A super moist and flavorful eggless orange cake with lots of dark chocolate chunks!
There are cakes that you plan and bake and then there are cakes you just make on the fly with little to no planning. This eggless orange and dark chocolate cake falls in the latter category. We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary yesterday.
Given as my husband is not a huge fan of cakes or any desert really (go on laugh a little at the irony of this sentence) it’s usually a day of bread-baking for me. Yesterday I made his favourite poppyseed bagels which he devoured joyfully.
But as a baker the compulsion to make a cake for special occasions took over, as it often does and I decided to put together something really quick and simple that everybody in the house could enjoy. Chocolate and orange together is a combination that I have always loved! With oranges lying around, it was the perfect opportunity to try out this cake originally inspired by a popular bakery in my city.
If you follow me on Instagram, you will know the sequence of events that ensued after I shared a picture of the cake after baking. I was inundated with hundreds of messages asking for the recipe. So here we are. I hope many of you make this and share your pictures with me.
Orange – 3 ways
The idea was to not use too much chocolate that would overpower the base cake and let the citrus flavour shine.
There are three things that contribute to give this cake a super orange-y burst of flavour
- Fresh orange juice
- Orange zest
- Orange flavoured chocolate
Oranges
I used Valencia oranges which are actually the best variety for extracting juice. They’re naturally sweet and have a bright and deep coloured skin which make them great for zesting too. I needed about 1.5 oranges to get half a cup of juice required for the recipe.
With citrus fruits, keep in mind that the zest or the skin is where all the flavour of the fruit is at. In fact if you have to choose between any one to add flavour to a recipe I would always recommend using the zest. A micro plane zester is best for this as it only removes the thin outer layer that retains all the flavour without adding any of the bitter white rind. However if you don’t have one you could use a regular grater. Try to not rub over the same spot more than 2 to 3 times.
Chocolate
Homegrown childhood brand Amul, a few years back launched a new product that was an affordable and gourmet line of dark chocolates in different flavours – 
Of these, the tropical orange one became the most popular and also the third element of my cake trial. I added lots of chunks of the orange dark chocolate in the batter and some more on the top. Also added regular chocolate chips to make sure there was enough chocolate to go around in each bite. In case you are not able to get your hands on the same chocolate, try and use any other orange flavoured dark chocolate.
Flavor explosion!
Believe me when I say that the cake turned out to be the best one that I have made in a while. It was soft, moist, good-looking, and a flavour bomb. Not only did the husband but even other members of the family who are usually not into cake, got tempted by the sight and smells. We were left with literally just crumbs a couple of hours later.
Pan Size and Baking Time
I made this cake in a 6 inch round pan which took about 35 minutes to bake. You could use up to a 7 inch for the same. Baking times usually vary based on the size of your pan and the quantity of batter in it. While it would still be in the range of 30 to 40 minutes, you should keep an eye out for signs after 30 minutes. Use a toothpick or skewer to test for doneness. The cake also slightly pulls away from the sides when properly baked. Cool the cake on a wire rack after it comes to room temperature.
I’m next going to try making muffins using the same recipe with slight variations. You can be sure that I will update the results from my trial year for you guys.
For now go and make this beauty and brighten up your weekend and that of everyone around you.
If orange and chocolate don’t appeal to you, here are some other simple tea cakes from the blog that you should try.
- Eggless orange almond cake
- Eggless lemon loaf cake
- Eggless pear and walnut cake
- Eggless Coffee cinnamon cake
- Eggless semolina cake
Eggless Orange and Dark Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Baking Soda
- Zest of 2 oranges
- ½ cup Thick curd/ yogurt
- ½ cup Castor sugar
- ⅓ cup Oil
- ½ cup Orange Juice (from 1.5-2 oranges)
- 100g Chopped chocolate (Amul tropical orange dark chocolate preferably)
- 30-50g Chocolate chips
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS
- Grease or line a 6-inch pan with parchment or baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- In a bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the zest of two oranges. Keep it aside.
- In another bowl add the yoghurt, sugar and oil and mix well till combined. Add half of the flour mix and half of the orange juice and whisk together. Add the remaining flour and orange juice and whisk till everything is well combined but do not over-mix the batter.
- Throw in half of the chopped chocolate chunks and the chocolate chips and fold into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap the pan lightly on the countertop to remove any air bubbles. Add the remaining chocolate chunks and chocolate chips on the top of the batter.
- Bake for 35–40 minutes or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides or use other toothpick/skewer to test whether the cake is baked well. Cool the cake on a wire rack and serve.
Notes
- For measurement conversions to grams and ml, refer the conversion guide here – Measurements Conversion Guide
Can it be frosted also?
Hi Ankita, this cake is best had on its own like. However if you want, you could frost it as well
How can we make this gluten free and refined sugar free?
Looks so delicious 😋.
