Taking a bite of a perfectly moist orange cake is one of the simplest enjoyments in life. When that cake also has a unique fresh citrus element that tickles your nose before dancing on your tongue, it’s even better.

Humankind has enjoyed cakes since the ancient Egyptians chose to sweeten their loaves of bread with honey and add nuts or dried fruits. Cakes have come a long way since then and are now an essential part of many occasions and traditions.

From simple homemade cakes for birthdays to multi-layer cakes decorated with flowers and extravagant icing for weddings to large sheet cakes to serve entire families for anniversary celebrations, cakes have embedded themselves into the fabric of society.

What Is Orange Cake?

Orange cake is a soft, moist cake that will melt in your mouth and give you a burst of fresh orange flavor. It is simple to make but perfect for many occasions, even if that occasion is just you wanting to try something new.

You can make an orange cake in different forms, including bundt cakes, loaves, cupcakes, or round or rectangular cakes. If making it in a different form than the recipe calls for, make sure to keep an eye on the cake while it is baking since the exact time required may vary.

The recipe calls for using a mixer. This method adds extra air to the batter to make the cake fluffy and light. However, if you don’t have a mixer or don’t want to use it for this recipe, you can mix the batter by hand in a bowl. Just make sure you beat the eggs and sugar until they are light and fluffy.

How To Make Orange Cake

You can put together an amazing orange cake by following this recipe. Make sure to use fresh oranges for the best flavor. You can use the same oranges for the juice and the zest, so nothing goes to waste.

New Flavorful Orange Cake Recipe in 2022

Orange cake is a soft, moist cake that will melt in your mouth and give you a burst of fresh orange flavor. You can make an orange cake in different forms, including bundt cakes, loaves, cupcakes, or round or rectangular cakes.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 1 hr 10 mins

Cooling Time 15 mins

Total Time 1 hr 40 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Calories 385 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 2 ½ cups of sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
• 4 large eggs
• 1 ½ cups of granulated sugar
• 1 cup of oil
• 1 ¼ cups of freshly squeezed orange juice
• Zest from 3-4 oranges
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Instructions

 

Steps

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease your pan. You can use a 10-inch bundt pan or two standard-sized loaf pans – approximately 9inches by 13 inches.
• Whisk the flour and baking powder together in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
• Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugar on high speed for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is fluffy and pale.
• Reduce the mixer speed to low, and slowly add the oil until it’s combined.
• Then, add the orange juice, zest, and vanilla extract, mixing slowly until the mixture is combined.
• Add the flour and baking powder mixture you had set aside, and continue whisking only until combined. You don’t want to overmix the batter.
• Pour the batter into the pan or pans you have prepared, and bake for around 50 minutes. For a bundt cake, the time will be 50-60 minutes, and for loaf pans, it will be 40-50 minutes. When done, a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
• Place the cake or cakes on a wire rack until completely cooled.

Optional Glaze

• Maybe you’d like to make your orange cake a little bit fancier. Perhaps you’re serving it to guests or for a special occasion in your family. Of course, you can always choose to treat yourself to something extra special for no occasion at all.
• Whatever the reason, if you want to dress up your orange slice cake, you can make a simple glaze to drizzle over the top. Just combine one cup of powdered sugar with two tablespoons of orange juice and the zest from half an orange and drizzle it over your orange bread or cake.
• Half an orange should produce about two tablespoons of juice, so it’s handy.

Serving and Storage

• It is best to serve orange cakes at room temperature, so plan to allow them time to cool down or take them out of the refrigerator or freezer with sufficient time to come to room temperature before serving.
• Orange cakes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days in an airtight container. They also freeze well. If you choose to make two loaves of orange loaf cake, you can serve one right away and freeze the extra for later.
• To freeze, make sure the loaf is wrapped well in plastic wrap, aluminum foil, and/or a zip-top bag. You can keep it in the freezer for up to two months.
• To serve, thaw the loaf in the refrigerator overnight and then take it out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature before serving.

Extra Tips and Tricks for Orange Cake

Since this is a very moist cake, it can stick to the pan easily. Make sure to grease the pan you are using sufficiently, especially if you choose a bundt pan since it has extra nooks for the cake to get stuck in.

While baking, if the top of the cake is browning too quickly, you can cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil.

Make sure you use fresh baking powder. This ingredient causes the cake to rise while it bakes, and older baking powder won’t produce the same effect as fresh does.

For a healthier spin on this orange cake, use coconut oil instead of vegetable or canola oil. The fats in coconut oil have a more stable structure than the polyunsaturated fats in vegetable oil.

Polyunsaturated fats cause inflammation, which is linked to heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues. Coconut oil is a less processed option compared to other cooking oils.

Coconut oil does have a slight coconut taste, but it can be a nice complement to orange cake recipes. This oil is also solid at room temperature, so to incorporate it into the batter, you need to melt it first.

Orange Cake Nutrition Facts

Orange cake is a decadent treat. The nutrition information for your cake will vary depending on your serving size. As an example, if you cut your bundt cake into 12 slices, each piece would contain around 385 calories, 20 grams of fat, 48 grams of carbohydrates, and 5 grams of protein.

Those amounts are true whether you use vegetable or coconut oil to make your cake. However, they do not account for the glaze, so if you choose to glaze your cake, be aware that it will add around 40 calories to each serving.