Chocolate and orange are like a dream to me. Although my dream last night had nothing to do with chocolate and orange, and everything to do with watching some bizarre alley cat trying to eat giant hissing grasshoppers, or something. I woke up wanting a thick slice of this cake for breakfast. You know, to make everything right in the world again. It’s that simple.
Another reason I think this cake is dreamy is that it’s one moist cake batter, divided into two, flavored, then dumped in a bundt pan. It’s great for those last minute, in a pinch desserts.
The cake is loaded with sour cream, and is incredibly moist. The orange zest adds brightness and chocolate and chocolate chips add richness. It’s absolutely delicious, and perfect if you wake up from bad dreams.
Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake
adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter at room temprature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, left at room temperature for 30 minutes
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
zest of 1 large orange
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Put rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan and set aside.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add half of flour mixture, and mix until just blended. Add sour cream, mixing until just combined, then add remaining flour mixture and mix until smooth.
Divide the batter evenly into two bowls. In one bowl add the orange zest and orange extract and stir to combine. In the other bowl add sifted cocoa powder and chocolate chips and stir to combine.
First pour the orange batter into the buttered Bundt pan, spreading it evenly around the bottom of the pan. Next, simply add the chocolate batter on top of the orange to cover. No swirling is necessary, although you can swirl the batters together if you like.
Bake until cake is springy to the touch and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Remove from oven and cool cake in the pan for 30 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
J
This was a total fail for me. Followed the recipe exactly, even had my husband double check everything before and afterward. The batter was thick like biscuit batter; it was totally striated, not orange cake enclosing the chocolate; took way longer than time stated to bake, and was in general a disaster. I even used all organic ingredients (expensive!) Any idea what happened? Your recipes always work wonderfully, but this did not.
joythebaker
So sorry that wasn’t a success for you. I will go back and look at the recipe and see if there is anything I can change.
Zoe Szewczyk
I followed this recipe to the letter, and was so apprehensive because there was SOOOO much cake batter! So much liquid, so many ingredients! But all i can say is, this cake was perfection.
I felt like I’d truly achieved something when it was iced, the compliments and thanks I received for baking such a beautiful cake were delightful. When we cut into the cake, the marble was perfect, the taste wasn’t like a traditional fake “jaffa” but a decadent mixture of an orange cake and a chocolate cake all in one and the texture was dense and buttery, but with a heavenly fluffy lightness to it.
I made this for my partners birthday and whenever I discuss baking he always suggests it, but its definitely a special occasions treat. This cake is well worth the effort, the instructions are flawless (i even used JTB’s instructions on how to make cake flour) and I have since tried a number of your recipes.
Thank you for sharing the joy of this recipe with us :)
I have photos on my instagram @zoewonderedwhy if you’re curious as to how it worked out.
x