Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cake Recipe – Lovely layers of moist chocolate sponge cake, sandwiched with chocolate orange buttercream, decorated with chocolate orange segments. It’s not Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cake Recipe… It’s mine!
Growing up, Terry’s Chocolate Orange always meant that the festive season had really arrived. There was nothing quite like cracking one of those blue boxes open, and if you got the orange core in the centre? Amazing.
Thank heavens those blue boxes of Terry’s Chocolate Orange are now available all year, so this Orange Chocolate Cake can be the perfect treat as a birthday cake, celebration cake or just because it’s Wednesday!
This Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cake Recipe is a celebration of those little blue boxes.
(If you are a lover of chocolate oranges, I mean who isn’t then you might want to wonder over to my no bake chocolate orange cheesecake recipe.)
I originally posted this recipe almost two years ago as a way of using up leftover Christmas chocolate oranges (leftover chocolate? Ha!). That feels like a blogging life time ago now!
I still love this layer cake, wouldn’t it make a great alternative to a traditional Christmas cake?
Because I made this Chocolate Orange Cake recipe again for a friend’s birthday cake recently, I thought I’d take some new photos and post it again as hopefully I’ve improved my blog photography a little in the last couple of years. (Natural light, who knew?)
How do you make a Chocolate Orange Cake?
This layer cake is surprisingly simple to make, a basic chocolate orange sponge cake and chocolate orange buttercream, a bit of tweaking and some pretty decoration and taa daa! Chocolate orange heaven right there.
Start by greasing and lining your cake tins very well (a good dose of butter to stop them from sticking!)
Next, start to make your cake batter by taking your butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add the eggs, cocoa, flour, melted chocolate and orange extract.
Spoon evenly between your buttered cake tins.
Smooth them out using a spatula or the back of a spoon.
Top tip!
I tend to smooth them almost to a slight dip in the middle, so that when they rise they don’t get a big peak in the middle.
Then bake until the orange chocolate cakes are just pulling away from the edges of the tin and springy to the touch.
Icing the Sponge Cake:
When the chocolate cakes are cooled, trim off the tops (if they do have domes) to make them nice and flat and even. (This is really important to give a stable cake.)
Make the chocolate orange buttercream icing, by creaming the butter, icing sugar and orange extract.
Split the icing into two bowls, add the melted chocolate to one half and the orange gel food colouring to the other.
Pipe onto the cake, sandwiching the layers and, of course, decorate with your Terry’s Chocolate Orange pieces!
Tips for making the Chocolate and Orange Sponge Recipe:
- As always, it really helps to use good tins for baking, I use and recommend something like these, available on Amazon, they are a great investment: Masterclass 7″ Deep Round Tin
- Don’t trim and ice the cakes until they are completely cold.
- Invest in good quality Orange Extract for this cake, you will notice the difference. I really like this one, available on Amazon: Steenberg’s Orange Extract
- Disposable piping bags are a must buy if you’re planning on some cake decorating, they are so easy to use. I buy them in bulk from Amazon, you can find them here: Disposable Piping Bag Roll
- Please ONLY use a good quality gel (or paste as it’s sometimes called) for the orange colouring. The supermarket brands really don’t live up to a professional paste, I promise, using this will make your life SO much easier as you only need a tiny dot to get the colour you want. The difference is unbelievable! This is the brand I use and recommend, which you can buy on Amazon: Tangerine Gel Food Colour
What I used to make this recipe:
Fancy some other lovely layer cakes?
How to make the Terrys Chocolate Orange Cake recipe:
Chocolate Orange Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 350 g Unsalted butter
- 350 g Caster sugar
- 6 Free range eggs
- 50 g Good quality cocoa
- 270 g Self raising flour
- 90 g Melted dark chocolate
- 3 tsp Orange Extract Waitrose sell a good one and it’s only £1.50 which is cheap as chips compared to some good quality extracts: Waitrose Cooks’ Homebaking orange extract
For the icing:
- 300 g Unsalted butter
- 600 g Icing sugar
- 150 g Dark chocolate
- 3 tsp Orange Extract
To decorate (if you fancy):
- Sugarflair Tangerine Gel Food Colour
- 1 Terry’s Chocolate Orange
Instructions
- Grease 3 x 7″ round sandwich tins (or 2 x 8″).
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- Cream your room temperature butter with your sugar until it’s pale, light and fluffy.
- Next, mix in the eggs, one at a time, beating really well after each egg. Don’t worry if it starts to look a bit curdled, it’ll all come good.
- After this, mix in your flour and cocoa. If you’ve been using a mixer, do this bit by hand. It helps to keep the sponge light.
- Stir in the melted and slightly cooled chocolate and the orange extract.
- Spoon into a your tins, smooth out with the back of a spoon. Make a bit of a dip in the middle to account for rising.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. You might need to adjust the time by 5 minutes either way depending on your oven.
- Meanwhile make your icing. Beat your butter until it’s pale, light and fluffy.
