Chocolate Orange Cake….what is there not to love?
According to one study, melting chocolate in your mouth is results in more of an increase in heart rate and brain activity than passionate kissing. Other research suggests that it can have a number of positive health effects including lowering blood pressure, can boost your memory and even increase your sex drive. So, for this fortnight’s Cookbook challenge, with the theme of Love, I decided to make Nigella Lawson’s Gluten Free Chocolate Orange cake.
This chocolate orange cake recipe is deliciously moist, thanks to the almond meal (making it gluten free), 2 whole oranges (yes, whole) and 6 eggs. Nigella’s flourless choc orange cake is also supremely easy to make as it’s all done in the food processor. Yay for simple cakes!
I then decorated the cake with a chocolate orange glaze and surrounded the cake with Orange D’Anvers segments.
One bite of this Chocolate Orange Cake and you will fall in love. 
Chocolate Orange Cake recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large orange or 2 small weighing approximately 375g
- 6 eggs
- 1 teaspoon heaped of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
- 200 g of ground almonds
- 250 g of caster sugar
- 50 g of good quality cocoa
- CHOCOLATE ORANGE GLAZE
- 6 ounces of dark chocolate
- 1 cup of cream
- 1 teaspoon of Cointreau
Instructions
- Put the oranges in a saucepan with cold water and bring to the boil before reducing the heat and simmering for 2 hours, or until soft. Drain the water and set aside to cool. When cool, cut the oranges in half and remove any large pips.
- Grease a 20cm springform pan and preheat the oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit).
- Pulp the orange in a food processor before adding the eggs, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, almonds, sugar and cocoa and processing until you have a smooth batter, but still flecked with orange.
- Pour the batter into the springform pan and bake for 1 hour. Check the cake after 45 minutes as you may need to cover it with foil to prevent burning before the cake is cooked through.
- Let the cake cool in the tin before removing.
- For the glaze, chop the chocolate into small pieces and place into a bowl. Pour the cream into a saucepan and heat until almost boiling and then pour over the chocolate pieces. Let it stand for 5 minutes before stirring until smooth. Let it stand for 10 minutes before decorating the cake.
How long will this cake keep or can I freeze it
Thanks Bernie
This cake will keep for between 5 to 7 days depending on the climate you live in. Here in Brisbane, it is quite humid, so I find it lasts around 5 days. As for freezing, I haven’t tried that with this particular cake, but it shouldn’t be an issue.
Would you know if this cake could be made the day before an event? If so, would it be stored in the refrigerator or on the counter? Thank you in advance.
This cake can definitely be made the day before and stored on the counter. I hope you enjoy it. It is one of my favourite cakes 🙂
Hello I was just wondering do you have to peal the oranges before adding to the food processor or add in with the peal?
The oranges are added with the peel, however, you’ll need to remove the seeds from the oranges. I cut them, scoop out the seeds and then pop them in the food processor. I hope you enjoy the cake. It is one of my favourites 🙂
Hi
Im a novice baker,
Im wondering, for the chocolate, what sort of chocotae do you use?
Thanks
Hi Tina,
In this recipe I use good quality chocolate such as Lindt, or Nestle 70% cocoa baking chocolate. I hope that helps 😀
Thank you so much ^^ ill give it a try and let you know the result
Btw, if i omit the cointreau,will it make so much difference?
No, the cointreau only adds flavour. 😀
luv
i feel like this is an extra dumb question but at what point do i add the cointreau to the glaze? im making this for my mums bday and want to make sure its perfect. your cake looks absolutely amazing!
Hi Emily, add the Cointreau after you’ve mixed the cream into the chocolate and after the chocolate has melted. Good luck with the cake and happy birthday to your Mum 😀
Oh man, this cake looks fabulous! I love the chocolate and orange combo! 🙂
Thanks you Christina 😀
I made this as a bday cake for my mum who loves the Choc orange combination! I used lindt dark orange chocolate n lindt balls for the ganache! It was so delicious, moist and tasty without being too overwhelming with oranges! The best part I could eat it as I used almond meal (instead of ground almonds)! I decorated the sides with fresh oranges cut into small slices like your chocolate! It looked and tasted wonderful a hit alround! A recipe that I didn’t have to make gf, perfect!
omg!!!!!! this cake is 2 die 4!!! my partner & kids luuuuuuvvvvved it! i was boasting about it 2 my sister & now we have organised a bake-off with mum being the judge. i think we’ve got it hands down nigella! thanks sooo much!!
Hi Jodie,
Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out. I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed it as much as we did. It’s certainly one of my favourite cakes. 😀
I made this today for my mother-in-law's birthday cake. I didn't have quite enough almond meal so I made up the last 50g with plain flour and put toasted almonds on top of the ganache. It was still just slightly warm in middle when I served it (but not enough to make the ganache run). I was after something with orange flavour that fitted with having the cake as dessert. It was delicious – rave reviews – and I'd definitely make this again.
Hi Beck 😀 That was lovely of you to make this cake for your mother-in-laws birthday. I'm so glad it turned out so well for you. I have to admit it's one of my favourite cake recipes. It really is so delicious without being overly sickly sweet. Thank you for taking the time to let me know how it went. 🙂
I simply adore the fact that you garnished it with chocolate orange segments – you made a sexy cake even sexier!
