Special thank you to Amore di Mona for sponsoring this post.
We are almost at the end of this year and I have one more cake for you to help you celebrate the end of this year and new beginnings. With this Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake I’ve gone little more adventurous and have made a full blown four layer cake with chocolate orange teff frosting.
Developed in my collaboration with Amore di Mona of vegan, gluten-free, nut and coconut-free recipes this is a real wholefood cake with strong flavours and minimum amount of sweeteners. But don’t let that fool you, because this cake is a pure indulgence:)
I wrote this recipe for two layer cake, so whether you like to make two or four layer cake it will be easier for you. The sponge is fairly simple to make with a mix of teff, buckwheat and tapioca flours. I’ve used maple syrup for sweetener, I find that it makes the chocolate sponge little more moist than when using sugar. I’ve added fair amount of orange zest and juice and the flavour comes through beautifully. One large orange should give you just enough orange juice for the recipe and if not add little bit of water to make the amount.
The chocolate teff frosting is not complicated, but you have to get the consistency right, so it’s not too loose and you can frost the cake easily. It tastes amazing and really compliments the rest of the cake. For decoration I’ve used pomegranate and orange to contrast the deep chocolate colour which creates beautiful finish to the cake.
Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake (gluten-free, nut-free)
Ingredients
Chocolate cake:
- 95g teff flour (3/4 cup)
- 70g buckwheat flour (1/2 cup)
- 30g tapioca flour (1/4 cup)
- 30g raw cacao powder (1/4 cup)
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1tsp cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 orange, zest
- 2tbsp ground flaxseed + 6tbsp water
- 120ml maple syrup (1/2 cup)
- 80ml olive oil (1/3 cup)
- 2tsp apple cider vinegar
- 120ml orange juice (1/2 cup)
Chocolate teff frosting:
- 70g teff flour (1/2 cup)
- 420ml plant milk (1 3/4 cup)
- 100g dark vegan chocolate (3.5oz)
- 1tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 orange, zest
Chocolate coating:
- 100g dark vegan chocolate (3.5oz)
- pomegranate & orange for decoration
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175°C (350F)
- Grease and line 2 x 6" round cake baking tin. I tend to line the base and dust the sides.
- Mix 2tbsp of ground flaxseed with 6tbsp of water and set aside to thicken.
- In a large bowl whisk together teff flour, buckwheat flour, tapioca, cacao, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk in orange zest and set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together maple syrup, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, orange juice and flax eggs.
- Add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix until well combined. It will thicken as you stir. You should have thicker cake batter consistency.
- Evenly divide the mixture between the two cake tins and level out the surface.
- Bake for about 20-25minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out with just few crumbs on.
- Remove from the oven once ready and leave to cool down for 20 minutes before carefully moving onto a wire rack.
- To make the frosting finely chop chocolate and set aside. In a small pot whisk teff flour with rice milk and gently heat on low fire stirring until the mixture thickens and it comes to boil. You should have thicker oatmeal consistency. Stir in maple syrup followed by chocolate and stir until completely smooth. Leave to cool down and transfer into fridge until you're ready to frost the cake. Mix in very finely grated orange zest when completely cooled or just before frosting the cake.
- Once ready to frost the cake, place one cake onto serving platter, spread with frosting and place the second one on top. I've made 4 layer cake, so please double everything if you like your cake this tall. Frost the top and sides of the cake.
- Melt the chocolate for the coating in double boiler or microwave and leave to cool down. Pour the chocolate glaze on top and gently smooth out to the sides so it runs over the edge.
- Decorate with some fresh pomegranate and orange slices.
- Enjoy!
Notes
This recipe makes two layer cake. Please double the ingredients to make four layer cake as on the pictures.
There's a fine line when making the teff frosting. If the frosting feels too thick after adding chocolate, you can add little warmed milk to loosen it. If it feels too thin, add more chocolate, cacao or you can make more teff mix with less milk so it's very thick which you can stir into the frosting.
This looks absolutely heavenly – YUM!!!! Merry Christmas my dear friend! Tee xxx
Merry Christmas Teresa!!! Thank you for being so amazing! Love H xxx
FOUR layers of chocolatey goodness? This cake is something else, Hana! :) Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from my family to yours <3
Oh yes, it had to be!!! Thank you lovely :) Merry Christmas to you and your family, have a magical time! xx
Beautiful! It looks sooo chocolatey! I’m intrigued by the teff frosting! It all sounds delicious. Have a wonderful Christmas Hana! :) xx
Thank you so much Sasha! Merry Christmas, have a magical time! xx
Wowzer! This is amazing Hana! I hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family xxx
Thank you so much Michelle! Wishing you and your family Happy New Year 2017! xxx
Gorgeous Hana, as always!
Thank you so much Mona! Happy New Year!!!
Hi! Where I live, I couldn’t find teff flour and buckwheat flour. Can I substitute it and by which flour?
Can’t wait to make it. Looks delicious!
xx
Hi Annie, you could use a mix of other 2 or 3 gluten-free flours – brown rice flour, quinoa flour, millet flour, oat flour or ground almonds. You could also just use gluten-free flour mix to substitute the buckwheat, teff and tapioca flours. Hope this helps :)
Hi! Wanted to try this recipe, but where we live we don’t have teff flour, what can I substitute it with..?
Hi Monisha, you could use brown rice flour instead of the teff.
Great! Thank you ,will definitely try this recipe:)
Hi, I wanted to make this cake with normal flour… Will it come out the same? Or will it be dry?? Xx
Hi Zara, you can replace the teff, buckwheat and tapioca flours with normal flour. Gluten-free flours tend to absorb more liquid so you might not need as much orange juice. You have to see how the batter comes out after mixing and adjust it so you have the right consistency. Baking time might be different too. Hope it goes well. xx
Hi this looks amazing! But I hate buckwheat – can I sub with extra teff/brown rice flour? xx
Thank you so much Zosia! Yes you can, brown rice would make a great substitute. xx
Hi Hana
I am sooooo excited to try this! Can I sub tapioca flour for anything.. maybe arrowroot? It’s hard to get a hold of tapioca where I am :(
Thank you!
Shaz
Hi Shaz, yes, you can substitute arrowroot for the tapioca flour in any of my recipes, they are very similar. I actually prefer using arrowroot too but find it easier to buy tapioca. Hope you enjoy the recipe :)