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Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cake!
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This showstopping Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cake consists of three deep, cocoa-rich sponge layers infused with fresh orange zest and layered with a stable, velvety chocolate orange buttercream. Requiring just 15 minutes of active preparation and 30 minutes of baking time, this decadent 15-slice masterpiece perfectly balances bright citrus notes with an ultra-indulgent chocolate finish.
Notes from The Patisserie
Yes, that’s right… this is a DELICIOUS three-layer moist and scrumptious chocolate and orange cake, with Terry’s chocolate orange buttercream frosting sandwiched between. Basically, my idea of heaven in a cake. Every bite is the most delicious thing I can imagine.
I love chocolate orange and all things chocolate but standard milk chocolate is notoriously unstable when melted into creamed butter due to its high concentration of milk solids and lower melting point. This delicate fat emulsion can easily collapse under minimal heat, causing the buttercream to curdle, or split into an unappealing grainy texture. Utilising dark chocolate provides a higher ratio of stable cocoa butter and solids. These elements link seamlessly with the dairy fats in the butter, yielding a glossy, perfectly set emulsion that mimics a rich milk chocolate taste once balanced by the icing sugar.
The rich cocoa sponge
The sponges for this beauty are a chocolate Victoria sponge style, with a little more cocoa powder in comparison to other chocolate cakes on my blog because I wanted it to be a really deep flavour. This deep flavour contrasts SO well with the orange zest and makes it such a wonderful flavour.
- Butter – I use unsalted butter at room temperature so it’s easier to cream with the sugar
- Sugar – light brown sugar provides that rich caramel flavour that compliments the cocoa powder
- Flour – self raising flour creates that beautiful rise to your sponge
- Cocoa powder – a high-quality cocoa powder is key for that deep chocolatey taste
- Eggs – as usual I am using medium eggs
- Orange zest – we want that strong orange flavour throughout the bake, you can use extract instead
Buttercream
The Terry’s chocolate orange buttercream is a bit of an odd one because its utterly delightful, but can be damn difficult to make sometimes. If you use a milk Terry’s chocolate orange, it can work, but it’s much more likely to split in comparison to the dark Terry’s. The thing about using the dark Terry’s is by the time you’ve put it in the buttercream, it tastes like you’ve used the milk Terry’s anyway.
I would completely and wholeheartedly recommend using the DARK Terry’s chocolate orange, or use plain dark chocolate orange and a good quality orange extract. For all those people who are going to whine and moan that they don’t like dark chocolate… trust me, it tastes AMAZING once in the buttercream frosting.
FAQs
Why did my buttercream turn grainy after adding the chocolate?
Your melted chocolate was likely too hot when added to the butter, or the buttercream was over-beaten, breaking the fat emulsion.
Can I make this if I only have two 8-inch cake tins?
Yes, you can adapt the recipe using the smaller ingredient ratios detailed in the notes section below to suit a two-layer variation perfectly.
How can I make the cake layers even more moist?
You can mix the juice of 2 fresh oranges with 75g of caster sugar and drizzle this warm syrup directly over the sponges while they cool.
What should I do if my frosting feels too stiff to pipe?
Simply beat in one to two tablespoons of boiling water at the very end of mixing to relax the fats and make it smooth.
Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cake!
A three-layer chocolate orange cake with Terry's chocolate orange buttercream frosting!
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Servings: 15 Slices
Ingredients
For the Cake!
- 400 g unsalted butter
- 400 g light brown sugar
- 325 g self raising flour
- 75 g cocoa powder
- 8 medium eggs
- Zest of 2 oranges
For the Frosting!
- 350 g unsalted butter (not baking spread)
- 700 g icing sugar
- 250 g Terry's Chocolate Orange ideally dark
For the Decoration!
- Terry's Chocolate Orange
- sprinkles
Instructions
For the Cake!
- Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºc Fan, and line three 8"/20cm cake tins with parchment paper. Leave to the side for now!
- Beat your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy!
- Add in the flour, cocoa powder, eggs, and orange zest and beat until smooth!
- Split evenly between the three tins, and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
- Check its cooked by using a skewer, it should be clean! Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, and then on a wire rack to cool fully.
For the Frosting!
- Make sure your unsalted butter is at room temperature.
- Beat the butter until its smooth and supple, and gradually add in your icing sugar.
- Whilst doing this, melt your DARK Terry's chocolate orange carefully until smooth!
- Beat the butter and icing sugar for a few minutes until its really lovely and smooth.
- Add in your melted dark Terry's chocolate orange and beat again. If the mix is a bit hard, or way too thick, add in 1-2tbsp of boiling water. Don't do this straight away, make sure you beat the buttercream first as it might not need it.
- Once all together, don’t beat for too long or it might split.
