Easy and Healthy Chocolate Orange Cake
Learn how to make a healthy chocolate orange fudge 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.
Equipment
- 2 x 7-inch losse bottom cake tins see notes for alternative
Ingredients
- 1 Orange (½ cup of orange juice) or 1 tsp orange extract and ½ cup of milk
- 190 g Thick Yoghurt (¾ cup) *
- 155 g Maple Syrup (½ cup) *
- 50 g Olive Oil (¼ cup) *
- 120 g Whole Wheat Flour (1 cup) *
- 30 g Cocoa Powder (¼ cup)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
To decorate:
- 1 batch Chocolate Frosting try this Healthy Chocolate Frosting
- ½ tsp Orange Extract or 2 tbsp Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
- 3 tbsp Apricot Jam or Orange Marmalade
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350°F / 160°C fan and prepare your two cake tins with parchment paper.
- If using a fresh orange, use a grater to remove the orange zest to be used later.
- Measure out half a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice and add this to your mixing bowl along with your yoghurt, maple syrup and oil. Use a whisk to mix until combined.
- Add your flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl and whisk until almost combined.
- Add in your orange zest and continue to whisk until smooth (see video for consistency).
- Evenly distribute your batter into your cake tins (see notes for tips) and bake for 13-15 minutes. The cake should come out of the oven before it has completely cooked (see notes).
- Leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack, then carefully remove from the tins.
- Prepare your chocolate frosting whilst your cakes cool.
- Once your cake has completely cooled down, spread some apricot jam on one half followed by a layer of frosting. Place the other sponge upside down on top and cover the cake with the rest of the frosting. Top with any left over orange zest.
- Place in the fridge for half an hour so that the frosting sets, then slice with a sharp, clean knife.
Video
Notes
* see blog contents for ingredient substitutions
- 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 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 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 frosting to this cake, as the sponge is already moist enough! You can simply just spread apricot jam between the layers.
- Make sure the cake is completely cooled before decorating!
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Easy and Healthy Chocolate Orange Cake
Serving Size
1 slice
Amount per Serving
Calories
209
% Daily Value*
Fat
10.3
g
16
%
Saturated Fat
1.9
g
12
%
Polyunsaturated Fat
1.1
g
Monounsaturated Fat
6.3
g
Carbohydrates
29.8
g
10
%
Protein
4.3
g
9
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Did you make this?Leave a rating & leave some feedback in the comments section below! You can also tag me on Instagram @Nourishing.Niki and use the #NourishingNiki