Perfectly orange cake and chocolate mousse come together in this very easy yet stunning presentation for a mousse cake.
I have always loved chocolate and orange together so for me this Chocolate Orange Mousse Cake is a total win!
The idea for the cake came after I made my recent Orange Poppy Lazy Loaf.
It is a no mixer required cake recipe, and it is sooooo easy! Hence the name “lazy loaf” so be sure to check out that recipe too!
Especially if you want super easy and you are not into making a layer cake with the mousse recipe!
This cake has a whole orange whizzed right into the batter, so there are lovely little chunks of orange with all the wonderful-ness that the rind imparts; the best orange essence ever!
Only this time I left out the poppy seeds, baked it into cake pans and decided to fill it up with my awesome recipe of vegan chocolate mousse!
And here you will have yourself a really easy dessert that looks like you have been in the kitchen for days to make it!
Cut into individual portions like I did, or served as a whole cake (and yes you can make it into a round cake if you prefer) it is going to knock some socks off!
You will notice in the video tutorial below that I baked the batter into 4- 1/8 sheet pans but ended up only using 3 of the layers!
Since I wanted to serve these as individual portions rather than a full, tall family style cake, I thought the 4 layers would just be too tall for that type of serving size.
So I ended up using only 3 of them, and I munched on that 4th layer with a nice slathering of the extra vegan ganache! LOL
You can of course use all 4 layers if you wish!
For round cake divide the batter between 3-7″ cake pans and then build the cake in a 7″ springform pan with teh bottom removed, or a 7″ ring mold
The agar in this recipe is not essential, this is a very sturdy mousse for molding so if you do not have agar- you can totally leave it out and it will still be great, sliceable and durable!
- For the Cake Batter:
- Plant Milk *soy is best but any will do 1 cup (237ml)
- Apple Cider Vinegar or white vinegar 2 teaspoons (10ml)
- Navel Orange 1 small or 2 clementines total weight of orange with skin on is 5oz (that's approximately 2 small clementines or 1 small navel) total volume measure of a pureed orange with the skin on is a scant ½ cup
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
- Cake Flour 2½ cup (300g)
- Egg Replacer *I am using the Plant Based Egg for best results 2 teaspoons
- Granulated Sugar 1 cup + 2Tbs (225g)
- Baking Powder 4 teaspoons
- Salt 1 teaspoon
- Vegetable Oil or Melted Vegan Butter 12 Tablespoons (168g)
- For the Chocolate Mousse:
- Semi Sweet Vegan Chocolate 8ounces (226g)
- Hot brewed coffee 2 Tablespoons (30ml)
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
- Aquafaba *Chickpea Water from Canned Chickpeas ¼ cup (60ml)
- Agar powder ⅛ teaspoon *see note above
- Granulated Sugar 4 Tablespoons (50g)
- Cream Of Tartar ¼ teaspoon
- Coconut Milk Full Fat 1- 15ounce can (*refrigerated overnight)
- 1 Recipe Vegan Chocolate Ganache
- For the Cake: First pull of the hard stem of the orange is there are any and check the oranges for seeds by slicing them in half and remove seeds if there are any. The skins stay on the orange, so leave that intact.
- Combine the soy milk with the vinegar to sour and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Place the orange(s), sugar, vanilla extract, soy milk mixture and vegetable oil in a food processor and blend smooth, there will be small chunks of orange, that is exactly what you want!
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blend to a smooth batter
- Divide the batter evenly into the greased and parchment lined pans and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for approximately 18-22 minutes or until they spring back when you gently touch the centers, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool completely in the pans, while you prepare the chocolate mousse
- For the mousse:
- Combine the hot coffee and the agar powder and whisk smooth. Keep it warm or the agar will set and you will have to remelt.
- Meanwhile open the can of coconut milk that has been refrigerated overnight and carefully scoop out the fat that is on top and place in a mixer with a whip attachment, use the coconut liquid for something else (like a smoothie or a recipe that calls for no fat coconut water)
- Whip the coconut cream to soft peaks and reserve in the refrigerator
- Melt the chocolate in a large bowl over a double boiler or in a microwave safe bowl
- Add the hot brewed coffee with the agar and the vanilla extract to the melted chocolate all at once while whisking vigorously to incorporate well.
- Add the reserved whipped coconut cream and whisk smooth
- Whip the aquafaba/agar with the cream of tartar to stiff peaks while adding the sugar slowly
- Take a small portion of the AF meringue and fold into the chocolate mixture to lighten.
- Fold in the rest of the AF gently
- Prepare the ganache as per the instructions on that blog post, then assemble the cake as shown in the video tutorial.
- You will notice in the video tutorial that I baked the batter into 4- ⅛ sheet pans but ended up only using 3 of the layers! Since I wanted to serve these as individual portions rather than a full tall family style cake, I thought the 4 layers would just be too tall for that type of serving size. So I ended up using only 3 of them, and I munched on that 4th layer with a nice slathering of the extra vegan ganache! LOL You can of course use all 4 layers if you wish!
I do like to bring it to room temperature before serving, but that is just my preference as the cake tastes great cold too!
Some of you may know that for the last 3 years I have been working on developing a vegan egg replacement that my friend Deborah pioneered.
I am thrilled to announce it has finally gine to market and Amazon has it for sale!
Amazon has placed a minimum 3 bag for shipping though, so if that is too much for you, we can ship one bag instead, direct from Freely Vegan.Com
If you or anyone you know is into Vegan Baking, (but even more than that- VEGAN + GLUTEN FREE baking), THIS is a MUST have product!
Deborah has done amazing things with gluten free/vegan baking and I helped to develop this product to work in vegan baking with wheat!
This is by far my favorite egg replacement to use (of course I am a bit biased LOL)
Spread the word please and consider purchasing to help a small business venture!! THANKS!
Hi Gretchen
Planning on making this for an afternoon tea this week, I don’t have access to the egg replacer you mention. Would the same measure of flax be a comparable substitute?
Thanks heaps
Hi Dan! awesome! Flax is not recommended here- this cake is super moist already and will get heavy with the flax (flax= more fat=heavy) and not a really gret binder in this recipe. If you can get a comparable proprietary blend like Bobs Red Mill or Orgran? That would be best.