Oh I love it! It looks like such a great special occasion dessert and the orange segments look awesome surrounding that decadence. Well done!
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Thanks Irvin 😀
I love the way you have decorated Nigella’s cake, very chic! Chocolate is the best cure-all I reckon 🙂
I have made this recipe on nigella and totallllly love it. But must admit you make it look way betteer than mine :-)ut must admite you make it look way better than mine 🙂
I love it too Kulsum 😀 I will definitely be making this one again and again. It's a new favourite. I love Nigella's recipes.
Exactly Sylvie! I feel obligated to indulge daily, especially as Dr Oz suggests everyone have a little dark chocolate every day. I guess his definition of a little and mine might differ though 😉
Thanks foodieandchef 😀
Thank you 😀
I believe it, chocolate does have a strange powerful effect on me! And hey if it's for my health then I'm obligated to indulge right?
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This looks absolutely heavenly, I'm a huge choc-orange fan… I love cakes that use whole oranges. Beautiful photos.
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Oh my, this looks divine. You've decorated it beautifully too!
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Yes, they are exactly like Terry's orange segments. They're delicious 😀
are these like Terry's orange segments? I love those!!!
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Your cake looks gorgeous! Plus it sounds delicious and so easy to make (not to mention not too unhealthy for a cake). And I will take any excuse to eat more chocolate so I appreciate the research findings 🙂
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Thanks for your comments. 🙂 Let me know what you thought of the cake when you get a chance to make it 😀
OMG! That looks seriously good. And no wheat flour – bonus! (I can't eat wheat). I am going to try this when I get back home. Classic flavour combination and I love the use of the choc orange segments. Inspiring
Chocolate and orange is such a perfect combination. That's one fine looking cake.
Thank you so much Wendi 😀
I would not dare to eat this cake as it looks so beautiful. Would spend hours and hours to drool on it. The chocolates on sides are just teasing me! 🙂 Nigella's creations are always rich and beautiful, aren't they?
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Nigella's creations are wonderful. You can tell she is clearly passionate about food.
Hi Kay, it's not a silly question at all. 😀 But yes, you do leave the peel on. The oranges are boiled whole.
This may be a silly question, but do you peel the oranges before boiling them or leave the peel on? The cake looks lovely and I'm looking forward to trying it!
yum, this sounds delicious. Cakes with oranges cooked this way are always fantastic!
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Thanks for your comments Taz and thanks for visiting 😀
Jennifer that looks gorgeous! I love how you used chocolates to decorate the sides too! 🙂
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Orange and chocolate is such a great combination. I love this cake. Bookmarking it to try. Thanks very much for sharing.
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Beautifully decorated chocolate orange cake. Love the glossy look.
Thanks Ellie. I love the glossiness too.
This is such a beautiful cake. Orange and chocolate goes so well together, and I love the Orange D’Anvers segments on this cake. it gives the cake such a nice finishing touch:) I was actually trying to read off the words on those little segments. Even though I probably can't eat this, I'd still enjoy admiring this cake!
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Thanks Fitter Than Choc 😀
The words on the segments say 'Truffle D'Anvers'. I love Anvers chocolates. Every time I go home to Tasmania I have to go there, not only for their yummy chocolates, but also for their delicious lunches too.
I will keep this in mind, and get some of these if I ever go to Tasmania:)
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Oh this looks so decadent – I love orange and chocolate – have made a similar cake without chocolate but doesn't it all taste better with chocolate (and a little tip I discovered when I made the orange almond cake was that you can microwave the oranges in far less time than it takes to boil them)
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Thanks for the microwave tip Johanna! I'll try that next time 😀
So smart! I have a couple of those chocolate oranges that were given to me as gifts over Christmas – what a genius idea to use them to decorate a cake. (Especially since I'm not the most skilled froster in the world.) I'll have to try this out!
Your photography is beautiful and the cake looks gorgeous. I love the orange/chocolate combination.
Thank you so much Leigh. 😀 I love chocolate and orange together too….it's a perfect match.
EXCUSE ME!!! How freakin awesome does this cake look!?!? you can send me a slice stat 😛
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Thanks Shellie. 😀 I would send you some, but I think it would get a bit mushed up in the mail. You will just have to make your own. Trust me, it's delicious!
OMG this looks soooo amazing. The decoration with the chocolate slices was genius!
Thanks Cookie 😀 I couldn't think of how to decorate the cake and then remembered I had some chocolate orange segments in the pantry. It was a perfect way to use them as I'd almost forgotten about them.
Oh my!! This looks so chocolaty and so deliciously orange-y!! I love the combo of choc and orange and this beautiful rich cakes looks super amazing!!
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Thanks Trudy. 😀 The cake was a wonderful combination of chocolate and orange, and not that fake orange flavour. A wonderfully fresh orange. I will definitely make it again, not only because it's amazingly delicious (it would be superb at a dinner party), but because it's super easy too.
Oh gosh, that looks SO good! If I could I would marry Nigella 🙂 Love all her recipes and this ones exceptional!
While I wouldn't go so far as to say I'd marry Nigella 😉 , I do agree her recipes are always fantastic. I definitely wouldn't say no if I was invited to a dinner party she was throwing!