Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

When I was a kid, I loved getting those foil wrapped chocolate orange shaped candies. The ones you throw down to get the chocolate “orange slices” to break apart like magic, and then eat so many pieces you feel sick. Yeah, those! They were my favorite holiday candy before going vegan.

I adore chocolate and orange together! So once again I had set out to veganize a cake I saw in a magazine and it seemed to be a failure. The cakes baked up beautifully but the frosting just would not come together. So I needed to switch gears and find a new flavor for the frosting. That’s when I looked over at my fruit basket and knew!

I have talked to y’all about kitchen failures before, and being ready and able to adapt and roll with the punches. If the cakes bake up and the frosting won’t work, move on to something else, some other flavor combo you love! Its not a failure unless you give you give up, and I refuse to toss out a perfectly good cake just because the frosting is a pile of weird unusable goo!!

So I whipped up a quick orange frosting for the middle, and an easy chocolate frosting for the outside and that was that. But when I cut the cake and realized it was a bit delicate and crumbly, not the texture of any other cake I have baked. I managed to get it all frosted and it turned out pretty in the end, but I deiced I would not post this recipe because I was sure I would get comments about the texture. It was not “perfect” or my idea of a perfectly textured cake, or what I was used to. But when I took my first bite I quickly changed my mind. It was so delicious and the texture actually worked so well once frosted, that I didn’t want to change the recipe on bit for fear of messing it up.

If the cake seems to be giving you issues once you cut it, just squish the crumbs back on and keep moving. That could be a metaphor for life, am I right? I shared this cake with a handful of non vegans and they adored it as well. That was the seal of approval I needed to go ahead and post the recipe.

This cake makes me think of the chocolate oranges I can no longer eat, and its makes me smile with every bite. My son claimed it was the best cake I have ever made, and I have made a LOT OF CAKES. So, my kids may never have the memory of cracking open a big chocolate orange, but they will have the memory of me baking them this cake every year around the holidays and maybe thats even better!

---

INGREDIENTS:

You will need 2 round 8 or 9 inch cake pans for this recipe

• 1 1/2 cups hot coffee

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

• 1/2 bag or 4 oz vegan chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

• 3 cups all purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup vegan butter

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 cup white sugar

• 1/2 cup vegan plain yogurt or sour cream

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

• 2 flax eggs

• 1 cup whipped aquafaba

VEGAN ORANGE FROSTING:

• 1/4 cup vegan butter

• zest from one large navel orange

• 3 cups powdered sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

• 2-3 teaspoons fresh orange juice

VEGAN CHOCOLATE FROSTING:

• 1/2 cup vegan butter

• 1/2 cup shortening

• 4 cups powdered sugar

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

• pinch of salt

• a few teaspoons plant based milk

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Place chocolate chips, or finely chopped chocolate along with the cocoa powder in a large bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the chocolate and let the mixture sit for 2 minutes. This will melt the chocolate.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl and set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl if using an electric hand mixer, add the butter and both sugars. Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for a few minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.

4. Beat in the flax eggs, then the vegan sour cream, or yogurt, and the vanilla.

5. Alternate adding some of the flour mix, then the chocolate mixture to the mixing bowl, back and forth, begining and ending with the flour. Mix on medium speed until the mixture is well incorporated and smooth.

6. Add the 1 cup of whipped aquafaba to the cake batter and carefully fold it in with a rubber spatula until well incorporated but careful not to over mix.

7. Prepare the cake pans by coating them with a thin coating of butter or spraying them with some cooking oil. Lightly dust the pan with flour and shake them out. Divide the batter between both pans and place on the middle oven rack. Bake cakes for 30-40 minutes. Cakes are done when a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place cakes on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before removing from pans.

8. Prepare the orange frosting by beating the butter, vanilla, and organ zest on medium speed of you stand mixer or hand mixer. Beat in the powdered sugar and 2 or 3 teaspoon of juice from the orange until creamy and well incorporated. If it seems too thin you can add a little more powdered sugar.

9. Prepare the chocolate frosting by beating the shortening, vanilla, and butter together on medium speed. Add the cocoa powder and powdered sugar and continue mixing unit smooth and everything is incorporated. Add a few drops of plant based milk if the frosting is too thick to get the desired, spreadable, consistency.

10. Once cakes have cooled completely, turn them out onto the cooling rack and pop them in the fridge for about 30 minutes. The texture of this cake is a bit crumbly, so having it cold will help. CAREFULLY cut each chilled cake in half horizontally. I suggest leaving the cake on a flat surface and using a large knife cut through the center. Carefully lift the top layer and place it on a cake board or whatever plate you wish to serve the cake on. Take 1/3 of the orange icing and spread it on the first layer of cake Again it may seem extra crumbly just get the icing spread as evenly as you can. Repeat with remaining layers until all layers are frosted and stacked.

