Let’s just say that this cake didn’t turn out quite the way I expected it to. I was looking for a simple dessert to accompany a heavy meal. I was also craving one of my favorite flavor combinations – orange and chocolate. I decided to adapt a Lemon-Thyme Olive Oil Cake that I had made a few years ago.
I have loved orange and chocolate since I was little. It wasn’t Christmas if I didn’t have a Terry’s Chocolate Orange in my stocking. I still buy one at the holidays to enjoy. There’s something about the richness of the chocolate with the sweet orange that is just perfect.
This cake is made with oil instead of butter. Using oil in cakes makes them more moist than butter. I used a more mild olive oil for this version – saving my more fruity olive oil for the original Lemon-Thyme Olive Oil Cake. The result was a light, moist and spongy cake.
This cake gets its orange flavor from both orange zest and orange liqueur. I used Cointreau as that was what I had on hand. You could also use Grand Marnier or triple sec.
I opted for mini-chocolate chips (semi-sweet as that was all I could find) as I wanted the chocolate to be on equal footing with the orange. Here’s where things didn’t go quite as planned. While I was mixing the batter I realized that it wasn’t thick enough for the chips to suspend in the batter. I even tossed them in the flour mixture which has helped in other recipes. They ended up sinking to the bottom of the cake during baking so they formed a bit of a chocolate crust. While it wasn’t what I had envisioned, it still satisfied my craving. With each bite, I got a bit of chocolate. Of course you could leave the chocolate chips out and you would still have delicious orange cake.
I read a recipe for clafoutis recently that recommended adding the cherries part way through baking so they didn’t sink to the bottom of the pan. I suppose you could do that with this recipe – adding the chocolate chips ten or so minutes into baking but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.
This recipe is easy to double. I did just that and froze the second cake.
Gluten-Free/Wheat-Free Note: While I haven’t made this with gluten-free flour, I’ve done enough gluten-free baking to know it would work well. My go-to gluten-free flour is Cup4Cup.
Update: Thank you to Nancy B who made the suggestion to melt the chocolate (easily done in a microwave in 30 second bursts) and stiring (or swirling) it into the cake. This provides a marble-effect.
| Orange-Chocolate Olive Oil Cake | | Print |
- 1-1/2 cups regular or gluten-free all-purpose flour plus more for dusting pan (see Notes)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅓ cup semi-sweet mini-chocolate chips
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon orange liqueur (see Notes)
- 3 teaspoons grated orange zest (from 1 orange)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk (see Notes)
- ½ cup mild extra-virgin olive oil plus more for dusting pan
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush the inside of a 9-inch cake pan with a little of the olive oil or use olive oil spray. Over the sink, spoon two teaspoons of flour into pan and tilt it until it is completely coated. Invert and tap to release excess flour.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.
- In another medium bowl, whisk eggs with vanilla, orange liqueur and orange zest until frothy.
- Whisk in sugar and beat until well blended, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in each addition of ⅓ flour mixture, followed by all the buttermilk, followed by ⅓ flour mixture, followed by all the olive oil, and finish with the final ⅓ flour mixture. Batter should be smooth.
- Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake the cake about 40 to 45 minutes until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean and top is golden brown.
- Cool the cake on a rack for 5 minutes, then invert onto the rack. Cool completely and invert onto a platter.
- Sift confectioner’s sugar over the top.
- Cake keeps three days wrapped at room temperature.
* I used Cointreau and also recommend Grand Marnier or triple sec.
* I recommend using SACO Cultured Buttermilk Blend in place of fresh buttermilk. You’ll find it in the baking section of your grocery store. Follow directions on the container for use. It keeps for a few years refrigerated so you always have buttermilk on hand.
* You could also use a stand mixer or hand held mixer – just use the whisk attachment.
* Cake freezes well.
* Recipe can be doubled – eat one now and freeze one for later.
* You can also try melting the chocolate chips (easily done in a microwave in 30 second bursts) and stiring (or swirling) it into the cake. This provides a marble-effect.
This looks lovely!
Spenser – Many thanks! It is tasty, too.
Hi Nicole,
Do you think melting the chocolate, then stirring it into the batter would work?
Nancy – Great suggestion – I think it might work. I had thought about using cocoa powder instead of chips but decided against that. I like the idea of swirling it in. I’ll add that to the recipe as a suggestion yet untried!