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Wooden table with slice of marbled chocolate orange cake on white paper, a yellow fork, white bowl and cake stand in background.

Chocolate Orange Cake

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This is a beautiful marble bundt cake that keeps well and freezes wonderfully. An irresistible chocolate orange cake recipe to make during cold months, when oranges are in season. I made a few tweaks to the original recipe, and it's now even better than it was, with more flavor and a decadent chocolate ganache glaze! 

  • Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

Units

For the cake:

  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 5 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 3 cups all-purpose or cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest (about 2 oranges)
  • 3 tablespoon orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier) or orange juice
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

For the chocolate glaze:

  • Scant 1 cup (200g) whipping or heavy cream
  • 7 and 3/4 oz (220g) semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/4 cup (50g) dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon runny honey or corn syrup

Instructions

For the cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350º F /180ºC.
  2. Butter or spray a large 12-cup capacity bundt cake pan.
  3. Coat the entire surface with flour or dry breadcrumbs, shaking off excess. Refrigerate the pan while you make the batter. 
  4. Beat softened butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer, or in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, slowly adding the sugars, beating for 2 or 3 minutes after all is added.
  5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  6. Add orange zest, orange liqueur or orange juice, and vanilla.
  7. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together in a small bowl or have them measured and sift directly over the butter mixture, as I do.
  8. Add the dry ingredients (also called the flour mixture) in three additions alternating with milk in two additions. Don't overbeat after adding flour, simply beat just until incorporated.
  9. Transfer 1 cup of this mixture to a small bowl and mix into it the sifted cocoa. Gently mix until you have a smooth batter.
  10. Add half the orange batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly. Drop half of the cocoa mixture over it, and swirl a few times with the tip of a knife. Repeat with the remaining batters. You will have to layers of marbled cake mix.
  11. Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. It might take several more minutes. 
  12. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 20 minutes.
  13. Remove from the bundt pan, it will still be quite still hot, so be careful. Place on the cooling rack and let cool completely before glazing. 
  14. Pour the chocolate glaze (instructions below) on top of the cake and let it drip down the sides. You can scoop the drippings and pour the over again. Do this quickly before it sets. You can decorate with orange slices, orange peel, or rind.

For the ganache glaze:

  1. Finely chop the chocolate and put it in a bowl, preferably glass.
  2. In a small saucepan heat cream with sugar.
  3. Remove just when it's about to boil. It should have small bubbles in the outer rim.
  4. Immediately cover the chopped chocolate with the hot cream. 
  5. Let stand 3 minutes to soften.
  6. With a wire whisk start mixing from the middle out. The chocolate will mix with the cream and create a smooth and shiny chocolate mixture.
  7. Add honey or corn syrup, mix well and it's ready to use.

Notes

Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!

Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer that is placed inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust. 

Sift the cocoa powder: this is important because it usually has clumps that will not dissolve during baking.

Sift the baking soda: it can get clumpy when stored, so I urge you to always sift it before adding it to any baking preparation as it won't dissolve on its own in the oven.

Alternate dry and wet ingredients: this is an important step when making cakes because we always want to level temperatures and densities. By adding part of the flour mixture, then part of the milk, and the repeating it until we add it all, we make sure it's all well incorporated. Important: always start and end with the dry ingredients.

Cocoa powder: always use unsweetened like Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder, Ghirardelli Premium baking cocoa, Scharffen Berger natural cocoa powder. And, in my experience, the dark ones are the best (this does not apply to the super dark used for making homemade oreo cookies known as dark cocoa powder).

Vanilla - I use pure vanilla extract or pure vanilla paste when available, but a good vanilla essence (artificially flavored) also works.

Layer cake: you can change the cake form and bake it in two 9-inch round springform pans or three 8-inch ones. Fill and frost with ganache or another frosting you like. 

  • Author: Paula Montenegro
  • Prep Time: 20
  • Cooling time: 60 minutes
  • Cook Time: 60
  • Category: Cakes
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: International

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1/12
  • Calories: 737
  • Sugar: 70.3 g
  • Sodium: 197.3 mg
  • Fat: 34.5 g
  • Carbohydrates: 100 g
  • Protein: 8.2 g
  • Cholesterol: 150.1 mg

Find it online: https://vintagekitchennotes.com/orange-chocolate-marbled-bundt-cake/