11. Take 1/3 of the chocolate frosting and crumb coat the cake. This simply means you are spreading a thin layer of frosting on the cake, and are not worried that some crumbles are mixing in. Once again, this cake is a bit crummy, so crumb coating it is an important step. Pop the cake into the fridge until the frosting hardens, then evenly frost the cake with the remaining frosting.

12. Store cake in an airtight container at room temp or I personally like to store this cake in the fridge. Slice to serve.B

If you like this recipe, try these:

Vegan Eggnog Cake

Vegan Coca-Cola Cake

Vegan Lime Mojito Cupcakes

TYPE META DESCRIPTION HERE

Vegan Chocolate Mint Cookie Cake

Raise your hand if you love chocolate mint everything!!

If you raised your hand then I have just the cake for you! Butter cake, chocolate frosting, mint frosting, and chocolate mint sandwich cookies between every layer of cake!

This is one of those cakes that dreams are made of! This vegan mint chocolate cookie cake may seem a little more ambitious than some of our other cake recipes, but its actually pretty easy to make. It just takes a little time, but I promise it will be totally worth it!

The actual cake recipe was adapted from the genius Gretchen Price’s cookbook, Modern Vegan Baking. This book is basically the vegan baking bible as far as we are concerned in this house. We actually came to know Gretchen online after we bought and obsessed over this book. As it turns out she is as amazing in real life as I has imagined through her book! GO BUY HER BOOK right now!!!!! And poke around her blog. You will not be disappointed in any recipe you ever make from her.

We made mad a few changes and additions to her easy vanilla cake recipe based on what we had on hand and the fact that we wanted a minty cake, not vanilla! But if you want the vanilla version, and her actual recipe since we changed a few things, I repeat, go buy her book!!! We use our copy ALLLLL THE TIME!

This cake is a bit ambitious. You can always frost the entire cake in solid green if you don’t want to dye the frosting various shades. It will taste just as good! If you have never used a star tip, squeeze the piping bag in small little burst making a little shell like shape while going around the cake.

This take practice, so maybe try on a paper towel before starting on the cake. Youtube is full of tutorials for frosting cakes. Try the video we linked or search “star tip shell boarder”, or “using a star tip.” You can always just flat frost the cake, or make little waves with a frosting spatula or butter knife to give it some texture. It will still be a pretty and delicious cake!

So if you’re looking for the perfect spring or St. Patricks Day cake, here it is!! I hope you love it as much as we do!

---

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large pack of mint sandwich cookies

• 1 1/2 cups oat milk, you can use ANY non dairy milk, but we prefer oat for baking

• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 1 cup vegan butter, melted

• 1 3/4 cups sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoons mint extract

• 3 cups all purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Chocolate butter cream frosting:

• 1/4 cup vegan butter

• 1/4 cup shortening

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 cups powdered sugar

• splash of non dairy milk

Mint Buttercream Frosting:

• 1/2 cup vegan butter

• 1/2 cup vegan shortening

• 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar

• 2 teaspoons mint extract

• splash of non dairy milk

• green food dye

---

INSTRUCTIONS:

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Sift baking soda, flour, and salt into a small bowl.

2. In a cup combine milk and vinegar. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes until the milk begins to curdled.

3. In a large bowl cream the butter, sugar, and mint extract with an electric mixer. Pour the milk into the bowl and mix. Next, add the flour mixture and mix until the batter is smooth.

4. Prepare two 8 inch cake pans by rubbing a light layer of oil around the pan. Add a few teaspoons of flour to the pans and shake it around to coat, shaking out the excess flour. Divide batter evenly between pans.

5. Bake for 40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely before removing from the pans.

6. While cakes are cooling, prepare the frosting. First combine all ingredients for the chocolate frosting together in a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. Add just enough milk to get the desired consistency. You can also put all of the ingredients into your stand mixer and mix until smooth. Set frosting aside.

7. Repeat the same process with the ingredients for the mint frosting. If you want to frost the cake in an ombre style like in the picture, divide prepared frosting into 4 bowls. Put around 1/3 cup of the mint frosting into each of three smaller bowls, with the remaining frosting in the 4th bowl. One bowl of frosting will stay white, the other three will be gradual shades of green, the darkest green being the bowl with the most frosting. How much dye you use in each bowl is dependent on what type dye you are using. For example, gel dyes yield a stronger pigment than your average grocery store liquid dye. You will just need to add a drop or two more of dye to each bowl to achieve the gradual color difference.

