Dairy Free,  Dessert,  Recipe,  Vegan,  Vegetarian

Chocolate “Nutella” Orange Cream Cake (Vegan)

Have you noticed that I seem to rotate back and forth between savory and sweet moods.

I realized this week that it had unintentionally become the norm for me to lean towards sweets more often than not. At least, that’s how it was for a while and it was especially that way during the Holidays. Then for some reason I’ve been in more of a savory mood so far this year. It’s probably all the talk about a fresh new year and starting out healthy. I don’t know.

Whatever the case, I’ve definitely had an easier time coming up with ideas for salty snacks and fun new dinners than I’ve had dreaming up new treats and desserts. Don’t worry though, because chocolate can always find a place in my plans and, in my opinion, one of the best forms to devour chocolate in is cake!

By the way, to say that cake is going to be on my mind a bit for the next two to three weeks is an understatement. I mean, I already mentioned recently that I’ll be making a wedding cake for a friend’s wedding soon, but then there are also two other birthdays as well around the same time, not to mention that after that my family literally has birthdays every few weeks.

 

Hey, can you guys can keep a secret? ‘Cause I might give you a little inside scoop to the design the bride and I talked about over the weekend. I met with the her this past Sunday and the first thing I wanted to know was whether or not she wanted to go modern or traditional, and as I expected, she said traditional is more her taste, however she also wanted the groom to be happy about the cake and when we asked him about it he loved the idea of a non-traditional cake with some unique personal touches. The final decision is that I’ll be doing a split sided cake; his side and her side.

For a little bit more specifics, they’re both fans of Playstation and some of his favorite things are The Walking Dead, wrestling, and soccer (no surprise here, this one is pretty much a mandatory favorite in Latin America). I’m just saying, the groom’s half is going to be fun and probably a little challenging too, but I’m excited about doing it even if I am slightly freaking out. On her side she wants a simple and elegant base of white buttercream with a cascade of natural flowers diagonally across it all the way down. It’s going to be so lovely. Oh, and she also wants a few of her own personal touches to be included as she loves music, books, and trees, but for it to just be really feminine was her main request.

Yeah, so I’ve got my work cut out for me. Oh my goodness, my family is joking that I’m not going to sleep at all this month and the truth is that I can’t say they’re wrong. Good thing I love to be busy. Alright, but today’s cake is actually a recipe that I created for this weekend since it’s my boyfriend’s birthday and it’s the flavor he wanted. When he said chocolate orange cake sounded good and I realized that it’s a flavor I’ve never done for the blog I knew it had to be one I shared with you.

Speaking of guy’s tastes versus girl’s, I have to tell you, this flavor combo is one that makes me want to laugh a little. You see, I was raised by a dad who was always trying to convince me that, with the possible exception of berry pie, fruit in dessert is just not acceptable and then fruit with chocolate is even more outrageous. My mom on the other hand, has always been a lover of fruity sweets which has been the source of a few very entertaining debates between the two of them over the years. Super funny.

I happen to love orange and chocolate together and if you are also a fan then I’m thinking this cake is for you. I couldn’t resist the urge to add a little something more though, so Nutella found its way into the recipe and I think it adds that perfect little touch that might have been missing. I’ll be making this cake again for a pretty big group this weekend and if you try it too, I’d love to know what you think!

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Chocolate "Nutella" Orange Cream Cake (Vegan)

Fruit and chocolate go surprisingly well together in this delicious cake frosted with the creamiest chocolate hazelnut butter.

Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 1 cake (about 18 servings)

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 1 cup aquafaba liquid from 2 cans cooked chickpeas
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup organic vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil or organic vegetable shortening ,melted
  • 1/4 cup applesauce can sub pumpkin puree
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup "nutella" chocolate hazelnut spread

Orange Cream Filling:

  • 1 orange juice and zest
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup vegan "cream cheese" at room temp

Nutella Orange Frosting:

  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup 1 stick vegan butter, room temp
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon orange extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 tablespoon strong black coffee
  • 1 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 3 tablespoons "nutella" chocolate hazelnut spread

Instructions

Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C) and line 3 (8-inch) cake pans with parchment paper. Pour aquafaba into bowl of stand mixer and beat until its begins to look light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Slowly drizzle in sugar while beating on high and continue until it forms stiff peaks (it should take about 5 more minutes).
  2. In separate large mixing bowl, stir together the lemon juice, applesauce, melted coconut oil, oil, "nutella" and vanilla. Add the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder and gently stir.
  3. Remove the mixer bowl from the mixer and use a large spatula to gently fold in the aquafaba into the other bowl of ingredients just until fairly combined. (It's actually better to leave some small lumps then to overmix and lose volume.) Then add the chocolate chips and fold in gently.
  4. Divide batter into the pans as evenly as possible. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow cakes to cool for about 10 minutes then loosen the edges with a sharp knife and invert the pans over plates to remove the cakes from pan. Cover them with plastic wrap to help keep them from drying out as they cool. The cakes need to cool completely before frosting so I like to place them in the refrigerator or freezer to chill until cold.

Orange Cream Filling:

  1. Juice and zest oranges and discard remaining peels. Whisk together with the sugar and almond milk in a medium saucepan then stir in the cornstarch and salt and place over medium low heat. Stir constantly until the it gets thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, it should take 8 - 10 minutes. It will foam a bit as it boils. Remove from heat and add the cream cheese and vanilla and stir until the cream cheese is evenly melted in, then pour through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl or small container. Cover with plastic wrap or lid and allow it to cool then place in refrigerator to chill completely.

Nutella Orange Frosting:

  1. Beat "butter" in a large mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment until creamed. Add "nutella", vanilla, salt, cocoa, and powdered sugar one cup at a time. Add the orange juice and coffee and beat until light and fluffy.

Assemble:

  1. Once the cakes and filling are completely cooled, remove the cake from the fridge and use a toothpick or thin skewer to poke many holes in the top of all of the cakes (this helps them to absorb a little bit more of the orange filling to make the cakes really moist). Now spread a thin layer of the chocolate frosting on the top of all 3 layers until smooth. Fill a medium-size tipped piping bag with some of the frosting and pipe a border around the edge of 2 of the cakes (this acts as a wall to keep the orange filling from oozing out.).
  2. Now spoon about half (you may have more than needed) of the orange filling over each of the 2 cakes and spread to even it out. Layer one on top of the other on your desired serving plate and top with the third cake. Spoon a generous amount of the frosting onto the top of the cake and start spreading on the top and sides of cake to make a smooth coating. (If you like a lot of frosting and want to add more, it helps to chill the cake for about an hour and then add a second coat. You can add any decorations or embellishments that you want. I chose to simply top mine with some orange slices and use a cake come to add a ridge look on the sides. This cake is best stored in the fridge.

Recipe Notes

You can make homemade nutella or use a brand of chocolate hazelnut butter that doesn't have dairy. (Btw, Nutella brand does)

 


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