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!
How to make Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake...
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
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
- ¼ tsp Baking powder
- ½ 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 ½ tbsp Milk
For decoration
- ½ a Terry's Chocolate Orange
- Orange sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin
- Mix together the butter and caster sugar using an electric mixer or a spoon until light and fluffy
- Add the orange extract, eggs and milk and whisk in until smooth
- Whisk in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder until fully combined
- Fold in the chopped up Terry's Chocolate Orange
- 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
- 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
- Put it into a piping bag and pipe it onto the loaf cake, or spread on with a spoon or spatula
- Decorate with the remaining Terry's Chocolate Orange pieces and some sprinkles too if you like!
- Store in an airtight container in a cool place and eat within 3 days
Video
Nutrition
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.
Anna | Once Upon A Food Blog
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.
thebakingexplorer
Thank you! I couldn't resist packing in as much choc orange as possible 😀
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder
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 🙂
thebakingexplorer
Haha thank you! That is a good reaction!
kunstkitchen
wow! that's terrific looking. Too bad I can't find Terry's Chocolate Orange here.
thebakingexplorer
Thank you so much! You can order it from Amazon 😀
jenny walters
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
thebakingexplorer
Thank you so much Jenny!
Jhuls | The Not So Creative Cook
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!
thebakingexplorer
Thank you so much Jhuls!
The Girl Next Door
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.
thebakingexplorer
I hope you enjoy it! 😀
Claire Thomas
I have pinned this to its rightful place on my chocoholics board - chocolate orange never grows old and yours is, as always, perfectly OTT!
thebakingexplorer
Sounds like the perfect place for it!
Alexandra @ It's Not Complicated Recipes
Not only does this sound delicious, but it looks incredible! And what a classicly beautiful combination of flavours 🙂
thebakingexplorer
Thank you so much!
Ai | Ai made it for you
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!!
thebakingexplorer
Oh you must try it, it's SO good!!
Jacqui Bellefontaine
Love the look of this cake so very chocolatey. Pinning to try at a later date.
thebakingexplorer
Thanks Jacqui, do let me know what you think!
jenny paulin
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
thebakingexplorer
Thanks Jenny! As you can see I love baking with it too!
Life Diet Health
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.
thebakingexplorer
Orange smarties is a great idea!!
Cat | Curly's Cooking
I love chocolate and orange as a flavour combo and I love loaf cakes! Perfect.
thebakingexplorer
Ah the perfect combination! Thank you!
Angie | Fiesta Friday
That looks absolutely perfect!
thebakingexplorer
Thank you so much Angie!
Anca
The loaf looks very good and chocolate with orange is a perfect combination.
thebakingexplorer
Thank you Anca!
chefjulianna
My mouth is watering! Orange and chocolate is the best combination! Everyone at FF thanks you!
thebakingexplorer
You are very welcome!!
Masu
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?
thebakingexplorer
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 🙂
Paul
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.
thebakingexplorer
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 🙂
Luna
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!
thebakingexplorer
I'm over the moon to hear this Luna, thank you so much for your feedback, I'm thrilled you liked my recipe 😀
Anabelle Harrington
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
thebakingexplorer
That's so wonderful to hear Anabelle, thank you for letting me know!
Claire
Could you freeze this cake?
thebakingexplorer
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.
Kayleigh
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.
thebakingexplorer
So glad you enjoyed it Kayleigh! Try cutting the chocolate into smaller pieces next time, I hope that helps!
Shobot
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.
thebakingexplorer
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!
Polly Smith
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.
thebakingexplorer
I'm so happy you enjoyed it Polly!
Selwonk3
Oh Whow.....easy to follow recipe, simple to make, and a joy to eat!!??
Only trouble....they all want more!!
Lorna
10/10!!!! Highly recommend. This recipe is soooo amazing.
thebakingexplorer
Thanks so much Lorna!
Honey
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.
thebakingexplorer
Hi Honey, why don't you try my Chocolate Orange Cake https://thebakingexplorer.com/chocolate-orange-cake/ 🙂
Laura
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?
thebakingexplorer
Hi Laura, a 2lb loaf tin is required to make this recipe. I hope you enjoy the cake!
Neil Wood
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.
thebakingexplorer
Thank you so much Neil, I'm so happy you enjoyed it and your decoration sounds yummy!
Kristin
Hi could you please list all the ingredients in us.measures
thebakingexplorer
Hi Kristin, you can find my conversion guide here: thebakingexplorer.com/ingredients-conversions/
Hannah
So tasty! I never normally bake chocolate cakes because I always think they're a bit dry but I love chocolate orange so wanted to give it a go. Flavour was great, and it was lovely and moist.
Thanks also for the tip off on clubcard price for chocolate oranges- went to go and get some but they were all gone! Not sure if we shop at the same Tesco in Manchester haha
thebakingexplorer
I'm so glad you liked the cake Hannah! Haha ooops nothing to do with me... 😀
Amirah
Looks delicious, can one replace the milk with orange juice in the sponge?
thebakingexplorer
Hi, yes you can do that! The orange extract will provide a much stronger orange flavour than juice though.
Christy
An hour was WAY too long in the oven for this cake. I resisted the temptation to check it sooner because the recipe stated, more than once, that the cake needs to bake for the full hour.
My oven is usually spot on for recipes and things sometimes even need to bake a little longer than a recipe states, but this cake came out dry as a bone, burnt on the edges, and crumbly. My son had requested this cake for his birthday, so it was a big disappointment. If I attempt it again, I’ll bake it for a MUCH shorter time!
thebakingexplorer
Hi Christy, I'm sorry the recipe didn't turn out how you expected. I'm not sure where you have read in my recipe that the cake needs to bake for the full hour. I have stated that it needs an hour in most ovens, or to bake it until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. You know your oven best after all, and the skewer test is the best way to check a cake is done. Can I just check if you used a 2lb loaf tin for this recipe? If you used a shallower or wider tin that would explain why it didn't need as long to bake. Good luck for next time!
Christy
“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.“ is the verbiage I was referring to.
Yes, I used a 2 lb loaf pan, so that wasn’t the problem. I’ve already decided to try it again and bake it for a shorter time and possibly at 325 degrees instead of 350. Fingers crossed!
thebakingexplorer
Hi Christy, thanks for getting back to me. I've had some people question the long baking time, but it does always take an hour in my oven and I've had people come back and confirm that it also took an hour in theirs too. It's so tricky with ovens as they are all so different! Turning the heat down sounds like a great solution, I think this will make a big difference for you. Let me know how it goes!
S P
Hey usually my cakes take an hr to bake as well but mine baked in 55 mins 150 degrees in a fan oven & seemed to burn a little so I covered it with foil in the last 25 mins x
S P
Came out perfect! Thanks so much for sharing this lovely recipe.
For icing I just made a smaller quantity as I prefer less icing & instead of orange essence I put in some melted chocolate orange!
Highly recommend this recipe to everyone xx
Danielle
Can i use this recipie to make mini loafs. If so how long should i bake these for. Thank you
thebakingexplorer
Hi Danielle, yes I don't see why not, if they are similar to the size of cupcakes then 20-25 minutes. Check they are done with a thin skewer inserted in the centre. Let me know how you get on!
Dina
Thanks for another great recipe. Made this for friends of mine as part of their Christmas Gift.
thebakingexplorer
You are very welcome Dina!
kat
made this today ...omg to die for! recipe is spot on please please add the choc orange to mix it’s a thing of wonder