Chocolate and orange are one of my top favourite flavour combinations so I love finding new ways to bake with them. This Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake is an easy to prepare chocolate sponge flavoured with orange extract, it’s baked on a low temperature for around an hour to make sure it doesn’t dry out. I also stirred some chopped up Terry’s Chocolate Orange into the sponge for extra yummyness. I’ve decorated the top with chocolate orange buttercream and slices of Terry’s Chocolate Orange of course!
Step by step…
To make the sponge I mixed the butter and sugar together, then whisked in orange extract, eggs and milk.
Then I added self raising flour and cocoa powder, and whisked in. I also folded in half a Terry’s Chocolate Orange that I chopped up.
I poured the mixture into my lined loaf tin and baked it for 1 hour.
I made a chocolate orange buttercream and decorated the top of the loaf cake with it.
To make the Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake extra yummy and tempting I decorated it with Terry’s Chocolate Orange pieces and some orange sprinkles! The sponge was perfectly light and moist once sliced, and it was full of that chocolate orange flavour I love so much. If you’re a fellow chocolate orange fan you will love this Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake!
Tips for making the Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake:
- The cake does need an hour in most ovens, this sounds like a lot, but it’s a very dense cake so baking it on a low temperature for a long time produces the best result.
- If you can’t get hold of orange extract, you can use the zest of two oranges in the sponge. You can’t replace it with anything in the buttercream unfortunately.
- Chop the Terry’s Chocolate Orange that goes into the sponge quite small, about the size of a chocolate chip, to avoid sinking.
- You can freeze the undecorated sponge. Wrap it up well and freeze for up to 3 months.
Recommended equipment & ingredients*
| Terry’s Chocolate Orange | Round piping nozzle | Loaf cake tin |
| Piping bags | Orange extract | Cake tester |
| Loaf cake tin liners | Loaf cake storage box |
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More chocolate orange recipes…
Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake
Yummy chocolate orange sponge with chocolate orange buttercream and chocolate orange pieces
Ingredients
For the sponge
- 200 g Butter or baking spread
- 200 g Caster sugar
- 2 tsp Orange extract
- 4 Eggs large
- 1 tbsp Milk
- 175 g Self raising flour
- 25 g Cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 a Terry's Chocolate Orange chopped up - optional
For the buttercream
- 150 g Butter or baking spread
- 275 g Icing sugar
- 25 g Cocoa powder
- 1 tsp Orange extract
- 1 1/2 tbsp Milk
For decoration
- 1/2 a Terry's Chocolate Orange
- Orange sprinkles optional
Instructions
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Pre-heat the oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin
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Mix together the butter and caster sugar using an electric mixer or a spoon until light and fluffy
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Add the orange extract, eggs and milk and whisk in until smooth
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Whisk in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder until fully combined
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Fold in the chopped up Terry's Chocolate Orange
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Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for an hour, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool fully
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To make the buttercream, use an electric mixer or a spoon to mix together the butter, cocoa powder and icing sugar until they start to combine, then add the orange extract and milk and mix until smooth
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Put it into a piping bag and pipe it onto the loaf cake, or spread on with a spoon or spatula
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Decorate with the remaining Terry's Chocolate Orange pieces and some sprinkles too if you like!
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Store in an airtight container in a cool place and eat within 3 days
Recipe Video
NB. This post is in no way sponsored by Terry’s – I just love their product!
If you like this, check out more of my Cake recipes!
Pin for later!
I’m linking this recipe up with Cook Blog Share hosted by Tin & Thyme, Bake Of The Week hosted by Casa Costello and Mummy Mishaps, Baking Crumbs hosted by Apply To Face Blog, and Fiesta Fridays hosted by Foodie on Board.
I agree, chocolate orange is a gorgeous flavour combination. My eldest daughter would devour this. I love the idea of stirring pieces of broken up chocolate orange into the cake batter too.
Thank you! I couldn’t resist packing in as much choc orange as possible 😀
Soo good I could literally lick the screen right now! lol It’s by far one of my very favourite flavour combinations! I love your piping too! Delicious and looking great! Thanks for sharing with #BakingCrumbs 🙂
Haha thank you! That is a good reaction!
wow! that’s terrific looking. Too bad I can’t find Terry’s Chocolate Orange here.
Thank you so much! You can order it from Amazon 😀
This looks absolutely epic! What a fabulous recipe and such a crowd pleaser. I love a Loaf Cake. Great family bakes and perfect for school fairs too. Although I wouldn’t want to let this one go! Thank you so much for sharing it with #CookBlogShare
Thank you so much Jenny!
OMG!! Kat, this is to die for!! I love the combination and orange! This loaf cake looks beyond amazing! Thank you for sharing & happy Fiesta Friday!
Thank you so much Jhuls!
Chocolate and orange is one of my most favourite combinations ever! I love this cake, which incorporates both my favourite things. 🙂
I will definitely try this out soon. Bookmarked the recipe.
I hope you enjoy it! 😀
I have pinned this to its rightful place on my chocoholics board – chocolate orange never grows old and yours is, as always, perfectly OTT!
