High Altitude Chocolate Orange Cake
A moist and tender orange cake, flavored with fresh orange zest and orange juice, and frosted with fluffy chocolate orange buttercream and dried orange slices.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 8-inch cake pans (x3)
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 tsp freshly grated orange zest (from 1 navel orange)
- 3 cups cake flour (preferred), or all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 cup orange juice
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 tsp freshly grated orange zest
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp orange extract
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray, line the bottoms of the pans with circles of parchment paper, and lightly spray the paper, too.
- In a large bowl, use your fingers to rub the orange zest into the sugar until moist and fragrant.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, then whisk until evenly combined.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, milk, orange juice, oil, melted butter and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk for about 15-30 seconds, until smooth.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean and the centers of the cakes spring back when lightly touched.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and orange zest for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, meringue powder, salt and extracts, mixing to combine.
- Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy. If the buttercream is too thick, beat in a little milk, one tablespoon at a time.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans and peel the paper off the cakes. Stack and fill the cakes, then frost all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream. Chill 20 minutes. Frost with a final coat of buttercream and decorate with dried orange slices.
Notes
The cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier for up to three days.
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