This chocolate orange cake is delicious! A moist orange loaf cake with chocolate chunks, topped with the easiest and most decadent chocolate glaze. Easy, and one of the best cakes I’ve ever made!
I was watching the Great British Bake Off- the most comforting show on the world, and they had an episode on citrus cakes. I saw so many gorgeous lemon and orange cakes and I just HAD to make one- but I also had to deal with an intense chocolate craving!
Jump to:
Why this recipe works.
It’s the best flavor combination! Orange and chocolate are a match made in heaven, especially when the flavors are subtle enough to complement each other perfectly.
The cake itself is an easy, one bowl type of cake, and you don’t need an electric mixer.
It’s also so moist and fluffy and the perfect texture.
It’s based off a very popular Alison Roman lemon cake, that I’ve adapted into this lemon turmeric cake on my website, one of my most visited recipes ever! I’ve always absolutely loved that cake, it’s one of the best loaf cakes I’ve tried.
When I started thinking of an orange loaf cake, I figured why reinvent the wheel! I just replaced the lemon zest and juice with orange. Total win!
The chocolate glaze is sinfully good and so easy!
Recipe ingredients:
Dry ingredients:
All purpose (plain) flour, baking powder for lift, a pinch of salt
Orange scented sugar:
Make by rubbing orange zest into white sugar until moist and fragrant and. lightly tinted orange.
Wet ingredients:
Fresh squeezed orange juice, from the same oranges you zested, yogurt or sour cream (I used plain yogurt), eggs and melted butter. Melted butter gives the moistness of vegetable oil, with the wonderful flavor of butter.
How to make the best moist orange loaf cake:
- Whisk the dry ingredients into a bowl.
- Make the most delicious fragrant sugar by rubbing the orange zest into the sugar with your finger tips. Adds so much flavor!
- Using a whisk, add the yogurt, eggs and orange juice into the sugar until combined.
- Add these wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold until combined. Add melted butter, and fold that until combined, and finally add in the chocolate chunks until just combined.
- Whisk the dry ingredients into a bowl.
- Make the most delicious fragrant sugar by rubbing the orange zest into the sugar with your finger tips. Adds so much flavor!
- Using a whisk, add the yogurt, eggs and orange juice into the sugar until combined.
- Add these wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold until combined. Add melted butter, and fold that until combined, and finally add in the chocolate chunks until just combined.
- Bake until golden brown on top, and toothpick comes out clean.
Bake until golden brown on top, and a toothpick comes out clean
How to make an easy chocolate glaze:
It’s the easiest glaze ever! I like that it doesn’t call for heavy cream like many chocolate ganache/glaze recipes, because I don’t always have that in my fridge.
You simply need to gently melt together chocolate, butter, and corn syrup. You can sub honey or maple syrup for the corn syrup, it’s just a tablespoon so it won’t make a difference.
I use a bain marie ( a double boiler, where a bowl is set over a pot of simmering water). The chocolate is melted along with the butter and corn syrup in that bowl, and since it doesn’t directly touch the boiling water, it melts gently enough that the chocolate won’t seize up.
Alternately, you can microwave, but do this with caution. I’d do medium power, and every 20-30 seconds take the bowl out of the microwave and stir.
Once the chocolate has JUST melted, you can stop microwaving as the residual heat will smooth out the mix.
The warm glaze should coat the cooled cake, so you can start making the glaze once the cake has had a chance to cool.
Gluten free orange cake:
I haven’t tried this myself, but I imagine this would be very successfully done using a gluten free 1:1 baking flour swap.
How to know when a loaf cake is done:
Although this is a really moist cake, you’ll know it’s done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (with maybe just a few moist crumbs). The top will be golden brown, and will spring back if you press down on it. The edges of the cake will be a darker brown than the center.
How to store the cake:
The cake keeps well at room temperature for a few days in a tupperware or tightly covered, you can also store in the fridge.
A baked cake, tightly wrapped (either whole or slices) keeps wonderfully in the freezer for 2-4 months.
Recipe FAQs:
Use a microplane zester! That’s one of my handiest kitchen tools, perfecting for zesting any citrus fruits or for grating cheeses like Parmesan.
I’d recommend using navel oranges for the best flavor, but you can use any type of oranges you prefer. You can even try using tangerines!
Loosely cover the top of the cake with foil, and continue baking, checking in 3 minute intervals until cake is done and toothpick is clean.
Related Cake Recipes:
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card and a comment!
Stay in touch with me through social media @ Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. Don’t forget to tag me when you try one of my recipes!
Chocolate Orange Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1.5 cups flour 210 g
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar 200 g
- 2 tablespoon orange zest
- 2 tablespoon orange juice
- 3/4 cup yogurt or sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup butter, melted 115 g
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, tossed in a tablespoon of flour tossing them with a little flour helps to prevent them from sinking
For the chocolate glaze:
- 3/4 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips or chunks
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (350F). Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with non stick spray, then line with parchment paper with some overhang so you can lift the finished cake out easily.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- In a large bowl, combine the one cup of sugar with the orange zest, rubbing the orange zest into the sugar with your fingertips until the sugar is moistened and pale orange. Whisk in the yogurt or sour cream, eggs, and orange juice until well combined.
- Use a spatula and add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in the melted butter until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chips/chunks. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing out the top.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until light golden brown and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool before topping with glaze.
For the chocolate glaze:
- In a double boiler over simmering water, combine chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth (you can also choose to microwave but do it gently, stirring every 20 seconds or so) then add vanilla.
- Spread the warm glaze on the top of the cake. Let the glaze set before slicing the cake. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply