This is a moist, decadent, crowd pleasing bake. The gorgeous swirls make this cake extra special, while the rich orange and chocolate flavors in this perfectly moist cake are stunning.
Note: I don’t have a good picture of the loaf version of this cake yet. But I did have a good picture of this same cake adjusted to be made in a bundt pan. Same taste and texture, different look and measurements!
Chocolate Orange Marble Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 30 g Cocoa Powder 3/8 cup
- 75 g 3/4 cup + 300g (1.5 cup) Granulated sugar
- 50 ml 3/8 cup Water
- 3 oz Dark or semisweet chocolate or chips
- 3/4 cup 180 ml Buttermilk, room temp
- 3 Eggs room temp
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract or paste
- 300 g 2 1/3 cup All purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 3/4 cup 12 tbsp Unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tbsp Orange zest
- T tsp Orange extract
For Glaze:
- 1/4 cup 4 tbsp Unsalted butter
- 120 g ~ 2/3 cup Powdered sugar
- 45 ml 1 1/2 tbsp Water
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract or paste
- 1 tsp Orange extract
- 1 tbsp Orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F.
- Lightly grease a standard loaf pan (8.5 in x 4.5 in or 9 in x 5 in) and line with a long piece of parchment paper for easy removal later.
- In a small saucepan over high heat, combine water, cocoa powder, and 75g of sugar and whisk until smooth.
- Turn the heat off, immediately add chocolate and whisk until fully smooth and chocolate is melted. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and remaining 300 g sugar to combine.
- Add softened butter and half of the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and beat with a handheld / stand mixer, using paddle or beater attachment, on low speed until moistened but still crumbly (~1 minute).
- With the mixer running on low, slowly add remaining buttermilk mixture until incorporated. Increase speed to medium and mix for 3 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary, until batter is pale and creamy.
- Transfer 600g of batter, or about half, to another bowl. Add chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth and fully incorporated.
- Add orange zest and orange extract to remaining white batter and mix until zest is evenly dispersed.
- Pour half the orange batter, then all chocolate batter, then the remaining orange batter into the prepared loaf pan. Swirl with a butter knife by running it through in a zigzag pattern 2-3 times.
- Bake for 70-80 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean or the internal temp in the center of the tallest part reaches 200F.
- When the cake starts baking, mix sugar, vanilla, orange extract, and zest for glaze until fully incorporated. Cover and set aside.
- When about 10 minutes of baking time is left, combine butter, water and sugar mixture for glaze in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until sugar is dissolved.
- When baking is done, set the loaf tin on a cooling rack and poke holes all over, going almost all the way to the bottom. Spoon or brush half the glaze evenly over the cake, letting it absorb as you go.
- Cool for 30 minutes in the loaf tin, then carefully remove using parchment overhang as handles and place on serving plate. Carefully spoon or brush remaining glaze over the cake.
- Let the cake cool for at least 2 hours before serving.