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Fluffy, chocolate cake layers filled with orange curd and finished with an orange chocolate buttercream frosting. This Orange Chocolate Cake tastes like a candy chocolate orange turned into a cake!

Christmas Candy

I posted a Chocolate Orange Banana Bread recipe a couple of months ago, and mentioned my love for chocolate orange candy. Chocolate and orange are like chocolate and peanut butter, they are meant for each other.

My parents came to visit in July, and I decided to make them a Orange Chocolate Cake. HUGE success. They loved, I love it, my kids love it. My son still talks about that cake and asks when we’re going to have it again.

Orange Chocolate Cake

Let’s talk about how to make this amazing, delicious, addictively good cake.

Chocolate Cake

First, the cake is based off of my go-to chocolate cake recipe. It uses:

• Sugar
• All purpose flour
• Cornstarch: Instead of using cake flour, I tend to make my own version by whisking together flour and cornstarch.
• Dark cocoa powder: NOT regular unsweetened cocoa powder, but DARK. This is important to give you that extra chocolaty taste.
• Baking soda: The dark cocoa powder and buttermilk activate the baking soda, so you do not need baking powder.
• Salt
• Eggs and egg yolk
• Vegetable oil
• Vanilla extract
• Coffee: The cake will NOT taste like coffee, but the coffee brings out the chocolate taste.
• Boiling water: Boiling water also brings out the chocolate taste.
• Buttermilk

Orange Filling

The filling is pretty much the orange version of lemon curd. I have made plenty of curds in my day and my favorite way is to mix together all of the ingredients, and then heat them. This helps to ensure you don’t end up with any little bits of cooked egg in your curd.

Orange Buttercream

Orange frosting seals the deal for this cake. The frosting uses:

• All vegetable shortening: I use a combination of butter and shortening because while I love the taste of butter, shortening helps to stabilize the frosting.
• Unsalted butter
• Orange zest: Do not use dried, jarred orange zest. It is not the same, at all.
• Salt
• Cocoa powder: For the buttercream, I use unsweetened cocoa powder, NOT dark. So you will need two types of cocoa powder for this recipe.
• Powdered sugar
• Fresh squeezed orange juice: Use the orange you zested for the fresh squeezed juice. The fresh juice makes a big difference in taste.
• Whipping cream

This Orange Cake is a chocolate, citrusy delight! The perfect dessert for your next family meal!

Orange Chocolate Cake

Fluffy, chocolate cake layers filled with orange curd and finished with an orange chocolate buttercream frosting. This Orange Chocolate Cake tastes like a candy chocolate orange turned into a cake!

4.50 from 2 votes

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Course: Dessert

Prep Time: 1 hour hour

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 1 8″ cake

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Ingredients

Cake

• 2  cups  sugar
• 1 3/4  cup  all purpose flour
• 2  tbsp  cornstarch
• 3/4  cup dark cocoa powder
• 2  teaspoons  baking soda
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 2  large eggs
• 1  large egg yolk
• 1  cup  vegetable oil
• 2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
• 1/2  cup  coffee
• 1/2  cup  boiling water
• 1  cup  buttermilk

Orange Curd Filling

• 1/4 cup butter softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange zest
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 2 large eggs

Orange Chocolate Buttercream

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1/2 cup all vegetable shortening
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest from about 1 large orange
• pinch salt
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1-2 tablespoons whipping cream

Assembly

• 1-2 small oranges peeled and pieces separated

Instructions

Cake

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3, 8″ pans with parchment paper. Flour & butter sides of pans.
• Whisk together sugar, flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Then add following eggs, egg yolk, oil, vanilla, coffee, water, and buttermilk. Beat on medium speed until all ingredients well combined, about 2 minutes. The batter is thin.
• Divide batter evenly among the three prepared pans. Bake until toothpick comes out of center of cake with just a few crumbs, about 25 minutes. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from pans. Let cool completely before frosting.

Orange Curd Filling

• In large bowl or stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat butter, sugar, and orange zest until lightened and fluffy.
• Then, beat in orange juice and eggs.
• Transfer mixture to a pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Mixture will be about 170 degrees.

Orange Chocolate Buttercream

• Use electric mixer to beat together butter, shortening, and orange zest until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• In a small bowl, stir together salt, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. Alternate beating in cocoa mixture and orange juice/whipping cream into butter mixture. Do this by adding in cocoa mixture (1/2 cup at a time), followed by 1/2 to 1 tablespoons of orange juice and 1/2 tablespoon of whipping cream. Repeat until desired consistency and taste is reached.

Assembly

• Level cooled cake layers. Pipe buttercream around outside edge of two layers. Divide orange curd between the two layers. Stack filled layers on top of each other and place third layer leveled side down on top.
• Apply a thin layer of buttercream to outside of entire cake. Place cake in refrigerator for 10-20 minutes. After this, finish frosting and decorating as desired. May then decorate with orange pieces.

Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.

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If you enjoyed this Orange Chocolate cake, you should check out these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:

Chocolate Raspberry Torte
Chocolate Orange Banana Bread
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