Chocolate Orange Cake

5 from 8 votes

This Chocolate Orange Cake recipe is an easy layer cake filled with a fluffy whipped dark chocolate and orange buttercream frosting.

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Chocolate Orange Cake

Servings:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare 2 9-inch pans by greasing, lining bottoms with parchment paper, then dusting with cocoa powder.
In a stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Mix on low speed until thoroughly combined.
In a separate large bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Whisk in the oil, vanilla, buttermilk, orange zest and juice.
Pour the wet ingredients into the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium speed for about 15 seconds, pause and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then continue beating until mostly uniform, about 20 seconds more.
Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake on center rack for about 25 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 190ºF. Cool 10 minutes in pan then invert onto two parchment-lined cooling racks.

Place the mixer bowl on the scale and place a large sieve on top of it. Turn on the scale and weigh the sugar and cocoa into the sieve (it’ll stay on the sieve, that’s fine).
Once you’ve weighed the right amounts, use a large spatula to stir the cocoa and sugar in the sieve. Slowly, it’ll fall down into the mixer bowl with the butter. Once the sieve is less full, you can simply shake it gently back and forth to finish sifting the mixture down.
This is a crucial step if you are piping frosting onto your cake or cupcakes. Any lumps can cause a blockage in the tip and ruin your design.
You can skip the sifting step if you’re just going to slather the frosting onto the cake.
Place butter in stand mixer bowl and beat for 1 minute to aerate it then add remaining ingredients. Beat 2 minutes on high speed then pause and scrape down bottom and sides of mixer. Beat again for 2 minutes more. The frosting will lighten in colour, gain a satiny sheen and be more than doubled in volume when it is done.

Place the bottom layer of the chocolate orange cake onto your cake plate. I like to place a few teaspoons of frosting underneath the bottom layer so that it sticks to the plate.
Use about 1/4 of the frosting to frost the bottom section. Place second cake on top. Frost top and sides of cake using remaining frosting. (See detailed notes in post on techniques.)

PRO Tip for sifting the frosting ingredients: After you've beaten the butter, top the bowl with a sieve and place it on your scale. Weigh the cocoa and butter directly onto the sieve. When you have the right amount, stir the powders with a spatula until your sieve's load is light enough to shake the rest through. This will give you lump-free icing, important for use with a piping bag.

Flouring the pan: use cocoa powder to flour your lined cake pans for chocolate cake. This will avoid getting those white flour spots on the baked cake.

Zesting the oranges: Always zest FIRST before juicing them while they are still whole and firm. I use a Microplane to do this; it's such a helpful tool and does the trick with zesting so you can get that orange flavor out. Remember to wash your oranges before zesting them.

Juicing the oranges: Choose oranges that yield to pressure when you squeeze them at the grocery store. This ensures a juicy orange that won't be dry and stringy. Roll it on the counter first to soften it out even more. If you're using a juicer, push down on the pulp to get more juice out.

Line the cooling rack: When baking moist cakes like this, place a layer of parchment paper on the cooling racks first to avoid the cakes sticking to the grates.