Sounds like the perfect place for it!
Not only does this sound delicious, but it looks incredible! And what a classicly beautiful combination of flavours 🙂
Thank you so much!
This looks delicious Kat!! I keep seeing Brits sharing their love for Terry’s chocolate orange but I’ve never tried one! I do love the combination of chocolate and orange tho. This looks SO delicious!!
Oh you must try it, it’s SO good!!
Love the look of this cake so very chocolatey. Pinning to try at a later date.
Thanks Jacqui, do let me know what you think!
oh my that is gorgeous!!! you caught my attention with just the chocolate orange part to be honest! I love the stuff and I love using it in bakes too. This looks very yummy Kat
Thank you for sharing with #Bakeoftheweek x
Thanks Jenny! As you can see I love baking with it too!
Oh my Kat! Now this might even make hubby eat chocolate cake! 😛 What a delicious idea (now I want orange chocolate!) Oh, and you can get whole giant tubes of orange smarties so these might be added to mine too! Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday.
Orange smarties is a great idea!!
I love chocolate and orange as a flavour combo and I love loaf cakes! Perfect.
Ah the perfect combination! Thank you!
That looks absolutely perfect!
Thank you so much Angie!
The loaf looks very good and chocolate with orange is a perfect combination.
Thank you Anca!
My mouth is watering! Orange and chocolate is the best combination! Everyone at FF thanks you!
You are very welcome!!
Yumm looks a killer. What if i dnt have self raising flour how do i use normal flour and add what to make self raising?
You can use plain flour and add baking powder – I would estimate 1.5 tsp but I haven’t made it this way before. You can buy self raising flour from most supermarkets though 🙂
The cake was delicious, went down really well
Thank you for doing this recipe in Metric, virtually every recipe is in Cups and it’s a measuring system which really does my head in.
That’s wonderful to hear Paul, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’m not a fan of the cups system either, using weighing scales is so much more accurate 🙂
Oh my goodness this is incredible! I made it for a friend’s birthday and we absolutely devoured it. Wasn’t sure if an hour would be too much in the oven but it turned out it was absolutely perfect! I added a little more orange extract to the icing to make it more orangey but I bet it would still be delicious without the extra.
Thank you so much for sharing!
I’m over the moon to hear this Luna, thank you so much for your feedback, I’m thrilled you liked my recipe 😀
I made the Terry’s Chocolate orange loaf cake for our charity bake sale today and it went down a storm! The recipe was super easy, and I had enough mixture left over to make two cupcakes. I also made it at a time when the supermarket were selling the chocolate oranges for 75p! There was plenty of buttercream so next time I would probably do slightly less. It’s inspired me to try some alternatives too! Thanks for a great recipe
That’s so wonderful to hear Anabelle, thank you for letting me know!
Could you freeze this cake?
Hi Claire, you could freeze it without the buttercream and decoration. I wrap cake in baking paper, then plenty of cling film to ensure it’s wrapped well.
Amazing! On my second slice already. The buttercream is beautiful, really light and fluffy. I had a slight issue with the chocolate sinking, but I will fix that next time (because I’m definitely making it again!!). Thank you for the recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it Kayleigh! Try cutting the chocolate into smaller pieces next time, I hope that helps!
After reading the comments I feel like an idiot as I wanted to ask what temperature you’re baking the cake at as I can’t see one mentioned. An hour just seems a long time so I feel unsure about taking this on. I’m in the uk so plenty access to a chocolate orange.
Hi, it needs an hour because its a very deep mixture, I bake it at 160C Fan (which is gas mark 3). All ovens are different so if your oven runs hotter then you may need to turn it down, but it definitely needs around an hour. Let me know how it goes!
This bake is a delicious moist chocolate cake with a hint of orange made even tastier with the addition of chopped up Terry’s chocolate orange. The cake took exactly an hour in my oven and was perfectly baked.
I’m so happy you enjoyed it Polly!
Oh Whow…..easy to follow recipe, simple to make, and a joy to eat!!??
Only trouble….they all want more!!
10/10!!!! Highly recommend. This recipe is soooo amazing.
Thanks so much Lorna!
This looks amazing and can’t wait to try! Silly question coming your way but baking a birthday cake for my husband and wanted to use an 8’’ tin. Can I simply use the above quantities or should I adjust them? Thanks.
Hi Honey, why don’t you try my Chocolate Orange Cake https://thebakingexplorer.com/chocolate-orange-cake/ 🙂
I can’t wait to make this! Just a quick question, I only have a 0.5lb loaf tin can I still use these exact measurements?
Hi Laura, a 2lb loaf tin is required to make this recipe. I hope you enjoy the cake!
Great recipe, works really well with orange extract and the cake is really moist, benefitting from the slow bake. I personally halved the buttercream recipe and put this in the middle of the cake and melted chocolate orange over the top – this turned out perfectly.
Thank you so much Neil, I’m so happy you enjoyed it and your decoration sounds yummy!
Hi could you please list all the ingredients in us.measures
Hi Kristin, you can find my conversion guide here: thebakingexplorer.com/ingredients-conversions/