8. Crush up about half of the sandwich cookies and set aside.

9. Carefully remove the cakes from the pans. Normally turning the pans upside down onto a flat surface and tapping the bottom works, as long as the pan was well prepared. Divide each cooled cake in half. A sharp serrated knife normally works well for this. Begin frosting the cakes by coating one layer in 1/2 of the chocolate frosting and sprinkling with 1/3 of the crushed cookies. Stack a second cake layer on top and frost with some of the darkest green frosting. Sprinkle with crushed cookies. Top with another layer of cake and frost with the remaining chocolate frosting and cover with remaining crushed cookies. Place final layer of cake on top. Take about a 1/4 cup scoop of the darkest green frosting and crumb coat the entire cake. This is just a SUPER paper thin layer of frosting that forms a barrier and helps keep the crumbs from getting into your finished frosting. I like to put the cake in the fridge for a bit to let the crumb coat harden before I decorate the cake. It just makes decorating the cake easier.

10. Fill a piping bag, or a zip lock bag with a corner cut out, with a small star frosting tip. Add the white frosting first, and go around the cake in 2 rows, starting at the bottom. Repeat this process with the remaining colors lightest to darkest, circling around to the top of the cake, ending with the darkest green until the entire cake is covered.

11. Cut remaining chocolate cookies in half and decorate the top of the cake. Store cake covered at room temperature.

---

If you liked this recipe, try these!

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Cake

Vegan Eggnog Cake

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Cake

Chocolate and peanut butter are a classic dessert combo!

I would have sworn when I was a kid that I could have live off of chocolate peanut butter cups.

Now as an adult, I would swear I could live off of this cake.

Creamy peanut butter frosting on top of the perfect vegan chocolate cake. It’s everything you think it would be and probably more. We added a pinch of almond extract to the frosting for an extra nutty kick, and topped the cake with salty roasted peanuts, and shaved vegan chocolate.

Vegan baking is no harder than regular baking, it is all about learning how to replace eggs and dairy. I like to use oat milk when baking because it gives vegan bakes a better brown! I like to also use aquafaba to replace eggs, and sometimes powdered egg replacer or flax eggs. It is all about leaving how to swap a few things out and you will get a cake that is just as good as the non vegan version if not better!!!

We use WHIPPED aquafaba in this cake to replace the eggs. We are measuring the product AFTER it has been whipped so keep this in mind. You do not need 1 1/2 cups of chickpea liquid! You will have leftovers of the whip and it will keep in the fridge and whip back up later for later use! Save the chickpeas and add them to a salad, roast them as a snack, or mash them into hummus!!!

. This cake is a sweet, salty, chocolatey, peanut buttery, vegan dream that no one will ever even guess is vegan!!!!

---

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 2 cups sugar

• 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 cups aquafaba (chickpea liquid that has been whipped with cream of tarter resembling whipped egg whites)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 3 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 cup neutral oil (I use Grape seed oil)

• 1 cup brewed coffee

• 1 cup plant based milk (I like oat milk for baking) plus 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Frosting:

• 1/2 cup vegan butter

• 1/2 cup vegan shortening

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

• 3 cup powdered sugar

• pinch of salt

• splash of plant based milk

• Optional decorations: shaved chocolate, peanuts, chocolate bar pieces

---

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, or another large bowl if using a hand mixer, add the milk, oil, brewed coffee, and vanilla. Slowly pour in the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Once the batter is all mixed up, slowly fold in the whipped aquafaba using a rubber spatula, just until incorporated. Do not over mix, this deflates the aquafaba, resulting in a less fluffy cake.

3. Grease and lightly flour two eight inch cake pans and divide the batter evenly between them.

4. Place the pans on the top rack of your oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a tooth pick comes out clean when poked in the center of the cakes.

5. Once cakes are finished baking, place them on a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

6. To prepare the frosting, beat the butter, shortening, and peanut butter together in a stand mixer, or in a large bowl, using your electric hand mixer. Once the mixture is completely creamy, beat in the vanilla and almond extract. Slowly begin to beat in the powdered sugar, and mix until there are no more lumps. Add a tablespoon at a time of plant milk until the frosting is creamy and smooth, and a spreadable consistency. If you accidentally get it too thin, add a little more powdered sugar to thicken it back up.

7. To even out each cake, take a large sharp knife, and carefully shave off a thin, even layer from the top of each cake. This will insure the cakes stack evenly. Add a few spoonfuls of icing to the top of one cake, and spread it evenly. Take the other cake and turn it upside down on top of the iced cake ( this way the top of your cake is perfectly smooth and flat.) Evenly cover the cake with the remaining frosting, using an icing spatula or butter knife if you do not have an icing spatula.

8. If you want to decorate the cake, you can shave a vegan chocolate bar on a box grater, and press the shavings into the sides and top of the cake. Sprinkle roasted peanuts around the edge of the cake, and stack some chocolate bar squares in the middle.

9. Store at room temperature in a covered container.