Valentine’s Day is a holiday that is primarily about two things: romance and chocolate. A chocolate dessert is the perfect way to celebrate with your Valentine, so instead of making a whole batch of cupcakes or cookies and setting two aside, try making a fabulous dessert recipe for two, instead.

Whip up a batch of this orange chocolate cake recipe, and you’ll have a valentine treat that’s far more memorable than a box of chocolates!

Photos via Nicole Weston of Baking Bites

Easily scalable recipe

This flourless chocolate cake recipe requires very few ingredients. Unlike many recipes, which are difficult to scale down to serve just two, this recipe actually scales up and down very easily to make both small and large cakes. It is similar to a brownie recipe and uses both dark chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder for an intense chocolate flavor.

With a touch of orange

I added fresh orange zest into my cake batter to infuse it with a little more flavor. Chocolate and orange is a classic combination, and it definitely works well in this case. The orange is subtle, but still comes through all that dark chocolate, giving the cake a little more complexity and making it that much more addictive!

I highly recommend using fresh orange zest for the best orange flavor, rather than orange extract. If you aren’t a fan of the orange and chocolate combination, you can also simply omit the orange zest from your batch.

Pick you dish!

I prefer to use individual 8-ounce ramekins to bake these little cakes, rather than using a muffin tin, since the recipe only makes two cakes. If you only have a muffin tin, you can still use it and leave the unfilled cavities empty as you bake.

I buttered my ramekins and lined the bottoms with parchment paper, so that the finished cakes would closely resemble miniature cakes. If you are using a muffin pan, you can grease your muffin cavities and line the bases in the same way, just as I did with the ramekins, to get the same look.

These cakes are so decadent that I enjoy them as-is, but they can also be paired with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream if you want to make them even more impressive!

Chocolate Orange Cakes for Two

Yield: 2 cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2-oz dark chocolate coarsely chopped
• 2 1/2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp orange zest
• 2 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Step 1:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease two 8-oz ramekins or two muffin tins and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Step 2:

In a medium-sized, microwave-safe bowl, melt together chocolate and butter, stirring until very smooth. Stir in orange zest. Allow mixture to cool slightly.

Step 3:

Add cocoa powder, salt and sugar to chocolate mixture and whisk until they are completely incorporated. Add in egg and vanilla extract and whisk until batter is smooth. Divide evenly into prepared baking cups.

Step 4:

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until cakes are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. Turn cakes out of the pan and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

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