For the Decoration!
- Get your first layer of cake, and pipe little dollops of buttercream onto it. I do this with a large round nozzle, piping directly downwards!
- Do this all over, and then add the second layer, and repeat. Add the third layer of cake, and pipe the rest of the buttercream on top! I do it all over, then add another ring to sandwich the slices between.
- I put 21 segments on top and alternated two milk chocolate slices and one dark chocolate slice all the way around to use up the rest of the second dark Terry's chocolate orange, but you can do what you want.
- Sprinkle over your fave sprinkles, and enjoy!
Notes
- If you can’t find dark chocolate orange, use 250g of dark chocolate and 2tsp orange extract instead!
- You can make a smaller version of this cake using
- 300g butter, 300g sugar, 250g self flour, 50g cocoa powder, 6 medium eggs and baking for 30-35 minutes in to 8″tins.
- This cake will last for 3 days at room temperature!
Storage and freezing
This chocolate orange cake stores beautifully and will stay completely fresh and moist for up to 3 days when kept in an airtight container at room temperature. If you prefer a warm dessert, you can pop a single slice into the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds just before serving to slightly melt the buttercream. The un-iced sponges can also be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 3 months. Simply defrost them at room temperature before frosting.
Related recipes
I do have FIFTEEN or so Terry’s chocolate orange recipes on here already, which might seem a smidge over the top. However, my Terry’s chocolate orange cheesecake, my Terry’s chocolate orange cookies, and my Terry’s chocolate orange tart are genuinely all some of my favourites. All in the top ten recipes on my blog!
Hi,
Loved this recipe 😋
I would like to try this using white chocolate orange, what would u recommend?
So the best frosting definitely comes from using the dark terry’s as mentioned – but it should still work okay! You may need less though so about 175-200g x
Hi Jane,
I wanted to make this cake using 6” tins so it’s not as big but still keeping 3 layers. What would you reduce the recipe and cooking time down by?
Thanks!
A 6″ cake is roughly 2/3 of the recipe, but I’m unsure on the baking times – maybe check at about 20 minutes?!
Hi Jane. I plan to make this cake for my daughters birthday party – a week today! Think it will go down well with both adults and children. But I wanted to cover it in white fondant. Would you recommend a vanilla buttercream under the fondant? I just don’t want the chcolate showing through until we cut into it! Thank you.
If you don’t want to see chocolate buttercream between the cake and fondant then definitely use a different one x
Hi Jane. I’m planning on baking this cake this week but I can’t find Dark Terry’s Chocolate Orange in any of the shops. Would the buttercream work if I used dark chocolate orange Lindy instead?
Xxx
Yes that should work well! x
hi, could you use the sponge recipe for a full 9 inch cake?
That should be okay!
Yet another great recipe! I’ve made quite a few of your recipes in lock down and they are all so so nice. I made this two tier cause I didn’t want to go as big, but again I couldn’t stop eating it. Also made the syrup to moisten the sponges and this made it extra moist and delish!! Love chocolate cake, and this is one of the best I’ve tasted.
Hi Jane,
I was wondering what your thoughts are on using oil instead of butter to get a really moist chocolate cake mine have a tendency to be dry and I tried a recipe with oil a while ago and it worked great and didn’t dry out in the fridge but really want to try out this recipe for my dad’s 70th (the drip version in your ebook) but don’t want to ruin it swapping in oil if you think it won’t work?
Look forward to your thoughts and love your recipes!
Many thanks x
I tend to find dry cakes are purely from over baking – and chocolate cakes often just bake a smidge quicker! You could try oil, but for this sort of sponge I don’t usually do that so I have never tried it! Typically I believe you use 3/4 of the amount of butter in oil! xx
hiya jane! this might be a silly question… but do i need to wait for the chocolate to cool before adding to the buttercream? and can i use caster sugar if its the only type i have? thankyou!
Hiya – yes you will want the chocolate cooled somewhat! And I wouldn’t use caster for buttercream – that can be quite unpleasant! x
Hiii, how much orange extract would you recommend using if I was making this as a two tier cake rather than a three? 🙂 x
Could I use orange extract instead of orange zest and if so how much would you recommend please?
Thanks
Yes for sure! I usually use 1.5tsps for my ideal taste!
Good morning, how can I make this as a two layer rather than 3? Xx
That’s mentioned in the notes! x
Ahh apologies, thank you Jane! 🙂 can’t wait to bake it
! Xx
Would this recipe work as a drip cake like some of your others? xx
It can do if you want to – my terry’s drip cake recipe is in my first ebook though. x
Jane’s recipes have been recommend to my by a friend. With very little experience of cook these recipes are super easy and have had some amazing outcome!!! Love the results and love the unique recipes!! Amazing