Chocolate Orange Drip Cake

Name: Chocolate Orange Drip Cake
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 95 min
Ingredients: 350 g Butter or baking spread (I use Stork); 350 g Caster sugar; 6 Eggs (large); 2 tsp Orange extract; 2 tbsp Milk; 300 g Self raising flour; 50 g Cocoa powder; 1/2 tsp Baking powder; 175 g Butter or baking spread (I use Stork); 175 g Caster sugar; 3 Eggs (large); 1 tsp Orange extract; 175 g Self raising flour; Orange food colouring; 550 g Butter or baking spread; 960 g Icing sugar; 140 g Cocoa powder; 3 1/2 tsp Orange extract; 1 tbsp Milk; 140 g White chocolate; 55 g Double cream; Red food colouring; Yellow Food colouring; 16 pieces of Terry's Chocolate Orange

01/05/2020 by thebakingexplorer 37 Comments

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Chocolate orange is without a doubt one of the most popular flavours, and it's the flavour I have the most recipes for on my blog! This Chocolate Orange Drip Cake is an absolute beauty of a cake to add to my chocolate orange recipe collection. I'm so happy with how it turned out, seriously every time I look at it, it makes me smile! It's an orange sponge - both in colour and flavour - sandwiched between two chocolate orange sponges, covered in chocolate orange buttercream and decorated with a bright orange white chocolate drip, more buttercream and chocolate orange pieces. It would make such a stunning showstopper for a birthday or celebration!

How to make Chocolate Orange Drip Cake

Make both the chocolate and the orange sponges at the same time, in separate bowls mix the butter and caster sugar together until fluffy.

Then add the eggs, milk and orange extract and mix well. For the chocolate batter, whisk in self raising flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. For the orange batter, whisk in self raising flour and orange food colouring.

Divide the mixture into the tins and bake for 35 minutes. Then leave them to cool fully. Once the cakes are cool, level them off with a knife. To make the buttercream, mix together butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder, milk and orange extract until smooth.

Stack up the sponges, smoothing the buttercream between each layer. Give the cake a crumb coat, then chill it for 30 minutes, then give it a final buttercream layer.

Next make a white chocolate ganache and colour it bright orange with food colouring, then drip it around the cake. Decorate with buttercream and Terry's Chocolate Orange pieces.

How do I get the perfect chocolate drip?

It’s really important to have a good base for the chocolate drip, so the cake needs a ‘crumb coat’ then a top layer of buttercream. Try and get it as smooth as you can so the chocolate drip has a nice even surface to drip down. Each layer of buttercream needs to firm up in the fridge and be chilled when you apply the chocolate drip. Be frugal with the drip amounts at first and see how far it drips, then you can reduce or increase the amount of chocolate you release from the piping bag or squeeze bottle as you move around the cake. For all the information, including a tutorial video and step by step instructions with photos, check out my Ultimate Drip Cake How To Guide!

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Tips for making the Chocolate Orange Drip Cake:

I used orange food colouring for the hidden orange sponge layer. I use a brand called Pro Gel.
For the white chocolate ganache, I tried using orange food colouring but it kept going red (because white chocolate is actually yellowish!) so instead I used red and yellow food colouring, and it created the perfect bright orange shade!
I decorated the cake with a mixture of milk and dark Terry's Chocolate Orange pieces. You can use one or both, or any other orange chocolate you prefer!
If you only have two 8" tins, then make the batter for the chocolate sponge and bake it, then make the batter for the orange sponge and bake that. Do not make a batter and leave it on the side until you can bake it as it will affect the final sponge.
Using orange extract really is the best way to get the orange flavour into this cake. You can get hold of it easily from supermarkets or online (Nielsen Massey is my favourite brand, but I've also used Dr Oetker and supermarket own brands with great results). If you can't get it, you could use the zest of 3 oranges in the batter for the sponge. Orange juice isn't the best choice for the buttercream because the flavour of it is not strong enough, you'd only be able to use 1 tbsp as any more would make the buttercream sloppy.

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