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Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

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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!

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

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!

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

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.

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

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.

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

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

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange 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

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

This Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake is rich and decadent, moist and fluffy, and fruity and citrusy! 
4.67 from 12 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: 401kcal

Ingredients

For the cake:

For the buttercream:

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

To frost and decorate:

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 401
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!

Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of the products, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I made this cake without the buttercream and without decorating. Can it be left out of the fridge or do you still have to keep it in the refrigerator? Thank you.

    Reply

  6. Hi Rhian, this is just what my daughter ordered for her party! I need it to cater for 40 people. I have a sheet tray 23cm x 33cm. Would you be able to advise on quantities and baking time? Thank you!

    Reply

    • For 40 people, I would multiply the quantities by 5. For baking time it will depend on how thick the cake becomes once you’ve put it in your sheet tray. You might need to do it in two batches. I would just bake until an inserted skewer comes out clean, maybe bake for 15 minutes and then check every 5 minutes after that. Hope that helps. Would love to hear how you get on!

  9. Thank you, I made it today and it was a big hit with my whole family, including with my husband who doesn’t like dessert! The sweet potatoes frosting is a genius idea and so smooth, no one guessed the secret ingredient except my daughter who pealed the sweet potatoes for me 🙂 I made my own marmelade using oranges and honey to go with it, and it was a good addition to this cake. I always love the combination orange/ chocolate and finding a gluten free vegan recipe with ingredients that are not impossible to find was such a treat! Thank you!!!

    Reply

  10. Rhian, Your cake looks amazing, I have recently moved to a gluten-free diet. I have been exploring to see different kinds of cake I can still eat.

    I will be making this.

    Thank You.

    Reply

    • Hi! Yes it should work, but I haven’t tested it out so can’t 100% guarantee the results. Would love to hear how you get on if you do try freezing this though. Thank you!

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