Chocolate Clementine Cake Recipe

Chocolate Clementine Cake Recipe

  • Cake:
  • 4 clementines
  • 1/2 cup water, or as needed
  • 1 (15.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix (such as Betty Crocker®)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon orange extract, or more to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 drop red food coloring
  • Frosting:
  • 2 (16 ounce) containers chocolate fudge frosting
  • 1 clementine, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 clementine, peeled and segmented, or more to taste
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9-inch round cake pans.
  2. Finely grate zest from 2 clementines and set aside. Juice all 4 clementines into a measuring cup; add enough water to reach 1 cup.
  3. Pour clementine juice into a large bowl. Add zest, cake mix, eggs, oil, orange extract, vanilla extract, salt, and red food coloring. Blend with an electric mixer until batter is smooth, about 2 minutes. Divide batter into greased cake pans and smooth the top.
  4. Bake cakes in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, 24 to 29 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack, about 30 minutes more.
  5. Transfer cakes to a flat surface. Carefully trim the tops of the cakes with a sharp knife to level them; cut each layer in half horizontally. Transfer one cake layer to a serving plate and spread with 1/2 cup of the frosting; top with another cake layer and 1/2 cup of frosting. Scatter chopped clementine over the frosting. Stack and frost third and fourth cake layers. Arrange clementine wedges around the perimeter of the top layer.