Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cake!
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A three-layer chocolate orange cake with Terry’s chocolate orange buttercream frosting!
Terrys chocolate orange cake
So… this beauty HAS HAPPENED. 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.
Recipe inspiration
This does basically look like a carbon copy of my Nutella cake, my lemon & blueberry cake, my neapolitan cake and so on… let’s just say that my style of decorating has changed this year and I love the ‘buttercream poop’ style as my roommate says. I say little round dollops or similar, but he says poops. Either way, I think it looks very satisfying.
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! Orange extract is a good alternative if you don’t want to use fresh oranges, use two teaspoons worth!
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… give me a break. Trust me, it tastes AMAZING once in the buttercream frosting.
I am obsessed!
Recently, as most people in the UK will know, Tesco was doing a sale on Terry’s chocolate orange at 75p each which is practically unheard of… so I invested in quite a few. TWENTY FIVE of the beauties to be precise, but as I say, it was an investment. I figured as its coming up to Christmas, I would get through a fair few of them!
More 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!
Chocolate orange heaven!
I would say that maybe the photos on this page aren’t my favourites, but you can see the pure Terry’s chocolate orange joy in the photos with the insane amount of segments on top. I realise having 21 segments on top of a cake is a bit much, but I thought it made it look funky! Plus, more than one segment per slice then.
I love this cake best on the day its made, but later on, its nice to microwave a slice for 10-15 seconds and have it slightly warm. Or, to keep it fresh and moist for longer, you can even add an orange drizzle on top! Use the juice of 2 oranges, and 75g of caster sugar mixed together and drizzled between the three sponges!
Terry's Chocolate Orange Cake!
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 stork)
- 700 g icing sugar
- 250 g DARK Terry's chocolate orange
For the Decoration!
- Terry's chocolate orange
- Sprinkles
Instructions
For the Cake!
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C 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
- The dark Terry's chocolate orange is much better to use for the buttercream compared to the milk!
- As mentioned in my Terry's chocolate orange cupcakes, normal milk Terry's is more likely to split in buttercream.
- If you can't find dark chocolate orange, use 250g of dark chocolate and 2tsp orange extract instead!
- Decoration wise, you can use milk, or dark, or anything else chocolate orange themed like Lindt!
- 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!
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J x
© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Hi, Jane. I’m hoping to make this for my mums birthday, but the smaller version. Is the quantity of ingredients for the smaller version to split between 2 or 3 8” tins? I’m just wanting to do a two layer 8” cake – will this change the amounts?
The smaller version is two layers!
Hi Jane. How would I make a Terry’s milk chocolate drip? Would it be 100mls of cream & 100 grams terry’s chocolate? Thanks
No it wouldn’t – terry’s works different as the cocoa percentage is completely different! So it would more likely be 200g chocolate to 100g of cream, but still not 100% the same! x
Hi Jane,
I’m looking to do this recipe as a drip cake, how much would you suggest increasing the buttercream by if I’m going to cover the outside of the cake and swirls on top
Thank you x
To do a decent crumb coat and then a decent layer I would just say double to be easier, and freeze any leftover, but at least another half would be needed!
Hi Jane,
I’m planning on making the smaller version, but only have one 8inch tin. Would it be okay to bake the first half of the mixture and then bake the second half after? x
So usually I would say no because cake mixture shouldn’t be sat for too long. You could mix half and bake it, and then mix the other half and bake it though x
What could I do for the frosting, looked in so many shops and there are no dark chocolate oranges so really struggling is there a substitute?
You can use a dark chocolate and and orange extract in, or use the milk chocolate orange and just be aware the taste will be lighter and sweeter x
Hi Jane,
I am planning on making this for a friend and I noticed that yourself and a few other people are having a problem finding Terry’s dark orange chocolate, I don’t know if all the stores are doing them but my Asda in Bridgwater had loads,so would recommend trying Asda.
Hello Jane,
I am hoping to make this in a few days however I would not like to do the blobs and I’d rather cover the whole outside and top with frosting would the quantities be the same?
I would maybe use at least 1.5x so there is enough for the layers and outside x
Hi Jane, how much orange extract should be used if baking as a two layer cake? And I saw you say in the comments to bake for 40-45 minutes as a two layer cake, but your notes say 30-35 minutes – which one is it please ? Xx
I believe the other comment is because they wanted to bake the full mixture into two tins, rather than the smaller amount. And maybe 1/2-1tsp.
Delicious as always! So easy to make and everyone loved it!!
Made this recently. The cake was delicious but the buttercream was a bit sweet for myself and my family. Will definitely make again but modify the amount of sugar in the buttercream.
Fantastic recipe, I had this made for me for my birthday and now I’m making it for my uncles birthday. I’m sure I read the other day if I wanted to keep the sponge moist to keep the cake a few more days to make a drizzle for the sponge with the juice from 2 oranges and caster sugar. Now I can not find it anywhere in the notes and thinking maybe I dreamt it. I have to make it on Wednesday it’s been collected thursday but won’t be cut until Friday. Any ideas would be greatly received please.
Yes you can – just like a lemon drizzle cake!
How do you do the chocolate orange frosting, or were do you get it from please.
Carol Wright
Hi Jane,
Is it possible to use the milk chocolate orange for the buttercream instead of the dark chocolate- struggling to get ahold of them on my end! If so would you recommend using less of it? Thanks.
It will be sweeter and I find the milk chocolate terry’s is more likely to split, but otherwise it’s a straight swap!
Hi Jane. I was just wondering, what container do you use to store your taller cakes in?
Hi, could this be used for a 7” cake of 4 layers?
I don’t bake 7″ cakes so I am not certain, but I would imagine it would be fine!
Hey! If I made this cake and did a crumb coat instead , would I need to make more buttercream or would the amount in the recipe be enough? Thank you x
It depends on how thick a crumb coat you want, and how much buttercream you like. I personally would increase it slightly so I still have enough for the topping, but it’s up to you! X
Loved making this cake, but did you trim the edges to look so neat? Did you line the sides of the tins?
No – I only line the bottom of my tins usually and don’t trim them! x
Can you freeze this cake please?
Yes you can!! x