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
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.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl and set aside.
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.
Beat in the flax eggs, then the vegan sour cream, or yogurt, and the vanilla.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Store cake in an airtight container at room temp or I personally like to store this cake in the fridge. Slice to serve.B
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