- Beat in your icing sugar and orange extract.
- Now split your icing into two bowls, weigh out 675g into one and there should be about 225g left in the other.
- Add 150g melted and cooled dark chocolate to the 675g bowl of buttercream. Mix in completely.
- Colour the other bowl of 225g of buttercream orange using Sugarflair Tangerine Gel Colour. Use a very very small amount at a time, just a tip of a knife or so, until you get the colour you fancy.
- If either batch of buttercream is too stiff, beat in a teaspoon or two of boiling water to soften and lighten the texture of the icing.
- When your cakes are completely cold, use a carving knife to level them. Just trim the top crust off. Remember, this is important, it’s not a waste of cake. If you don’t do this, with a cake this size it will be wonky.
- Top each layer with a spread of your chocolate buttercream. Then snip the top off of two disposable piping bags, fill one with the rest of your chocolate buttercream and the other with the orange buttercream.
- Pipe a circle around the outside of two of the layers, sit each on the one before.
- On the top layer, pipe small dollops all over and top with your segments of chocolate orange.
Notes
Nutrition (per serving)
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
ooh wow Sarah, your chocolate Orange layer cake looks sooo delicious. I adore Terry’s Orange, or as they said in a advert years ago, it’s not Terrys , it’s mine 😉
Angela x
Eb Gargano says
Wow! This looks amazing!! Definitely festive 🙂
Kerry at Kerry Cooks says
Ooh gorgeous!! Your new photos are lovely. Once again, I am really wishing I liked Terry’s Chocolate Orange!
Vicki Montague - The Free From Fairy says
Oh good grief Sarah! This looks utterly incredible!! I love chocolate and orange so this would be the cake for me…if I could eat it!!!
Sarah James says
Your Chocolate Orange Cake looks delicious Sarah, I love your photos! I used to look forward to our Christmas Chocolate Orange & was so happy it if I managed to get the core x
clare says
That looks amazing!!!! need to make it 🙂 Thanks Clare
Julie's Family Kitchen says
Sarah, you’ve done it again. Another tremendous cake. You can’t go wrong with chocolate and orange, one of my favourite flavour combos. Delicious! xx
Leigh says
Oh Sarah that cake is gorgeous! Everyone in our house receives a chocolate orange in their stockings every year. Thank you for hosting!
brummymummyof2 says
GOOD GOD THIS IS AMAZING!!! Mmmmmm can I have some now please? x
Charlotte Oates says
This cake looks amazing, you really are the queen of layer cakes!
Donna says
This looks incredible, such a lovely festive cake! x
Emma @ Supper in the Suburbs says
What a fantastic looking cake! You really know how to decorate. I would love a slice of this right now. A fantastic alternative to Christmas Cake 🙂
Jo of Jo's Kitchen says
This looks amazing and so festive xx
Yet Another Blogging Mummy!!! says
Thanks for the invitation to post my turkey recipe here. I’ve linked up now. Your cake looks fab
Diana says
This is mouthwatering! Chocolate with orange is my favourite combination! And the cake looks so beautiful too
Ciara (My Fussy Eater) says
Oh that looks incredible! Chocolate Orange is my absolute favourite flavour so this is pure heaven for me!!
Louise Fairweather says
This looks so good – I want to make my dad a birthday cake – maybe this is the answer!
Samk says
this looks amazing, I’m thinking of baking for my husband’s birthday this weekend. Can you make and freeze the sponges in advance??
Sarah Barnes says
Yes, the sponges would be fine to freeze un-iced 🙂
Christine says
Do you have the quantities for a 11or12 cake it for a wedding cake thanks
Jules says
just wondering if you made this as a 12 inch wedding cake ?
jean blasdell says
made this cake for the village cake off,got joint second ,very tasty.
Adam Morris says
This looks very tasty indeed. I will be experimenting with reducing the caster sugar by half by using the taste changing. The taste changing effect of the fruit only works with foods of an acidic nature, in this case the orange. Happy to send you a couple of grams of unpressed berry for you to try, just let me know. Best, Adam
Kelly says
I knew I should have brought a tco whilst in the poundshop lol I’ll be baking this on Friday or Saturday
Helen says
Hello. I wondered if you could help. I have been bought a giant cupcake mould. I want to use this in it. I normally bake the top and the bottom of the mould seperately as I’m not skilled .it’s a 3 egg mix on the top and 4 egg on the bottom. Do you think this recipe can be modified to a 3 and 4 egg recipe? Thank you xx
Sarah Barnes says
Hi Helen, yes, you would just need to take each of the amounts, divide them by 6 (so you know the amount for one egg) then multiply them by 3 and 4 respectively to get your amounts for your mixture. Let me know how you get on!
Claudia says
This looks so good. I’ll be baking for my husband’s birthday next weekend. I wonder if I can added baking powder, I know your recipe doesn’t need. It just a curiosity. Thank you so much for an amazing recipe.
