Orange Cake
on Nov 25, 2022, Updated Dec 20, 2024
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Beautiful in color, sweet and citrusy in taste, this easy orange cake can be made for so many different occasions!
This easy orange cake is one of the best cakes I’ve made in a long time with great orange flavor and a terrific tender texture. And the batter is so simple, no mixer required! This recipe works both as a dessert and also as a snacking cake, perfect for breakfast or a midday pick-me-up. It also can be made in a round cake pan, a square cake pan, or a loaf pan, depending on your mood. Other than zesting and squeezing the orange, this cake is just a matter of combining wet and dry ingredients, just like any other simple cake recipe.
Orange cake can be dressed up with confectioners’ sugar, iced, or simply brushed with an orange glaze for extra sweet-citrusy flavor. Or, whip up a batch of perfect whipped cream.
Serve orange cake with either some coffee or tea or maybe even a cocktail such as an Old-Fashioned or a Pisco Sour.
Table of Contents
Orange Cake: Beautiful in color, sweet and citrusy in taste, this easy orange cake can be made for so many different occasions!
Ingredients
If you want this cake to be its very best, you must use fresh orange juice and zest to get the freshest citrus flavor. And since you need to zest the orange for your cake anyway, why wouldn’t you also squeeze the juice?
- All-purpose or cake flour – All-purpose flour will give it a slightly less refined crumb than cake flour, but both work perfectly.
- Unsalted butter – Make sure to have your butter at room temperature so it creams with the sugar and becomes smooth. Some orange cakes use oil, but I just love the taste and tenderness of butter in cakes!
- Baking powder and baking soda – Always make sure your baking powder and soda are fresh so they work at their best.
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Pure vanilla extract – Please use pure, not imitation, which really doesn’t have the same flavor.
- Orange juice and zest – This is where the orange action comes in! A double whammy from the juice and the zest. Strain the juice to avoid getting any little pits in your cake. And when you zest the orange, stop before you get to the white pith, which is bitter. Some of the juice will be combined with sugar for the glaze.
How to Make Orange Cake
- Mix the dry ingredients: Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Mix the wet ingredients: Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Blend in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla, orange juice, and zest.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture in three batches.
- Bake: Pour and scrape the batter into a prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes for a 9-inch cake and 40 to 45 minutes for a loaf cake.
- Make the syrup: In a small bowl, stir together the 3 tablespoons orange juice and 1/4 cup sugar.
- Glaze the cake: As soon as you remove the cakes from the pan and flip them upright on a wire rack, brush half of the syrup over the top of the cake. Allow it to soak in for several minutes, then brush the rest of the glaze over the top and sides of the cake. Allow to cool completely. Slice the cake and serve.
Variations
What I love about this recipe is that you have choices about what pan to bake it in. You can make it in a 9-inch cake pan, and then you can serve it more like a dessert, in wedges, perhaps with whipped cream. Or, if you like, skip the glaze and make a frosting for the cake. The chocolate sour cream frosting from the carrot cupcake recipe would be great. Or try the plain cream cheese frosting from the banana cake.
If you want to make a layer cake, double the recipe, divide the batter between two 9-inch pans, and bake according to directions. Pick your frosting and frost it as you would any layer cake.
Or bake the cake in a loaf pan, and then it feels more like a tea cake, sweet quick bread, or orange pound cake. Again, the orange glaze is optional, but for this loaf version, it makes it feel extra special. The baking time for the loaf pan version is about 15 minutes longer than for the thinner round single-layer cake version.
Tips
- Bake for about 25 minutes for a 9-inch cake.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes for a loaf cake.
- When a toothpick or wooden skewer comes out clean, the cake is done.
Storage
Store this cake wrapped tightly at room temperature for about a week. Or transfer it to an airtight container.
What to Serve With Orange Cake
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Orange Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose or cake flour (not self-rising) (plus more for flouring the pan)
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (at room temperature; plus more for greasing the pan)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup freshly orange juice
- 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
For the Orange Syrup (Optional):
- 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- ¼ cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter 1 9-inch round cake pan or 1 loaf pan. Line the bottom of whichever pan you chose with parchment paper, and then butter and flour the interior, including the paper at the bottom, too.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the 1 1/4 cups flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- In another medium-sized bowl, cream together the butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes until the mixture is smooth. Blend in the eggs one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated. Blend in the vanilla, 1/3 cup orange juice and zest.
- Blend the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture in 3 batches, beating on low speed just until the flour is incorporated. The batter may look a little grainy, which is ok.
- Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 25 minutes for a 9-inch cake and 40 to 45 minutes for a loaf cake, until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan on wire racks for 15 minutes, then turn the cake out of the pans, peel off the paper, and turn it upright to finish cooling on the racks.
- While the cake is baking, make the optional Orange Syrup. In a small bowl, stir together the 3 tablespoons orange juice and 1/4 cup sugar. The sugar may not become fully dissolved in the syrup, which is ok.
- As soon as you remove the cakes from the pan and flip them upright on the wire racks, give the orange syrup a very good stir and brush half of it over the top of the cake. Allow it to soak in for several minutes, then brush the rest of the glaze over the top and sides of the cake. Allow to cool completely. Slice and serve.
