Chocolate orange cake recipe: easy, fudgey, healthy - Nourishing Niki (2024)

• Nikita Messina
• July 11, 2022

Learn how to make a healthy chocolate orange cake that doesn’t taste healthy! A rich and moist dark chocolate orange sponge cake with thick layers of creamy, decadent healthy chocolate frosting – this cake is to die for. It’s eggless, nut-free and can be made dairy-free, vegan and gluten-free!

I have dreamt about this orange chocolate cake since I first made it. From my first bite of this moist (almost gooey), decadent chocolate cake and fudgy chocolate orange frosting – I knew I had a winner. There’s something very fulfilling about baking something and it turns out even better than you could have imagined.

If you’ve stumbled upon this recipe, I wish I could give you a tiny bite of it. Just enough to convince you that this is the best chocolate cake you will ever make and eat. Dark chocolate combined with that orange flavor is truly a match made in heaven, anyone who says otherwise is wrong. In fact – you can prove them wrong by feeding them this orange chocolate cake from heaven.

The only problem I have with chocolate cake is that I find it really hard to stop at just one slice, but with this recipe, you don’t have to. Because it’s healthier, filled with nutrients and slightly lower in calories – you can have more than one slice if you want. You can even have it for breakfast. Now that’s what you call “winning at life”.

Not only is this a healthy cake, but it’s incredibly easy to make. I’ll prove it to you in a minute (just watch the recipe video and you’ll see). It’s also vegan and paleo-friendly!

Have convinced you to make it yet? I hope so. I really don’t want you to miss out…

“What Makes This Chocolate Orange Cake Healthy?”

This chocolate orange cake is made using nourishing, whole foods. There are no yucky, high-sugar, insulin spiking, inflammatory ingredients. Just pure goodness. This cake will not only nourish your soul but your body too!

A classic chocolate fudge cake is filled with unhealthy fats, processed flour and sugar. While yes it is delicious – it’s not okay to eat very often. This healthy orange chocolate cake, on the other hand, is so nourishing that you can eat it multiple times a day if you want to.

To put this into perspective – to really show you how this cake is better for you than a regular old chocolate cake, we’ll have to compare the ingredients.

I’m using Mary Berry’s Very Best Chocolate Fudge Cake as a point of reference.

Chocolate Orange Cake Ingredients

*For the full ingredients list and measurements, please see the recipe card at the bottom of this page.

Flour

In a classic chocolate fudge cake, one usually uses white flour, like self-raising or all-purpose flour. While white flour isn’t necessarily bad for you, it has a poor nutritional value. During the process of making white flour, the bran and germ are removed (which is filled with nutrients) and all you’re left with is the white flour.

Instead, in this healthy chocolate orange cake recipe, we are using whole wheat flour! This is a lot higher in protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. It does not affect the taste of the cake, however, all you’ll taste is chocolate and orange!

Fat

In most chocolate cake recipes, the fat used is butter. Butter is made from the fat and protein solids from milk which can cause inflammation in our bodies, and most shop-bought butter does not contain a lot of nutrients. Whilst, yes, proper grass-fed butter does have some good health benefits – there is a better option…

My recipe uses Olive Oil! Olive oil is loaded with nutrients and antioxidants and can actually prevent inflammation. Also – we won’t be using as much as you would in most chocolate cake recipes, making this cake a bit lower in calories! It also allows us to make a vegan chocolate orange cake with ease.

Sugar

I won’t go into too much detail here, but Mary’s cake calls for caster sugar. Most classic chocolate fudge cake calls for white, refined sugar. White sugar is highly processed and there are so many reasons to limit this in your diet.

“Refined sugars may increase your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. They’re also linked to a higher likelihood of depression, dementia, liver disease, and certain types of cancer.”

Healthline.com

Instead of white sugar, we use maple syrup. This adds extra moistness to the cake and is a lot better for you than white sugar. It’s filled with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Frosting

Mary’s frosting sounds absolutely delightful for the soul, but definitely not so much for the body. Chocolate and double cream.

For a healthy chocolate frosting, you should make this Healthy Chocolate Frosting (made with avocado). It’s made from avocadoes, cocoa powder and maple syrup but it tastes like chocolate fudge frosting.

Other Ingredients

• Oranges: Necessary for the orange flavor.We will be using the juice and zest. You could use bottled fresh squeezed orange juice instead.
• Yoghurt: This replaces the eggs usually found in chocolate cake, making it extremely moist and fluffy without needing to use any eggs! You can use Greek yoghurt, Greek-style vegan yoghurt or coconut yoghurt. Please try to use thick yoghurt.
• Cocoa Powder: I recommend using Dutch-process cocoa powder as it’s got a lovely rich chocolaty flavour. Make sure your cocoa powder is unsweetened.
• Baking Soda or Bicarbonate of Soda: This reacts with the acidic orange juice and cocoa powder to give the cake an airy lift.
• Salt: Enhances the chocolate flavour.
• Apricot Jam: To spread between the sponge and chocolate frosting, this adds some extra fruity flavour and makes the cake even more decadent and moist! You can use Orange Marmalade too.

