There’s something special about the bright, tangy flavor of oranges that just makes you smile, and this super moist orange cake recipe captures that sunny essence perfectly! The cake layers are packed with orange flavor and have the most soft, tender crumb. With a delicious orange cream cheese frosting to top it all off, this citrus packed cake is sure to become a family favorite!
Why you’ll love this orange cake
There are two things which make a cake truly special – flavor and texture.
This orange cake has wonderful orange flavor, using fresh oranges only. You could add additional orange extracts or essences to the batter, but in my opinion, it really doesn’t need it. The natural orange flavor that permeates through both the cake and frosting is what truly makes this such a ‘bright’ and fun cake!
Now don’t even get me started on the texture! This orange cake truly has one of the most soft, tender crumbs I have ever come across. It’s light and fluffy (almost like a sponge cake!), and the velvety texture leaves you with a cake that literally melts in your mouth (similar to my lemon and vanilla cake recipes). IT IS INCREDIBLE!
How to make orange cake
This cake consists of two orange cake layers sandwiched between a delicious orange cream cheese frosting, adapted from my original cream cheese frosting recipe.
Orange cake
Begin by preheating your oven to 180 °C (350°F) and grease and/or line two 8 inch round cake pans (I use my homemade cake release). If using a fan function (also known as convection mode) then you will need to reduce the temperature to 160C (320F).
Sift together all purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Mix together using a whisk or fork and set aside.
In a large bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and orange zest. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer will both work) on a medium speed, cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy. By adding in the orange zest during the creaming stage, it’ll help release more of the flavor from the orange zest.
Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between addition.
Add in milk, orange juice (freshly squeezed) and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Add your flour mixture to your wet mixture, and using a spatula, fold until just combined. Do not overmix, so only fold until you can’t see anymore streaks of flour and the batter is uniform. If you overmix the batter, you’ll develop too much of the gluten in the flour, which will give you a dense cake.
Pour the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. Level the tops and drop the cake tins lightly on the counter to remove any large air bubbles. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, before turning them out onto a cooling rack. Allow the cake layers to completely cool before frosting.
Orange cream cheese frosting
Cream your butter for a few minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
Add in the powdered sugar (also known as icing or confectioners’ sugar) in 3 batches while mixing on a low speed. Ensure that each batch of powdered sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
Next add in the cold cream cheese, vanilla, orange zest and fresh orange juice. Mix just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing.
How to decorate orange cake
There are so many wonderful ways you could decorate an orange cake, but here is how I decorated mine 🙂
So to start off I levelled off the tops of my cake layers so that they were nice and flat. These cake layers do bake up quite flat, so I only trimmed off a really small amount, mainly to remove the caramelised top.
I also trimmed off the caramelised edges of the cake layers. This step isn’t necessary though – I just wanted the perfect thumbnail (haha!), so you can skip it if you want 🙂
I then went ahead and placed my first cake layer in the middle of a cake stand and smoothed out some frosting on the top with my offset spatula.
I then placed the next cake layer on top, and again smoothed out some frosting on top and sides of the cake, so that the cake was completely covered. I didn’t bother doing a crumb coat (check out this video for more info on what a crumb coat is), but you can do one if you prefer. I then used my cake scraper to smooth out the sides.
Now when you scrape the sides of a cake, you usually end up with a lip of frosting around the top edges. To get rid of these and get a ‘sharp edge’ on the top, slowly bring your offset spatula into the middle of the cake, catching that lip of frosting as you go.
I then finished off by doing some piping around the top edges using a 1M piping tip.
How do you store orange cake?
This orange cake can be left at room temperature for the day, however overnight it will need to be refrigerated due to the cream cheese in the frosting. The fat and sugar in the frosting will prevent the cream cheese from going off immediately, which is why you can keep it out at room temperature for an extended period of time.
When storing, place it into an airtight container, and into the refrigerator. Allow it to come to room temperature before serving.
Moist Orange Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Orange Cake
- 2¼ cups (270 g) flour - plain, all purpose (see note 1 if you want to use cake flour)
- ⅓ cup (40 g) cornstarch
- 2¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ⅓ cup (75 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- 1¼ cups (250 g) white granulated sugar
- 3 tsp orange zest - see note 2
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 5½ tbsp (90 g) milk - room temperature, full-fat. In the video I say 90g (3/4s of a cup) but that is incorrect sorry! It should be 90g (5 1/2 tbsp) 🙂
- ½ cup (112 g) orange juice - freshly squeezed
- 2 tsp vanilla extract/essence
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 4½ cups (570 g) powdered sugar - also known as icing/confectioners sugar. Use more for a thicker frosting (see note 4)
- 1½ cups (335 g) cream cheese - cold, firm type (see note 5)
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract/essence
- 2 tsps orange zest - see note 2
- 1½ tbsp orange juice - freshly squeezed
Instructions
Orange Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) (see note 3 if using a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
- Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Mix together using a whisk or fork and set aside.
- In a large bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and orange zest. Using a hand or stand mixer on a medium speed, cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between addition.
- Add in milk, orange juice and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Add your pre-sifted dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and using a spatula, fold until just combined. Do not overmix, so only fold until you can't see anymore streaks of flour and the batter is uniform.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. Level the tops and drop the cake tins lightly on the counter to remove any large air bubbles. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, before turning them out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream your butter for a few minutes until it's light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
- Add in the powdered sugar in 3 batches while mixing on a low speed. Ensure that each batch of powdered sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
- Next add in the cold cream cheese, vanilla, orange zest and fresh orange juice. Mix just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing (see note 6).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
164 Comments
Totally moist and delicious. Really appreciated the measurements in grams as well as cups.
Yay! So glad you loved the recipe Cynthia 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
This is a second attempt I’m making that recipe and every time I’m beating up the butter with Oli it spreads…
Hi Justyna! 🙂 I am so sorry to hear you’re having trouble with the initial butter/oil/sugar mixture separating. This is likely due to the butter being too cold. I would recommend allowing the butter to come to room temp, and if you stay in a cold climate, heating it up slightly before using (sometimes room temp can still be too cold). The butter should be firm enough to hold it’s shape, but soft enough that you can make an indent in it easily with your fingers. Hope that helps for next time 🙂
Made this today the best orange cake I have ever made !
Beautiful bake !
Thankyou
Yay! So glad you loved the recipe Vera 😀 really appreciate the feedback 🙂
I just want to make sure I understand right. I see that AP flour can be replaced with cake flour and cornstarch; does this mean that I should use 270g cake flour plus an additional 30g of cornstarch (to create 300g) in addition to the 40g of cornstarch added later?
Hi Jana! 🙂 If using cake flour, then you will want to substitute both the all purpose flour and cornstarch with cake flour (so no cornstarch used in the recipe). For this recipe, that means you will want to use 310g of cake flour and completely omit both the cornstarch and AP flour (this is because the combination of AP flour and cornstarch used in this recipe is supposed to somewhat mimic cake flour). Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe Jana 🙂
Making this with an orange and coconut drizzle top, its in the oven baking right now
Sounds delicious Lisa! Hope you enjoy the recipe 😀
Cake’s in the oven now, but we won’t be having the party (my granddaughter’s 3rd!) until Sunday. Should I freeze it prior to frosting or just store it in the fridge well wrapped?
Hi Evan! 🙂 My apologies for the delay in reply. If the cake will be consumed within 1-2 days then you could wrap the cake layers well and pop them into an airtight container in the fridge, however any longer then I would recommend freezing the cake layers just to ensure they still taste nice and fresh 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you all enjoyed the cake!
I made this cake for a colleagues birthday at work and it was a massive hit, everyone loved it including myself. I followed your instructions exactly and it was very easy. The cake was soft, moist and spongy, and the cream cheese frosting was addictive. So just wanted to say thank you. Will definitely make this again as well as try out a few of your other recipes. 😊
Aww yay! So so happy to hear everyone loved the orange cake Tracey 😀 really appreciate the feedback and hope you enjoy the other recipes just as much as this one 🙂
Hi there, how many cupcakes do these bake and how long could I pop them in the oven? Thank you!!.
Also, is this frosting recipe stiff enough to be piped for cupcakes? Thank you!!!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. If I added cream cheese or sour cream to the recipe would I need to omit the milk.
Hi Nikki 🙂 So happy to hear you’re going to be giving the recipe a go!
I haven’t tried adding cream cheese or sour cream to the recipe myself so I’m not too sure how it may affect the texture of the cake – it may make the cake more dense as the milk helps to thin out the batter. I would recommend sticking to the milk just so that you get a nice fluffy crumb 🙂
Hope that helps and if you do decide to give the cream cheese/sour cream a go would love to hear how it went 🙂
Made this cake for my Mom on Mothers day, it was an absolute hit! I substituted the icing for a ermine cream cheese buttercream however but it was still amazing! My mom was nearly cried with how much she enjoyed it. Not too intense orange flavour but it was still very much there. Such a light and fluffy cake! ill definitely make it again!
Aww yay! So so happy to hear the cake was a hit Liezl 😀 Ermine cream cheese buttercream sounds like an absolutely delicious combination with this cake – I’ll have to try that sometime 😀
Really appreciate the feedback and hope you had a wonderful day celebrating with your mum 🙂