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5 from 2 votes

Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

My delicious Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake will satisfy your cravings for this classic flavour combination. Forget Terry's Chocolate Orange and bake yourself this quick and easy vegan loaf cake topped with light chocolate buttercream.
Course Cake, Dessert
Cuisine British
Keyword vegan chocolate orange cake
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 10 servings
Calories 385kcal
Author Jo Allison

Ingredients

Cake

  • 250 g self-raising flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 180 g caster sugar or use granulated sugar
  • 40 g cocoa or cacao powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 100 ml neutral oil/ light olive oil
  • 200 ml soya milk see notes
  • 100 ml orange juice freshly squeezed or from the carton
  • zest of 1 orange see notes
  • 1-2 teaspoon orange extract (optional) see notes

Chocolate Buttercream

  • 80 g vegan block butter I use Stork block, Flora Plant or Naturli
  • 150 g icing (powdered) sugar
  • 20 g cocoa or cacao powder
  • zest of 1 orange or 1 teaspoon orange extract
  • drop of plant milk to adjust consistency if necessary (see notes)
  • extra orange zest for decoration

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 160C(Fan)/325F/Gas Mark 3.
  • Lightly grease and line your loaf tin with baking paper overlapping on both sides for easy cake removal later.
  • Finely grate zest of one orange. You could also use 1-2 teaspoon of orange extract instead of zest or 1 teaspoon as an extra with the zest.
  • Add soya milk to a medium jug, squeeze 100ml of orange juice (or use one from the carton) and add it too. Acid from the juice will make soya milk curdle slightly which is what we want. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, cocoa/cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt (if using). Set aside.
  • To the jug with soya milk and juice add vanilla extract, orange zest and/or orange extract (if using), oil and give it all a good whisk.
  • Next, add wet ingredients to dry ones and mix together until incorporated and you can no longer see any dry flour. It will be a pretty lumpy mixture which is fine.
  • Pour cake batter into prepared loaf tin and bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.
  • Once baked, take the cake out of the oven and let it cool in the tin for a few minutes before you turn it out onto the rack to cool completely.
  • As your cake cools prepare chocolate orange buttercream by beating together vegan butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder until nice and fluffy.
  • Feel free to add a drop of plant milk to adjust consistency but hold off on it if using orange extract instead of zest.
  • Add orange zest or orange extract (to taste) and beat it in as well.
  • Once you've added the extract and mixture still appears stiff, add a drop of plant milk to loosen it a bit.
  • Once cooled, spread your cake with chocolate orange buttercream and some extra orange zest on top (optional).
  • Enjoy!

Notes

  • Nutritional information is approximate,  per serving based on 10 servings and should be treated as a rough guideline only. 
  • If you don't have self-raising flour you can make your own by mixing together plain flour and 2.5 teaspoon of baking powder. 
  • Soya milk works best in vegan bakes but you could also use oat or almond milk. 
  • I like using zest of 1 orange in my cake but you could substitute it with 1-2 teaspoon of orange extract. You can also add 1 teaspoon of extract together with zest for even stronger orange flavour. 
  • When making buttercream and using orange extract instead of zest make sure to add it first before adjusting consistency with plant milk or you will end up with runny mess. 
  • Finished cake can be stored in the airtight container for up to 3 days or frozen (without buttercream). 
TIPS:
Use kitchen scales and oven thermometer for best results. Both will ensure the accuracy, you would be surprised how inaccurate built in oven thermostats are.
Take care not to overmix the batter. It will be lumpy but as long as there are no visible signs of dry flour mix it's fine.
Use orange juice from the carton to make up the difference if your oranges don't have enough juice. You can even use the carton version altogether.
Don't let your cake sit in a tin for long before putting it in the oven. Once your batter is ready, pour it into the tin and in the oven it goes.
For even more intense orange flavour add a teaspoon of orange extract to cake batter together with the zest or you could try a dash of orange liqueur.

Nutrition

Calories: 385kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 175mg | Potassium: 208mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 100IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 1mg