). A touch of baking soda balances out the acidity of the cocoa powder.

Oranges (3): You’ll use the zest of all 3 (Most in the cake batter and the rest in the ganache) and the juice of 2. We want to make sure we can taste the orange in this orange chocolate cake!

For the ganache: A whole large bar of dark chocolate (200 grams or 7 ounces), ¾ cup of heavy/double or pouring cream (not thickened cream) and some orange zest.

If you can get hold of some orange flavoured dark chocolate, lucky you! By all means use that for an extra hit of orange.

Step 2: Melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave in 30-second bursts. I find 1.5 to 2 minutes is about right.

Step 3: When it’s melted or almost melted, pour in the buttermilk and warm everything a little more – 30 seconds should be enough. Stir together until you have a smooth mixture.

Step 4: Stir in the cocoa and sugar.

Step 5: Pour in the hot coffee. Stir. Let the mixture cool for a short while.

Step 6: Add the eggs (lightly whisked). You need 2 whole eggs plus a yolk. To get just the yolk, hold the whole egg in one hand and let the whites drip through your fingers into a bowl.

Step 7: Folding in the flour, salt, baking soda and orange zest finishes off the cake batter. It’ll be really runny. That’s fine!

Step 8: Pour half of the batter into each lined cake pan. It will be runnier than shown in the image below (this photo is from an earlier version of the recipe).

Step 9: Bake for around 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean or with just a few sticky crumbs on it. Be careful not to overbake, though. I find it can go from still runny in the middle to perfectly baked in around only 5 minutes.

Step 10: Let cool completely. Then spread half of the ganache over one of the cakes. Put the other one on top. Spread the other half over the top.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of frostings or icings that have lots of ingredients or take a lot of time to make.

After my cake’s baked, I’m impatient to finish it off and get on with the very serious business of eating it!

If this is you too, you’re in luck because you only need 3 ingredients to make the very rich and yummy chocolate orange ganache. Imagine the cake covered with chocolate truffle and you get the idea.

All you need to make it is good quality dark chocolate (use orange flavoured if you can find it), double, heavy or pouring cream (all of these work) and orange zest.

You won’t believe how easy it is to make in 3 easy steps:

Step 1: Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second bursts for around 1 to 1.5 minutes. Then add the cream and heat again until the chocolate is fully or very nearly melted.

Step 2: Mix really well until smooth. Then stir in the zest of an orange (you’ll have reserved this from when you made the cake batter so it’s all ready to go). Add a sneaky half teaspoon of salt as well if you like.

Step 3: Cover the bowl and chill in the fridge for 2 to 2.5 hours or until a soft spreading consistency. You don’t want it to be either running off the cake or too solid to spread. If it’s too runny pop back in the fridge for another half an hour. If it’s too hard, melt it in the microwave for just 5 to 10 seconds until a little softer again.

For future reference, this 3-ingredient mixture also makes a delicious chocolate sauce if you use it immediately after mixing in the cream! Let it set a little more and you can roll it into the most delicious chocolate orange truffles! Just saying…

If you like, decorate your orange fudge cake with any or all of the following:

• a bit of grated dark chocolate
• dried or candied orange slices (recipe coming soon!)
• ordinary orange slices (remove before storing, though, as they’ll spoil before the cake does)
• small bits of orange peel (I use a vegetable peeler)

As you can see from the photos, I usually start by sprinkling over some grated chocolate. Then I lay 4 to 5 dried orange slices on one half of the cake. Then I sprinkle over a few small bits of orange peel. Easy but classy, don’t you think?

Honestly? This cake is moist, fudgy and chocolaty enough to be served by itself. It doesn’t ‘need’ anything else at all.

Like most fudge cakes, it’s excellent served either cold or warm. I prefer it cold. The texture is really fudgy and the ganache tastes exactly like chocolate truffles. However, to warm individual slices, start with just 20 seconds in the microwave. Top with cream, ice cream or even custard, or serve it as it is.

Start with smaller slices than you might think. It’s not overly sweet but it is quite rich and dense, and even more so when you factor in the ganache.

Am I making you hungry yet? 😉