7-Layer Chocolate Orange Passover Cake Recipe

If you're looking for an impressive holiday dessert, our 7-layer chocolate orange passover cake is a real showstopper. It takes some time and patience, but the results are well worth it — the cake is not only gorgeous, but delicious as well.

I make a lot of Passover and naturally gluten-free desserts for At the Immigrant's Table, and I'm a big believer that the best wheat-free desserts are made without specialty replacements like matzo flour. This 7-layer chocolate orange passover cake is given its sponge layers by vigorously beating egg whites and folding them with yolks and then adding a small touch of starch — a method similar to that used to make a light and airy chiffon cake. An egg-based chocolate mousse is all the rich cream this cake needs to offset the layers, but since it's a holiday, we'll also coat it with a chocolate ganache and some candied orange peels. Because why stop at good when you can aim for spectacular?

Served at the end of a special holiday meal, or enjoyed on its own with a warm cup of strong black tea, as my grandmother would serve it, this orange chocolate cake is truly an outstanding dessert. It keeps well for a few days when stored in an airtight container, so you don't even have to rush to finish it.

Making this 7-layer cake is a labor of love, but we promise you, it'll all be worth it in the end. For the soaking syrup that will grace the airy layers of our cake, you will need water, sugar, and orange zest. For the cake layers themselves, you'll need eggs (separated), water, a pinch of salt, sugar, oil, potato starch, and more orange zest. 

For the mousse filling, grab some bittersweet chocolate — make sure it has no soy lecithin to be kosher for Passover, as pulses are not considered kosher for some people – a neutral oil, more separated eggs, and sugar. For the oil, I use grapeseed oil, which is generally kosher for Passover, but you can use any neutral oil you like, like vegetable or Canola oil. 

The cake topping will be made out of a ganache, for which you'll need heavy cream, and a kosher-for-Passover bittersweet chocolate. Some candied orange cubes are the final decorative touch our cake needs, though I also like to decorate its serving platter with fresh orange slices and rosemary branches, to give it a festive look.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Prep a jelly-roll pan with parchment paper.

Combine 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon orange zest in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Cool completely.

Beat 5 egg whites until stiff peaks form.

In a separate bowl, beat 5 yolks until thick and pale, gradually adding 1 tablespoon water, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 tablespoon oil.

Fold in 5 tablespoons of potato starch, one tablespoon at a time. Add 1 tablespoon of orange zest.

Fold in the egg whites.

Spread the batter onto a parchment-lined jelly-roll pan.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. Cool.

Cut the cake into four even strips.

Melt the chocolate with 1 tablespoon of oil. Whisk in 5 yolks.

In a separate bowl, beat 5 whites until stiff, gradually adding ½ cup sugar.

Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Cover a 9 x 13 or English cake pan with plastic wrap, letting the overhang drape over the sides. Place parchment at the bottom.

Layer one cake strip in the pan, brush it with syrup, spread a mousse layer, repeat twice. Top with the final cake strip, and brush it with syrup. Freeze for 4 hours.

Heat ½ cup of cream until steaming. Pour it over the chopped chocolate, and let it sit for 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Cool 5 minutes.

Spread the ganache over the top layer of the cake. Garnish with ¼ cup candied orange cubes.

Refrigerate overnight.

Serve the 7-layer chocolate orange Passover cake.

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Passover may look different around the world, but there are some similar traditions that all Jews follow when it comes to Passover: Namely, the avoidance of all leavened products, which are known as chametz, for the seven or eight days of the holiday (the length varies from Israel to diaspora communities). This means that anything made for Passover must have no baking soda or yeast, and generally, must not contain any wheat unless it is specifically ground from matzo crackers.

This cake complies with Passover restrictions by eliminating all wheat and leavening agents. Instead, it gets its layers from a combination of whipped egg whites and egg yolks, a technique that creates a naturally airy, chiffon-like structure. The only starch here is potato starch, which is derived from a vegetable and is therefore kosher for Passover.

The one thing to monitor here is the chocolate. To adhere to Passover restrictions for observant Jews of Eastern European descent, any chocolate used in the cake should have no soy lecithin. This is easy enough to avoid by buying special chocolate that is labelled as kosher for Passover — it will say so right on the package — or by scanning the ingredients and ensuring soy lecithin isn't on the list.

If your family loves this cake as much as mine does, you'll find yourself making a 7-layer chocolate Passover cake every year. To avoid palette fatigue, there are a few variations I like to try to freshen this cake up from one year to another.

One easy adaptation is to omit any orange ingredients, thus making this a pure chocolate cake. You can also top it with chocolate shavings or fresh berries instead of the orange peel bits. If you prefer another flavor, peppermint and fresh mint will give you a refreshing, cooling combination.

Another variation I like is to use a cookie cutter to cut the cake layers into circles, and serve it in miniature glass cups. This turns it into a mini personalized dessert, rather than a cake to cut. Another adaptation I like is to add ground instant coffee powder to the chocolate ganache and mousse, and to top it with cacao nibs for a coffee-themed variation. And always, edible flowers make for a beautiful garnish for cakes.

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