Sarah Barnes says
If you use self raising flour, you shouldn’t need to!
Claudia says
Hi Sara
Thank you so much xx ❤
Monica Lam says
Made this wow factor cake for my sister inlaws bday today. Top marks for a beautiful cake, however l used my 6″ cake tins (I don’t have 7″) and the cake rised higher than expected, which is fine as l trimmed it down so all were same height and left to bake for a further 6 mins, so that the skewer test came out clean.
Flavour was great, however the cake was drier than l would have liked. Do you have any tips l could use to make it a more moist cake?
Sarah Barnes says
Hi Monica, hmm.. Sometimes the type of cocoa you use can make a difference, next time try halving to 40g and see if it’s still chocolatey enough/improved. I’ve tried this recently and will add a note to the post. Thanks for your comment 🙂
Lou says
Hi, I’m literally about to bake this beauty and was wondering, is the 180 temp for a fan or conventional oven? Thanks!!
Betty says
Have been looking for chocolate/ orange ideas for my wedding cake and this may just be the one!! I wonder if it sits well at room temperature after being iced and stacked?
Thank you!
Jules says
Hi Betty , did u make this for a wedding cake?
Jules says
Hi just wondering if anyone have tried fondant on this cake? And could it be dowelled so it could be done as a double tier?
Thanks
Marcella says
This would make an amazing wedding cake. How did it work out for you Jules?
Adeeba says
Hi Sarah , can I separated the egg and then I whip the egg whites until they become soft peaks meringue and fold the egg whites into the batter to be more fluffy and moist cake ? Thanks Sarah
Jo says
Hi, do you use a nozzle for the piping? Thanks
Nancy says
I need to convert this to teaspoons and cups. Should I use the exact conversion or do i need to change the amounts that o use
Sej says
I would like to know if you can use cake flour instead of self raising flour? And what would the amounts of baking powder and or baking soda would be used.
Sej says
And can you use fresh oranges and juice instead to the extract as we don’t get that here?
Laura says
My son asked for a chocolate orange cake as his 16 birthday cake. I’ve used your recipe and it’s turned out beautifully and tastes delish! Have added big chunky gold 16 candles on top….wish there was an option to post a pic so you could see it.
So pleased with it….Thanks so much x
Sarah Barnes says
Ahh Laura, I’m SO pleased it went down well! You can pop me a picture on Instagram or my email if you’d like 🙂
Rebecca Powell says
Hi, do you think this recipe could be used for cupcakes? If so how long would you recommend baking for and how many do you think this recipe would make roughly? Many thanks, Rebecca
Sarah Barnes says
Hi Rebecca, it would probably make about 18 big cupcakes, and they would take about 15 – 20 minutes I should think! Let me know how you get on. I’ve been meaning to write the recipe for Chocolate Orange Cupcakes for ages, thanks for reminding me! x
Sam says
Looking forward to making this ready for Christmas Day
Carol says
Any chance you could post this using U.S. measurements? It looks so good!
Mike says
Made this for a friend’s birthday – huge success, perfect balance of rich and moist, and really impressive! I ended up using orange zest and a touch of juice in place of the essence, and paprika worked well for the colouring. Can’t wait to make it again for myself!
Sarah Barnes says
Hi Mike, thanks so much for taking the time to comment and so pleased you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Gosia says
Hi, would like to make this yummy cake for my sons birthday but he is coeliac . Do you think this recipe can be converted to gluten free flour or rice flour? Also if I baked in a large rectangular or square tin, how long would it take to cook please? My Son really would like a terry choc orange cake made into a treasure chest.
Please let me know.
Thanks
Gosia
Sarah Barnes says
Hi Gosia, I don’t have a great deal of experience with gluten free, but I hope GR flour would work. The square tin will depend on how large, just cook until it’s only just cooked and you’ll be fine! Hope he enjoys 🙂
Alice Barrington says
Hello,
I have made this cake so many times and it is amazing! I have now been asked to make this cake for a friends wedding cake.
I would like to use 3 8in cake tins. What quantities would you recommend?
Thank you
Sarah Barnes says
Ahh how fab! Please send a photo when it’s done, I’d love to see! And congrats to your friends. I’d use 50% more of everything, so 9 eggs etc. Pop me an email or a message on IG if you need any more help 🙂
Sophie says
Do you cut each cake in half so you have four layers or just have two large cakes and fill in between?
Sarah Barnes says
The recipe is for 3 x 7″ as mentioned in point 1 of the recipe, you can do 2 x 8″ if you prefer and cut those but if you cut those horizontally they may be very thin and tricky to handle! Hope that helps.
Suzie says
hi, I’ve made this cake and absolutely adore it! Making a 3-tiered version for my friend’s 40th. I know you said 50% more for 8inch layer, what would you say for a 9inch layer please? Suzie x
Deborah Regan says
Made this a few times. I have to make 2 at a time these days. Its amazing 😍