Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

Here’s why you need this Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake in your life. It’s:

• rich and decadent
• moist and fluffy
• fruity and citrusy!

The base for this recipe is my Chocolate Sponge Layer Cake – it’s easy to make, requires just one bowl and simple ingredients, and is versatile too. It also happens to be moist and fluffy, and undetectably vegan, gluten-free + refined sugar free!

The other part of this cake is the Sweet Potato Chocolate Buttercream – it’s luxuriously creamy, has a gorgeous velvety texture and tastes so decadent you won’t believe it’s secretly healthy. It may sound a little strange to use sweet potatoes to make frosting, but I promise you won’t be able to taste them at all – in fact, it’s fun to get people to try to guess what it’s made of!

This buttercream, paired with the chocolate sponge, makes for a seriously decadent chocolate cake that’s bound to impress even the hardcore chocolate lovers. But what really takes this cake to the next level is the zingy orange flavour.

The orange flavour comes from marmalade (or orange spread), and makes it taste wonderfully sweet, tangy and fragrant, and adds a deliciously fruity flavour. This, combined with the chocolate, makes the cake taste like a Jaffa Cake or a Terry’s Chocolate Orange! It also tastes pretty festive, so it’s great for the upcoming months, though you can enjoy it all year round, of course.

If you’d like to keep this cake refined sugar free, make sure to look out for a naturally sweetened marmalade.

Hope you’ll love this Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake! For more citrus desserts, check out my:

• Lemon Blueberry Cake
• Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
• Orange Cake
• Lemon Drizzle Cake
• White Chocolate Lemon Cake

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.

Helpful tools to make this Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake:

For the cake:

glass mixing bowl

measuring jug

18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tin

baking paper

cooling rack

For the buttercream:

food processor

blender

hand-held stick blender

Watch this 30-second video to see how to make the frosting:

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

This Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake is rich and decadent, moist and fluffy, and fruity and citrusy! 

4.5 from 20 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: European

Keyword: gluten-free chocolate orange cake, vegan chocolate orange cake, vegan christmas dessert

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 8

Calories: 399kcal

Author: Rhian Williams

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 60 g (1/4 cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
• 250 ml (1 cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
• 1 teaspoon orange extract (or zest of 1 orange)
• 12 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch salt
• 150 g (1 1/4 cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
• 150 g (1 1/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
• 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 50 g (1/2 cup) cocoa powder

For the buttercream:

• 400 g (14 oz) sweet potatoes (about 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup to taste (or sub any other sweetener)
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

To frost and decorate:

• 4 tablespoons marmalade/orange spread (refined sugar free if necessary)
• Fresh orange slices

Instructions

For the cake:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
• Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil)
• Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the vinegar, orange extract, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds
• Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder
• Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry
• Divide mixture between two greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm baking tins)
• Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until risen slightly and an inserted skewer comes out clean
• Once out the oven, transfer cakes from baking tins onto a wired rack to leave them to cool completely before applying the frosting

For the buttercream:

• Cook sweet potatoes by boiling, steaming or roasting them until very soft and tender
• Discard any skins, and add to a food processor or blender (or hand-held blender) along with all other ingredients
• Whizz until completely smooth
• Taste and adjust ingredients as necessary – add more maple syrup for sweetness, more salt for saltiness, more cocoa powder for chocolate flavour etc
• Leave to cool before using to frost the cake

To frost and decorate the cake:

• Place one half of the cake onto a plate and spread the marmalade on top
• Then spread just less than half of the buttercream onto it
• Place the other half of the cake on top of that
• Use rest of the buttercream to spread on top and around sides of cake
• Decorate with fresh orange slices, or whatever else you fancy!
• Best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days

Video

Notes

*You can alternatively use almond flour

Nutrition Facts

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

Amount Per Serving

Calories 399 Calories from Fat 171

% Daily Value*

Fat 19g29%

Saturated Fat 8g40%

Sodium 108mg5%

Potassium 392mg11%

Carbohydrates 56g19%

Fiber 8g32%

Sugar 26g29%

Protein 8g16%

Vitamin A 7094IU142%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 164mg16%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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