Inspiring vegetarian recipes
Try our vibrant veggie dishes, from meat-free lasagne to vegetable curry and vegetarian chilli
Chocolate orange cake
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- + cooling
- Easy
- Serves 8-10
Ingredients
- 300g self-raising flour
- 100g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 300g salted butter
- 150g soft light brown sugar
- 150g light muscovado sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150ml whole milk
- 3 zested, 2 juiced oranges
- 100g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
- 100g orange curd
- orange zest, to serve
- chocolate curls, to serve
BUTTERCREAM
- 450g icing sugar, sifted
- 150g unsalted butter, cubed and softened
- 200g mascarpone
- 50g dark chocolate, melted and cooled a little
- 1 orange, juiced
Method
- STEP 1
Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line 2 x 20cm deep springform cake tins with baking paper.
- STEP 2
Stir the flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugars with electric beaters until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one followed by the vanilla extract and whole milk. Add 2 spoonfuls of the flour mix if it starts to curdle.
- STEP 3
Fold the flour mixture into the batter until just combined. Stir in the orange juice and zest and the cooled melted chocolate. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middles comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- STEP 4
To make the buttercream, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the butter and beat with electric beaters for 5 minutes. Add the mascarpone and beat for 1 minute until smooth and spreadable. Stir through the melted chocolate and orange juice.
- STEP 5
Evenly spread 1/2 the buttercream and orange curd on one sponge. Sandwich the cakes together, then spread the rest of the buttercream and curd and chill for 10 minutes. Decorate with chocolate shavings and extra orange zest.
