• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Contact Us

Tiffin And Tea logo

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Contact Us
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Contact Us
×
Home » Recipes

Published: Mar 4, 2021. Post Updated: Apr 12, 2024

Home » Recipes

Blood Orange Chocolate Cake

Sharing is caring!

37 shares
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This Blood Orange Chocolate Cake is not just beautiful to look at, it tastes absolutely sublime too. I wanted a rich chocolatey fudgy cake topped with caramel orange slices and after some testing, that is exactly what I ended up with.

Blood Orange Chocolate Cake on a round wire rack

Blood Orange Chocolate Cake

This Blood Orange Cake is delicious. The chocolate cake itself is made with all the usual dry ingredients but using oil, milk and yogurt for the fat (instead of just butter) to make for a truly fudgy and chocolatey cake. This batter is then poured on top of the orange slices. The orange slices are simmered in a sugar syrup and then placed at the bottom of a lined tin. 

I have been making versions of a Blood Orange Cake for the past few years (olive oil, cornflour etc. I have tried many variations), and have shared some in my insta stories. This is one of my favourites. The other one is coming soon. Over the years, no matter how many times I have seen a blood orange cake on insta or the internet (the first one I ever saw was via Not Quite Nigella, it has always stopped me in my tracks. They are so strikingly beautiful to look at and I wanted to make sure that the cake tasted as good as it looked. So I got experimenting!

Blood Orange Chocolate Cake on round black wire rack

Ingredients in Blood Orange Chocolate Cake

  • Oil
  • Milk
  • Buttermilk or Yoghurt
  • Egg
  • Vanilla
  • Coffee
  • Plain Flour
  • Caster Sugar
  • Cocoa Powder
  • Baking Powder
  • Bicarbonate of Soda
  • Salt

How to make Blood Orange Cake

This is a really simple cake to make. Full instructions are at the bottom of the page:

I cut 3 Oranges very thin and place them in a sugar syrup to simmer for 20 minutes. Then arrange them overlapping in the bottom of a lined tin with some coming up the sides. Reserve the syrup for later.

Blood oranges in syrup in pan

Blood oranges laid out at the bottom of a lined cake tin

To make the cake, I combine Plain Flour, Caster Sugar, Cocoa, Baking Powder, Bicarb and Salt in a bowl.

Dry ingredients in a bowl

I then mix Oil, Milk, Buttermilk or Yoghurt, Egg, Vanilla in a separate bowl. Then I stir in cooled Coffee.

Wet ingredients in a bowl

I then combine the 2 and pour them over the orange slices and bake for 35 - 45 minutes at Gas 4/180 C.

Wet ingredients being poured into dry ingredients

Chocolate mixture poured over oranges in cake tin

Brush the reserved syrup over the top.

Can this be made ahead?

Countertop - This cake can be made up to a week ahead.

Freezer - The cake freezes beautifully too in my experience. Once the cake has cooled place in the fridge overnight, then wrap in cling film and place it in a resealable freezer bag or airtight container. Unwrap before defrosting in the fridge overnight.

Blood Orange Chocolate Cake on round wire rack on blue background

Blood Orange Chocolate Cake on wooden board

more chocolate recipes you may enjoy:

Fudgy Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Milk Cake

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Orange Cake

Caramelised White Chocolate and Passion Fruit Cake

**if you make something from  tiffin and tea, i would love to see your creations! don’t forget to rate this recipe and leave a comment below! we love to hear from you. safira x

Blood Orange Chocolate Cake on round black wire rack

Blood Orange Chocolate Cake

Safira
This Blood Orange Chocolate Cake is not just beautiful to look at, it tastes absolutely sublime too. I wanted a rich chocolatey fudgy cake topped with caramel orange slices and after some testing, that is exactly what I ended up with.
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Cook Time 40 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins
Course Baking, Baking/Dessert, Dessert
Cuisine American, british
Servings 8
Calories 353 kcal

Ingredients
  

Blood Orange Topping

  • 3 Blood Oranges Sliced finely, 4 - 5 mm, available from Tesco or Marks and Spencer
  • 200 g Caster Sugar
  • 250 ml Water

Cake

  • 125 g Plain Flour
  • 200 g Caster Sugar
  • 35 g Cocoa Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • ¾ teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
  • ¼ teaspoon Salt
  • 65 ml Oil I used neutral flavoured like veg, sunflower
  • 60 ml Milk
  • 65 g Buttermilk or Plain or Natural Yoghurt
  • 1 Egg
  • ½ teaspoon Vanilla Paste
  • 25 ml Coffee

Instructions
 

  • Place sliced oranges in a pan with sugar and water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Carefully arrange oranges overlapping in the bottom of a 20 cm lined round tin. Reserve the syrup for later.
  • Preheat oven to 180 °C/Gas Mark 4.
  • Combine Plain Flour, Caster Sugar, Cocoa, Baking Powder, Bicarb and Salt in a bowl.
  • Mix Oil, Milk, Buttermilk or Yoghurt, Egg, Vanilla in a separate bowl. Stir in cooled Coffee.
  • Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Pour the batter over the orange slices and bake for 35 - 45 minutes at Gas Mark 4/180 C.
  • Brush the reserved syrup over the top whilst the cake is hot.

Notes

Can this be made ahead?

Countertop - This cake can be made up to a week ahead.
Freezer - The cake freezes beautifully too in my experience. Once the cake has cooled place in the fridge overnight, then wrap in cling film and place it in a resealable freezer bag or airtight container. Unwrap before defrosting in the fridge overnight.

Nutrition

Calories: 353kcalCarbohydrates: 66gProtein: 4gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 22mgSodium: 149mgPotassium: 123mgFiber: 2gSugar: 51gVitamin A: 66IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 62mgIron: 2mg
Keyword Blood Orange Cake, Chocolate Blood Orange Cake
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

More Recipes

  • CHicken and Potatoes in tin
    Lebanese Potato and Chicken Traybake with Lemon, Garlic Sauce - Djej w Batata

  • Dubai Chocolate Brownies on bakigng paper
    Viral Dubai Pistachio Chocolate Brownies
  • Cold Milk Baklava with Milk in a plate
    Cold Milk Baklava (Soguk Baklava)
  • Cooked Lamb Curry with Potatoes in pot
    Aloo Gosht – Traditional Pakistani Lamb & Potato Curry

Reader Interactions

5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Picture of site owner Safira

hey...I’m safira! I share accessible Global Recipes as well as Baking recipes for home cooks. One of my passions is to teach home cooks to become more confident in the kitchen and this comes with time and experience.

More about me →

Recipes

Footer

About

  • About
  • Privacy Policy

Browse Recipes

  • Recipes

Contact

  • Contact

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2025 Tiffin and Tea

37 shares

Rate This Recipe

Your vote:




A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required

Recipe Ratings without Comment

Something went wrong. Please try again.