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This gluten-free and dairy-free Whole Orange Chocolate Chip Cake is made with whole oranges boiled then pureed for an authentically fresh orange flavour. The cake is beautifully moist and flavourful with chocolate chips dotted throughout for added luxury.
I will always find time for baking another cake. The laundry piling up in the basket may be threatening to engulf our whole bedroom, our dining table buckling under the weight of disorganised post and baby changing paraphernalia and Cole’s toys are now just what we refer to as ‘carpet’. Since his favourite pastime is currently jigsaw puzzles the carpet can be a little raggedy underfoot which I apologise for. Despite all this chaos I can still carve out a little corner of the kitchen, locate my food mixer from beneath bags of shopping which still need to be put away and bake.
Is this need to place cake baking before actual house and family maintenance simply greed? Can I explain it away as recipe testing for the website or the cake stall? Do I do it to calm me down and empty my mind of my breastfeeding difficulties? Or is it an activity with Cole with an aim to share my very favourite thing with him whilst he bashes around with flour, a wooden spoon and snacks on the add-ins. It’s definitely all of the above. I love to bake cakes. I love to eat them, to share them with others and I relish the excitement and happiness that a homemade cake brings to proceedings.
So even if I have been up since 2am trying to settle a baby, I have no idea what I’m making everyone for dinner, the dog needs to be walked and I haven’t showered since Easter. Even then, if you can’t count on anything else from me then you can bet your bottom dollar there will be a freshly baked cake resting on the side of the kitchen. Oh and it will probably be given to my family in lieu of dinner.
This Whole Orange Chocolate Chip Cake is a riff on my really popular Blood Orange Rosemary Polenta Cake which I’ve been making and selling on my cake stall for years. The idea being that last week I was craving a chocolate orange cake with the emphasis on a really orangey sponge and deeply studded with chocolate chips. I realised very quickly how I could bastardise this cake which I already had in my repertoire to fit for purpose. Oh my goodness it worked such a treat and I am loving this new take on one of my old favourites. It was the exact cake I was craving. The only little bit of trouble to the cake is boiling the oranges up for an hour before you are ready to start but once that job is done the cake batter takes about ten minutes to beat together before pouring into the cake tin.
There is also no complicated decorating technique involved, just drizzling copious amounts of chocolate over the top, which makes any cake look tremendously appetising. I don’t have time for any sort of decorating at the moment. I just want the cake. And I would serve this cake up any day of the week, it is so absolutely delicious, moreish, moist and with so much flavour. Actually Whole Orange Chocolate Chip Cake is perfectly suitable for afternoon tea but also for dessert, especially if you were to add a dollop of crème fraiche on the side of the plate.
Now look, Luke thought there were too many chocolate chips in this cake for his money so if you like to err on the side of orange versus chocolate then you are permitted to reduce the chocolate chips by 50g. If, like me, you feel the term ‘too many chocolate chips’ does not compute with your system then stick to the below quantities. In my mind this cake is simple perfection and the reason why baking will always be prioritised over laundry.
SHOP THE RECIPE >>> 8 Inch Round Cake Tin
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I urge you to give this Whole Orange Chocolate Chip Cake a try. If you do then please leave a comment below and give the recipe a rating which helps others find the recipe on Google. If you then go on to use this recipe as a launch pad for your own culinary creation then I’d also love it if you’d share it and tag me on Instagram. It is so lovely for me to see your versions and variations of my recipes.
Whole Orange Chocolate Chip Cake {gluten-free}
Ingredients
- 2 large oranges - together they should weigh about 450g
- 6 eggs
- 250 g caster sugar
- 125 g polenta
- 125 g ground almonds
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- 375 g dark chocolate chips - use vegan chocolate if you want the cake to remain dairy-free
Orange Syrup
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon juice of an orange
Instructions
- Place the oranges in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 1 hour until soft.
- Pre-heat the oven to 150°C (fan oven)* and line and grease a 8 inch round x 4 inch deep cake tin.
- Remove the oranges from the saucepan and cut in half to remove and discard the pips.
- Place the oranges in a blender and blitz until smooth and set aside for a minute.
- In a large bowl or food mixer beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and thick then mix in the pureed orange.
- Add the polenta, ground almonds and baking powder and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- Finally stir in 250g of the chocolate chips (saving the extra 100g for the chocolate drizzle on top) until evenly dispersed.
- Pour the batter in the prepared cake tin and bake for 10 minutes then turn the heat up to 160°C. Bake for a further 40 minutes until firm to the touch and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Once the cake is ready, remove from the oven and prepare the honey syrup by dissolving the honey in the orange juice in a saucepan on medium heat. Once dissolved and reduced slightly, prick the cake all over with a toothpick and brush the honey syrup evenly all over the surface of the cake.
- Leave the cake to cool in the cake tin.
- Once the cake has cooled and been removed from the cake tin then prepare the chocolate drizzle by melting the remaining 125g of chocolate chips in a bain marie or bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Pour the melted chocolate into a piping bag (or a small plastic food bag – just snip the corner off when you are ready to drizzle) and leave the chocolate to thicken slightly for about ten minutes before drizzling over the cake.
Just want to check...should the oranges be peeled before boiling?
Hi Jennifer, no the oranges should not be peeled. The peel gets all soft when the oranges are boiling and they blend up well afterwards. Using the whole orange gives the cake a lovely tanginess.
So glad I asked! Thanks, Georgina!
Such a gorgeous recipe! Took it into work as one of my colleagues is gluten intolerant and everybody loved it! Definitely going to be making this again and again!
That's brilliant to hear - thank you Tammy!
Hi Georgina,
I have made this cake twice now and it was a big hit!, full of flavour, I used blood oganges as they are in season. I have a question, both cakes dropped more than they should for a perfect cake. followed all instructions and I cook with a Miele oven and have great success with baking. What would have made this happen, any tips?
Hi Sharon, I love this cake and make it a lot - such a crowd pleaser. You are right it does drop a little (you can see in my photos that my version isn't perfect). The reason is all the chocolate chips which weigh the cake down slightly. If you want a cake with a more level top then you can remove some of the chocolate chips and just use a chocolate drizzle but that isn't as fun - or as chocolatey!!
This is the best and most delicious cake I have ever made and tasted! May try with less choc chips but not complaining at all! Thanks for sharing. X
Hi Sharon, I'm happy you like the cake as much as I do!! Yes, my husband preferred it with slightly fewer chocolate chips too but for me you can never have too many! Thank you for your feedback.
Now when you say polenta, do you mean "corn grits"? So, the texture is a bit rough, right?
YOu have a beautiful name, by the way, Georgina!
Polenta is basically cornmeal. I like to use very fine cornmeal so that the texture of the cake is softer. However, the cake works just fine with courser cornmeal it just changes the texture slightly. I hope that helps!