Chocolate Orange Cake
The combination of orange and chocolate is one that is just incredibly luscious! If you are a fan of oranges and/or chocolate, then this is the cake for you! I honestly wasn’t sure how I’d like this cake because am normally NOT a fan of chocolates that have any fruity flavors, so was a bit skeptical as I experimented with this special cake for my hubby, who is a huge fan of oranges!! Needless to say, the cake exceeded my wildest expectations, and I found myself reaching for a second slice as soon as the first one was gone! 😀This is a moist, fudgy, dense, soft cake, intensely chocolaty and with the most amazing orange flavor and aroma which comes from an actual WHOLE ORANGE which is included in the making of this cake!! My entire home had a fresh zesty aroma of oranges as this cake baked and cooled. Divine!!
Ingredients
- 125 gm butter softened (1/2 cup)
- 100 gm semi-sweet or regular plain chocolate
- 2 large eggs or 3 small ones
- 200 gm sugar grinded (1 cup)
- 150 gm plain flour 1 1/4 cup
- 30 gm cocoa powder 1/4 cup
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 50 ml milk 1/4 cup
- 1 tsp. vanilla essence
- blended orange as prepared below and completely cooled
Instructions
- To begin you will need 1 small orange – preferably the seedless kind.Wash the orange and pierce it once right through the center from top to bottom using a skewer. Put the orange in a small pot, add enough water to immerse it and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for about 25-30 minutes or until very soft. Drain from the water, then let it cool down slightly. Cut off the top of the orange and then cut the orange into quarters. Remove any seeds or the middle stringy bits and discard. Cut up the rest of the orange and put it in a blender or processor. Blend until smooth. Now set this mixture aside to cool completely.Grease and line your baking pan (8″). Preheat the oven at 180 C.Chop the chocolate and melt it with the milk. Set it aside to cool completely.Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Set aside.In a large bowl, add your softened butter and grinded sugar, beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate and milk and beat it in well until combined and smooth. Next add the puréed orange and beat it well. (At this point if the batter looks curdled, don’t panic, it is absolutely normal. Just keep going, it will smoothe out on its own.) :))Now add the flour/cocoa combination in three batches, mixing well after each addition. With the final addition of flour, add in the vanilla essence. Mix until just combined. Do not over-beat the batter.Pour your batter into the prepared cake-pan and bake in your pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack. Let it cool and then frost the top (and sides too if you want) with whipped ganache (or any frosting of your choice).HERE’S how to make the ganache.I garnished with some home-made candied orange peel and some white chocolate curls.
- How to make Candied Orange PeelsWash and cut the top and bottom of an orange. Then cut the orange into 4 or 6 sections.Remove the fruity flesh from the peel carefully. You can eat or use the fruit as you wish, we only need the peels for this.Remove or trim as much of the white pith as you can. The soft white fleshy part stuck to the peel. That is normally very bitter and we don’t need it so scrape off as much as you can without damaging the peel. The rest of the bitterness from the remaining pith will be removed in the blanching/boiling stage so don’t worry if some is stubborn and won’t come off.Once that is done, cut the peel into strips, as thin or thick as you like. About quarter cm to half cm is good enough. Put the strips in a pan, add cold water and put it on high heat. Let it come to a boil. Turn off the heat, and drain the water. Put the peels back into the pan, again add water. Boil, drain.Do this 3 times. This ‘blanching’ removes excess bitterness from the peels.After you have repeated this the third time, rinse out the peels and drain them then rinse the pan and add three-quarter cup of sugar, and quarter cup water. Simmer on very low heat until it is a thin syrup. Add the peels and let them simmer gently for as long as possible until they become slightly translucent and soft. DO NOT STIR. If needed, just swirl them by swishing the pan but do not use a spoon to mix them in there as this will introduce sugar crystals.Finally, remove the peels and place them on a sheet of foil or parchment paper to dry. You can use the remaining syrup for making ice tea or in orange juice. You can roll the candied peels in some sugar if you want them coated. It takes time for them to dry, overnight or up to a full day. Don’t mess with them, just let them stand until they are perfectly dry. Use as needed! 🙂Enjoy! 🙂
Notes
Make sure ALL your ingredients are at room temperature.
Masha Allah lovely recipe was looking for one for long time..N congrats for new website n first anniversary of FKF..May Allah bless u always..Ameen
Happy Anniversary FKF! <3
WOW
this looks so yummyyyyyyyyyy!!!!
Awesome recipe!!! Masha Allah!!! wat a think tank u r really!!!!!!!!! I will try this recipe too insha Allah!!!!