Substitutions

• Whole Wheat Flour: You can use white whole wheat flour if you have it or oat flour to keep this chocolate orange cake healthy. Or you can use plain or all-purpose flour if you want. To make this cake gluten-free you can use a shop-bought plain gluten-free flour blend. Do not use almond flour or coconut flour.
• Olive Oil: You can use avocado oil, melted coconut oil or sunflower oil. If you don’t have any of these oils on hand, you can use unsalted butter instead.
• Maple Syrup: Agave, Honey, Coconut Nectar or any liquid sweetener will work well.
• Orange Juice/ Orange Zest: If you’d rather use orange extract you can use 1 teaspoon of this, but you will have to add 3/4 cup of milk to your cake batter.
• Baking Powder: If you’re substituting baking powder for baking soda, keep in mind that you you typically need to use about 3 times the amount of baking powder as you would baking soda. Note, I generally don’t recommend substituting baking powder for baking soda – but if you’re in a pinch and up for experimentation, you can give the baking powder a try.

Step-by-step instructions

To show you just how easy it is to make this healthy orange chocolate cake, I’ve prepared a video for you to watch!

Jump to Video

• To make the cake batter, add freshly squeezed orange juice together with all your wet ingredients to a bowl and give it a whisk until it is well combined (image 1).
• Next, add in your dry ingredients (cocoa powder, baking soda, whole wheat flour, and salt) (image 2) and whisk until almost combined, then add in your orange zest and mix until the cake batter is smooth (image 3). The cake batter should be thick, but quite runny (see the video for the consistency).
• Pour your cake batter into two 7-inch cake tins (image 4) and bake. I recommend using a cake tin with a loose base as it is a lot easier to remove once baked.

• Once baked, leave the cakes to cool down a bit (image 5) and then remove them from the cake tins.
• Prepare your healthy chocolate frosting whilst your cake is cooling.
• Spread some apricot jam on the top of one cake layer (image 6), followed by your chocolate orange frosting (image 7). Add the next cake layer, upside down, on top and then spread the remaining chocolate orange frosting on top and around the sides.
• Add some orange zest to the top to decorate (image 8).

Baker’s Tips

• Please use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients, using cup measurements is very unprecise and can lead to a dry cake.

• Make sure to use room temperature ingredients.

• The trick to getting a fudgy chocolate orange cake is to slightly underbake it. You want to remove the cake from the oven just before it’s finished baking as it continues baking in the tin after it’s removed from the oven. The middle of the cake will be slightly flatter than the rest of the cake and almost indented. A fully-baked cake will be rounded at the top, we don’t want that.

• Use a cake tin with a loose bottom or a spring-form tin, this makes removing it from the tin so much easier. To remove the chocolate orange cake from a loose bottom tin, place it onto a jar (see the video) use a spatula or knife to loosen the cake from the edges, and then lower the sides of the cake tin leaving the cake on the jar. Flip the cake upside down onto your hand and then remove the flat part of the cake tin.

• Add some parchment paper to the bottom of your cake tin so that your cake doesn’t stick.

• Before baking your cakes, bang the tins onto your counter to get rid of any air bubbles.

• You don’t have to add chocolate orange frosting to this cake, as the sponge is already moist enough! You can simply just spread apricot jam between the layers.

• If you do want to add chocolate orange frosting, try using a chocolate orange buttercream frosting. This creamy and flavorful chocolate orange frosting is infused with rich chocolate and orange flavor and would pair perfectly with the moist cake layers.

• Make sure the chocolate orange cake is completely cooled before decorating!

• Aside from orange zest, you can decorate the moist cake by adding orange slices and sprinkling powdered sugar on top.

If you don’t have a 7-inch cake tin, read this:

6-inch cake tins: The layers will be thicker, therefore you will have to bake the cake for longer. Add 5 minutes to your cooking time and check back.

8-inch cake tins: The layers will be very thin. I recommend using 1.5X this recipe if using an 8-inch tin. You may have to bake it a couple of minutes longer.

FAQ

here are some more healthy cake recipes for you to make:

• Vegan Blueberry Cake
• Healthy Peanut Butter Cake
• The Easiest Lemon Drizzle Cake
• Healthy Chocolate Loaf Cake

Hey! If you make this recipe, I would love it if you could leave me some feedback and a rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in the comment section at the bottom of the page! Also let me know onFacebook,InstagramorPinterest! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts and see your photos!

I hope you enjoyed making this chocolate orange cake!

I share healthy recipes for busy people. My mission is to motivate you to nourish your body wisely, without depriving yourself of cravings, but rather by making mindful choices and finding balance.