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Chocolate Cake with Orange Frosting [Recipe]

Chocolate Cake with Orange Frosting

Author: Laura Bais
I always prefer cakes from scratch, but if you want to use a cake mix and make only the orange frosting, that will work, too!
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Cooling Time 5 hours
Total Time 6 hours 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 slices
Calories 585 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Cake pan
  • 1 Parchment paper
  • 1 Mixer

Ingredients
  

Cake

  • 3 M-sized eggs
  • ½ cups cocoa (50 grams)
  • 7 tbsp softened butter (100 grams)
  • 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (100 grams)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
  • 1 cup flour (160 grams)
  • 3 tsp baking powder (12 grams) That's one pack of baking powder.
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • a pinch of salt
  • ½ cup milk (100 milliliters)
  • ⅓ cup boiling water (100 milliliters)

Orange frosting

  • 3 oranges (juice only) (300 milliliters)
  • 3 tbsp vanilla pudding powder (cook and serve type)
  • 3 tbsp granulated sugar

Whipping cream

  • 2 ⅛ cups heavy whipping cream (500 milliters) That's one tetra pak.
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 ½ tsp orange sugar (10 grams. That's one pack.
  • ½ cup powdered sugar (50 grams)
  • 1 orange juiced ((100 milliliters)
  • 1 tsp orange peel grated

Chocolate ganache

  • 8 oz semi-sweetened chocolate (200 grams)
  • ½ cup heavy cream (100 milliliters)

Instructions
 

Making the Batter

  • Melt the chocolate and leave it to cool.
  • Bring all the ingredients to room temperature. Divide whites from egg yolks.
  • Whip whites with a pinch of salt till frosty. Leave them on the side.
  • In a separate bowl, mix yolks with granulated sugar till smooth, then add softened butter and melted (but cooled) chocolate. Pour boiling water over the cocoa to activate the taste. Add it along with lukewarm milk and mix a bit.
  • Combine dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and baking soda in one large bowl. Sift it spoon by spoon into the chocolate mixture while mixing on low speed. The batter should be as dense as the batter for American pancakes.
  • The last step is to slowly fold egg whites into the batter. Use a silicone spatula and gently combine them together. Don't mix it!

Baking

  • Cover your cake pan with parchment paper. Since it leaves uneven edges, you can also simply grease the pan with oil or butter and dust it with flour. Use a middle-sized cake mold.
  • Bake your cake for about 50 minutes at 300 °F (150 °C). If the toothpick doesn’t come out clean, leave it more. You can increase the heat to 350 °F (180 °C) 5 minutes before done. Be careful not to over-bake it, though.
  • The cake will double its height, and if it splits in the middle, don’t worry, you’ll cover it with frosting anyway.

Making Orange Cream

  • Juice fresh oranges and bring them to a boil. Add sugar and vanilla pudding powder (cook and serve type) and stir vigorously to avoid lumps. When it’s dense enough, remove it from the stove.
  • This will take 3 minutes max, just don’t cook it at the highest temperature, but medium. Put plastic wrap directly on it and leave it to cool.

Making the Whipping Orange Frosting

  • Beat whipping cream till semi-stiffed.
  • Whip chilled orange cream to soften it, and then combine these two.
  • Now add some powdered sugar, orange sugar, orange food coloring, orange extract, and grated orange zest.
  • Mix it on low until combined. The blend will be thick, so you’ll need to add fresh orange juice. That will loosen up the consistency and give the cream a final aroma.
  • When it comes to food coloring, you can skip that, as it doesn’t change the flavor or anything except for color. I added just a dash because I wanted a pastel shade of orange.

Assembling the Cake

  • Take the chilled cake and cut it in half horizontally, so you’ll have two thinner cakes. The cake will be slightly crumbly, rather fudgy, and fluffiness-less.
  • If you see it’s too dry on the cross-section, just pour orange juice over it and wait for it to absorb it. Put back the first cake in the cake pan and coat it generously with orange whipped cream. I like to leave that layer about 2 fingers thick, that's about ⅗ of cream.
  • Cover it with the other cake and smear the rest of the cream. I like to save some of that cream for garnishing, so keep that in mind.

Making the Chocolate ganache

  • I make the top coat by melting semi-sweet chocolate in heavy cream. It will be runny, so you’ll need to pour it over the cake right from the stove. Just smash the cake pan lightly on the table for it to evenly dispose of. Make sure that the cake is back in the cake pan so the ganache won't run all over the place.
  • Toss it in the fridge to cool, for at least 5 hours, best overnight. The longer it rests, the moister and easier to cut will be.

Decorating

  • Remove the cake from the pan carefully, but be careful to unstick the chocolate from the edges, as it tends to crack in the middle if not. Use saved orange cream to garnish it and add fresh or dried orange slices.
  • Cut the BIG piece and enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1sliceCalories: 585kcalCarbohydrates: 62gProtein: 7gFat: 38gSaturated Fat: 23gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 119mgSodium: 312mgPotassium: 337mgFiber: 4gSugar: 47gVitamin A: 1149IUVitamin C: 24mgCalcium: 148mgIron: 3mg
Keyword choclate cake from scratch, choco orange cake, jaffa cake, orange frosting from scratch