May u always be blessed happy and safe!!!!!!The site is really nice!! All the best for ur new venture!!!!
assalamu alaikum varahmathullahi va barakathuhu nice to c ur website it is really a special surprise…n welcome our nw friend aboard ….i wish n pray fr ur sucesssss n hapiness forever here in this world n hereaftr….keep cooking n spread ur aroma in our kitchen too take care
Looks delicious! Congrats on the website…LOVE IT!!!
Fauzia thanks for recipies iam preaparing your recipies for ramazan
This is amazing MashAllah. May it grow even more with Allahs blessings. Ameen <3
Happy Happy Anniversary dear Fauzia 🙂 Have Bookmarked your website 🙂 Stay Blessed. Keep Sharing your yummylicious collection 😉
Asalamo alikum , Alhamdulilah At-last MY Wish Came True, Now I Search recipes Easily, it was v hard for me to search specific recipe with just a click , But Now 😀 Alhamdulilah , Many Many Prayers for u And The Web Developer . JAZAKALLAHU KHAIRA
fauzia aapi .. you dint add the link under
here’s the recipe of making ganache … please have a look .
Link is there Huma, click the ‘Here’ of Here’s how to make the ganache. It will take you straight to the ganache recipe. 🙂
yummy
Heyy.. Do v boil and blend the orange with th peel? Thanks!!
Hi! Yes, boil the orange with the peel.
Thank you:)
Do we need to blend the peel with an orange or just peel it off?
Maryam dear, have responded to the question just above your post. Do NOT peel the orange, blend it with the peel. Just remove the seeds if any and the top and bottom bits of the orange. 🙂
AOA Fauzia, I plan to make the Choc cake with the Ganache as the topping.
Just want to make sure if it would b ok to make it the night before , I have to serve it in early afternoon, plus will the ganache stay ok on top of the cake in the fridge, it won’t go too hard or change color.
Pls help. TC. Thanks
W/Salaam, yes that is perfectly ok. And no the ganache will not get too hard, just get the cake out of the fridge an hour or so before serving so it softens up and comes to room temperature.
Thanks Fauzia, really Love u for solving all my dilemmas.
Take care
This looks like a great Birthday cake!!!!!!!
God bless:)
Salaams! I was hoping to make this cake in a bundt cake tin…big family! Would you be able to guide me on what measurements to use for each ingredient as I’m assuming I will need more? And how long to bake it for? I was hoping to make this for Eid, and do not want anything to go wrong. Jzk.
W/salaam, how big is the bundt pan as those come in all sorts of shapes and sizes so it would be hard to estimate. Normally an 8″ cake pan takes 4 cups of water (to reach three-quarters of the pan…where we normally fill the pan with batter up to). How many cups does your pan hold?
I took one cup to be 200ml. The pan I have held 5 cups…
5 cups filled the pan to the top or to three-quarters of the way?
3/4 of the way, lets say 4 cups to be on the safe side…
Ok then that bundt cake should be enough for one of these cakes.
Okay, jzk for all your help. 🙂
asalam aleikum,id like to make this cake for eid. however id like to make it a 3 cup cake could you please give me adjusted measurements.i wouldn’t want to mess it.sorry to be a bother.
W/Salaam, not sure what you mean by a 3 cup cake.
sorry three cups of flour
Best to then double the recipe. It will be slightly less than 3 cups of flour but at least you will have accurate measurements.
Thank you
can we slice the cake half n put the ganache also there?
Yes you can.
love itttt!!! I am making this for my daughters 3rd birthday:) just one thing ,can we use abt 3 tbsp of freshly squeezed orange juice???wd tht be same as 1 small orange??
It may not give the exact same results as we are using the full complete orange not just the juice.
aoa. Your recipes are great.
aoa. Your recipes are great. Havnt tried any of the cakes though I plan to bake this orange chocolate cake soon, in sha Allah.
Peeling an orange with a potato-peeler gives you peel without the bitter white part.
Salams fauzia, jazakalllah
Salams fauzia, jazakalllah for sharing recipe s i want to know to bake a cake u need, u recommend a gas oven or an electri oven ? Jazakallah may Allah bless u a long life .
W/Salaam, I have only ever
W/Salaam, I have only ever used an electric oven so am not sure whether it is better than gas but am very satisfied with electric.
so yummy, may Allah reward u.
so yummy, may Allah reward u.
AOA Fauzia….I don’t have an
AOA Fauzia….I don’t have an oven. Is it possible to bake the cake in the microwave? Regards.
Salaams! I personally never
Salaams! I personally never bake in my microwave so am not sure how the temp and timing will vary.