Pooja, this is the best ever cake recipe, have been looking for orange choc eggless since yrs. Thank u,
Will try it asap
Yay! So glad. I’d love to know how it turns out for you
Hi I wanted to know, the zest is just the orange part grated right, not to touch the white part na of the orange
Hi Barsha, that’s right. The white part will be bitter so use only the thin outer orange part
Mam wont the fresh orange juice wl make it bitter??
Hi Mona, no, not at all. why will fresh fruit juice make a cake bitter? It will only make it better 🙂
Ur recipe looks amazing cant wait to try it!! Iv been looking around for the perfect recipe for this cake and urs seems to b bang on.
Yay thank you. Do let me know how it turns out
Sometimes wen i add nuts or choclate chunks to my cake thy dunk in ,how to avoid that
Hello Mamta, you can dust your nuts and chocolate with flour before adding them. That prevents them from sinking to the bottom
Would adding eggs instead of curd make it better? I am always confused regarding how thick the curd should be – given I use homemade curd
Can I make the cake vegan chocolate orange cake?
Hey, can one make this with whole wheat flour??
Hi Shradha, I haven’t tried this cake with whole wheat but no reason that it shouldn’t work.
Ms.Pooja,this was sooo good. Like literally the perfect cake recipe,the measurements are spot on cuz the citrus and the chocolate is so perfectly balanced! Even if I halved the recipe,it turned out perfectly <3
Can this cake be done in cooker mam?
Hi Shilpasree, yes this cake can be done in a cooker. Please check out this article – https://loveandflourbypooja.com/tips-tricks-and-hacks/baking-on-a-stovetop/
Any alternative of castor sugar
Hi pooja, how big/small do the chocolate chunks need to be? Also is it advisable to use hung curd?
Hi, for a few minutes after making the cake it was nice and fluffy. However after sometime the middle portion shrunk and the cake became slightly smaller in height. Why did this happen?
Can we use readymade orange zest as fresh oranges are not available… and also packed orange juice in this recipe of chocolate orange cake
How many days can we store this and how mam?
Can we replace refined flour with whole wheat flour
Can we istead of only all pourpuse flour make with half quantity wheat flour
Hi Bhavika yes you can but the texture will be more dense
Can you pls help me .. any replacement for curd?
Hi this ingredients measurement will make 500 gm cake?
The cake rises as soon as it is out of the oven but then it sinks. What can be done to avoid this
My cake was soft but in a denser side , I mean that fluffiness those ‘ jalis ‘ was not there n wen I took it out from the oven , it sank a little ? Is both things because of choc chunks ? As I had chkd my baking powder n soda ….
I made it and it turned out to be dense and not fluffy …it also sank from the middle when I took it out
It was soft though but dense
If I have to bake it using an 8inch pan should I increase the measurements by half
Hi Harpriya, to make in an 8 inch pan you’ll have to double the recipe
Can we I use butter instead of oil?
1/3 cup butter?
Hi Priyal, yes you can use melted butter in place of oil
Hi, How can i make this with eggs??
Hey Pooja which orange do u use for orange zest?
This recipe is a show-stopper beyond doubt. I have made it four times, for different sets of friends and they just polished it off. The last one was for a diverse group of people with at least 10 different nationalities and ethnic origins and they loved it. So don’t hesitate to try it and be ready for all the love and praise!
Can this same recipe be made into muffins?
Hi Dipti, yes sure you can make these into muffins.
Hi I tried this cake the texture and everything is perfect!! But I just didn’t get the orange or dark color after baking
Hi, i tried this recipe the favour texture is perfect! But i didn’t get the dark orangy color to the cake! What could be the reason?
Hi Pooja. I just love ur recipes . Super simple,yet very delicious. I tried making this chocolate orange cake. The taste is amazing, well baked too but my cake was white from top. It did not have that beautiful brown top. I am using a morphy best 40 ltr. I normally bake all my stuff on the bake mode. Should I try baking on convection mode ? If yes what temperature. Thankyou.
Hi Pooja….i am not able to get amul tropical orange chocolate…how do I get more orange flavour with Amul s 55 percent dark choc
Mam ,can we add coverture chocolate chips in cake.
Can I use packed orange juice?
The cake turned out very well in taste and texture but for me it got cracks in top and was not holding the shape. Can suggest what would be wrong?
If we want to use eggs in-place of yogurt how many eggs will we need as per this recipe?
If fresh juice isnt available, can we use tropicana or real orange juice?
I tried making the Orange and Dark Chocolate Cake. It turned out so well, just loved it. Was so well baked, super soft and moist. Thankyou so much for the lovely recipe.
I tried making the Orange and Dark Chocolate Cake. It turned out so well, just loved it. Was super soft and moist. Thankyou so much for the lovely recipe.
Hi Ma’am
What’s the shelf life of this cake without keeping in refrigerator
Why does my cake not rise enough. It’s not fluffy
Hello !
Iv made this recipe n number of times n it has turned out perfect!!!!! but this time I reduced the sugar to half and my cake turned out looking raw and super dense.. it did rise very nice while baking but half way through it just sunk and got superior dense can you please help me