Ciao Friends,
Here’s an Italian dessert recipe that is amazing! This Chocolate Almond Orange Cake uses almond extract and orange extract and the flavor is delicious! You can adjust the extracts for more or less depending on your tastes but the combination of the chocolate with the almond and the orange is so amazing!
Plus we top it with almond slivers and confectioners sugar at the end!
About Making Italian Chocolate Almond Orange Cake
This recipe has been in the works for months and months. While it isn’t necessarily the fastest dessert recipe on earth, most dessert recipes aren’t.
However it is a simple recipe and I can say that because if I can make it so can you.
We created this recipe to not be overly sweet. So you’ll see that the amount of sugar used is only 1/2 cup. It also doesn’t use any butter, instead just good ol’ Italian olive oil.
One thing I want to make clear is that this recipe is not an almond flour recipe. We use regular flour that we sift. A lot of searches will bring up almond cakes and when digging deeper you realize they use almond flour.
The recipe creation process for this recipe seemed to take forever and I almost gave up on it, but I knew it would taste amazing and I’m so glad we stuck with it because now I can confidently share it with you.
The recipe uses:
- flour
- baking powder
- cocoa (you’ll want to sift these)
- sugar
- eggs
- orange and almond extracts
- olive oil
- milk
- almond slivers
- confectioners sugar for a final topping before serving.
Cooking Times
Figuring out the proper cooking time was a little bit of a struggle b/c I kept changing the baking pans I was using. I finally settled on a 7″ spring form pan which cooked it evenly and was really easy to remove from the pan itself. had I used a regular square pan like I do for brownies I’d have left it inside but wouldn’t be good for a nice showing.
The spring form pan enables a cake to really look elegant like these and you can see it in my photos.
So my point is to be careful not to overcook the cake. 15 minutes was still too wet, and 30 minutes was maxing it out, so I suggest 25 minutes. This cake is not a really thick cake and it doesn’t rise much. Similar in style to my recipe for Italian lemon cake recipe.
If you deviate from my instructions, you’re on your own is all I can say. But if you do, please share with me your experimenting as I love to hear how other people modify my recipes and how they turn out!
I hope you enjoy this Italian dessert recipe as much as I do!!
Almond Orange Chocolate Cake
This Italian dessert is one of my favorites! Its use of almond and orange extract topped with almond slices gives it an elegance and richness that you won't find anywhere else. Perfect for special occasions such as holidays, Christmas, birthdays or Mother's day.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour 190 g
- 1/2 cup cocoa 50 g
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup sugar 150 g
- 3 eggs (room temperature)
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 2 tsp orange extract
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/8 cup milk
- 2/3 cup almond slivers
- confectioners sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions
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Combine cocoa, flour and baking powder and sift then set aside in a medium bowl
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In separate large bowl beat eggs, sugar and extracts until creamy and leaves a trail. Approximately 3 minutes with a hand held mixer
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Gently fold in 3/4 of the dry ingredients with a spatula
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Gently fold in the olive oil and milk and remaining dry ingredients. Do not let the batter get stiff/hard.
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Gently pour into a greased 7" spring form pan (or other pan of similar size)
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Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes
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Remove from oven and let it rest for 10 minutes
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Remove from spring form pan let cool on rack
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Sprinkle almond slivers and confectioners sugar on top
Recipe Notes
- When folding in the dry ingredients, it's very important to do this gently and take your time. Otherwise the batter will not stay light. Do not over mix.
- Depending on the size of your baking pan, the cooking time will vary anywhere from 20 to 30minutes max. The thinner it is the less cooking time. Check it to see a toothpick or knife comes out clean. It's okay if it's a little moist as it will continue cooking.
