This Chocolate Orange Cake is magical and nostalgic. If you’re a fan of ‘Jaffas’ you will love this cake and its gorgeous rich ganache

The perfect cake for Mother’s Day

A giant loaf of buttery orange pound like cake with a generous lashing of indulgent rich dark chocolate orange ganache. This is my mum’s dream cake….. so ok, maybe not quite. My mum enjoys this cake, but I know of another mum that’s crazy about this cake and that’s ME!

The funny thing is, I’ve been a mother for over 2 years and somehow it hasn’t fully registered properly in my brain. When people wish me Happy Mother’s Day, I pause and think, ‘Are they talking to me? Oh yeah, I am a mum!’ before saying thank you.

I made this cake for my mum, but mostly for me! The beauty of making a giant loaf of cake that I love so much is there’s enough for seconds and thirds. Also, there’s enough to share some with others, but that’s always optional.

This cake isn’t a traditional pound cake as it doesn’t have equal amounts of butter, flour, sugar, eggs and flour. As much as I love classic pound cakes, I sometimes find them too dense. This cake is lighter but is still gorgeously buttery and simple. It’s also lightly fragrant from the orange juice and zest.

The cake is beautiful and tasty when served plain with your favourite cuppa. BUT, you probably don’t want to skip this ridiculously good ganache that can make grown people go ‘gaga’.

Do you remember ‘Jaffas’? I’m talking about the chocolate balls covered in red candy. I was obsessed with them, not so much with the candy layer, but the orange chocolate inside them. This cake has a thick layer of chocolate orange ganache that tastes even better than Jaffas!

What’s better than cake?

Is a giant cake the correct answer?! I made this cake in a 30x11x7cm (12x4x3in) loft tin, so it’s a long and tall loaf. The batter went all the way to the top of the very top of the tin. There’s only a little amount of baking powder in the batter so it doesn’t spill over whilst baking. However, if you want to make a smaller cake or fit it into a smaller tin, simply just halve the recipe. You can do this by sliding the toggle on the recipe card below.

There’s lots of talk about having the perfect split down the centre whenever we bake a loaf cake. Most recipes tell you to slice the top of the cake once it’s been in the oven for approximately 30 minutes. Perfection to me is overrated! I’ll admit that I have tried this a few times and the end results are nice, but I actually like my cake, a little rustic. I don’t really care if my cake is a little lopsided or if the split looks imperfect. What I always care about is the taste and texture, and I can tell you this cake is spectacular!

I used a stand mixer to make this cake, but you could also make it using a handheld mixer. This recipe is straightforward, but I recommend taking the time to read through the recipe. The only pressure points are over whipping the batter and baking the cake for the correct time. Just like most cakes, over baking the cake will make it dry.

The ganache is also simple, made with just 3 ingredients for a luxurious and silky frosting. Good quality dark chocolate, thickened cream and orange zest is all you need. Trust me, if you love chocolate and orange together, then you won’t want to skip on the ganache. As amazing as this cake is, it’s the ganache that gets the most compliments.

For other Mother’s Day recipe inspiration, check these out:

Victoria Sponge Cake with Fresh Cherries

Prawn and Chorizo Pasta

Salsa Verde with Salmon

Peach Scone with White Chocolate 

Easy Lobster Mornay

Ingredients for Chocolate Orange Cake

FOR THE CAKE

Plain flour (all-purpose flour) does not have any leavening or raising agents (baking powder) mixed into the flour.

Caster sugar (superfine sugar) – Caster sugar has finer granules than regular white sugar. However, it’s not the same as icing/powdered sugar. Many baking or candy recipes call for caster sugar as it dissolves faster and better into mixtures. If you can’t find caster sugar, you can make your own by placing regular sugar in a food processor or blender. Pulse the sugar a few times until it looks finer, but don’t over-blitz to a powder consistency. Or, just use equal amounts of regular white sugar.

Orange liqueur I used Cointreau, but any orange liqueur or good quality orange extract would work.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE ORANGE GANACHE

Dark chocolate – I prefer using cooking chocolate as they usually have a higher percentage of cocoa butter, which makes it easier to melt and work with. However, any dark or milk (eating) chocolate would work too. If using dark chocolate, avoid using the 70% cocoa because the ganache will end up bitter.

Thickened cream (whipping cream) has gelatine added to it and contains 35% milk fat. I don’t recommend using low-fat cream because the ganache will be too runny to work with.

Orange zest – Use a microplane grater to grate the zest from the orange finely. You will only need the coloured part of the orange.

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How to Make Chocolate Orange Cake

Step-by-step guide with photos

Preheat the oven to 190°C (370°F) or 170°C (340°F) for fan-forced ovens. Grease a 30x11x7cm (12x4x3in) loaf tin with melted butter, then dust with flour. Tap the tin upside down to remove the excess flour.

For the egg mixture – In a bowl, lightly whisk together the egg, milk, liqueur, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla extract just until combined.

For the flour mixture – Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a stand mixer bowl, then add in the sugar. Whisk well to combine.

Place HALF of the egg mixture and all of the butter into the flour mixture. Using the paddle attachment, beat the ingredients on low speed until combined, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and pour in the remaining egg mixture and beat for another minute.

Place the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top using a spatula. Bake for 1 to 1.15 hours or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle. At around 45 minutes of the baking time, quickly open the oven and cover the tin with loose foil to help prevent the top of the cake from going too dark.

Let the cake cool in its tin on top of a cooling rack for 30 minutes before turning the cake out. Leave the cake upright on the rack until it has cooled down completely.

For the chocolate orange ganache – Roughly chop the chocolate into little pieces and place it in a medium heatproof bowl. Mix the cream and orange zest in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook just until small bubbles appear, but don’t let it boil. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and leave it untouched for a minute. Stir the chocolate mixture well to combine. It should come together and look glossy.

Leave the ganache uncovered at room temperature for an hour. If it’s still too thin, place it in the fridge at 15-minute intervals, stirring each time until you get the desired or spreadable consistency. Don’t freeze it, as it may cause the ganache to seize.

Place the ganache over the cooled cake and use a spatula to spread it all over the top of the cake evenly.

Leftovers – Place cake in an airtight container at room temperature (if not humid) for up to 3 days. Unfrosted cake may be frozen for up to 3 months.

A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.

Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.

I would love to hear your thoughts or feedback on this post. If you have made this recipe, please show your support by commenting and rating this recipe. You can do this by scrolling down or by clicking the green circle on the left. To prevent spam on this site, an email address is required but it won’t be published.

Cheers (I’ll drink to that) – Cat Tre