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
Hi! I’m planning on making this for my friend’s cutie-themed baby shower. As I’m hosting, I’m trying to figure out what I can do ahead of time and I’d love to know if it’s possible to make the cake ahead of time, freeze the sponges and defrost 24 hours before to decorate day of? Thank you!
Hi Deepika! 🙂
I haven’t tried freezing these cake layers myself, but usually if wrapped well in cling wrap and placed into an airtight container before freezing, they should be fine 🙂
Would love to hear how it goes if you decide to try it out!
I want to make this a Bundt have you done this? Do you change the temp and or time baking?
Hi Tricia! I unfortunately haven’t tried this recipe as a bundt cake so I’m not too sure how it would bake up sorry! I usually bake my bundt cakes at 180C (350F) in a conventional oven 🙂
best orange cake i ever taste it!!
thank you for sharing this recipe..
Aww thanks so much Azkia! Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 😀
Hello MK! I tried this recipe today with reduced sugar of 1 cup instead. I baked the cake without icing with 8inch pan at 180C for 35mins but it was uncooked until I baked for another 30mins. It turns out good but it’s kinda dry and the side of the cake is hard (I guess because its baked for too long). Any idea what went wrong? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Suki! 🙂 So sorry to hear the cake isn’t quite turning out how you’d hoped. It sounds like you may be putting all the batter into one 8 inch pan? If so, then this is the reason it’s taking a long time to bake as there is too much batter in one cake tin. The longer bake time will then cause the edges of the cake to overbake.
If you only want to make one 8 inch cake, I would recommend halving the recipe 🙂
Hope that helps for next time!
can you use this recipe for cupcakes?
Hi Carmelo! Yes you should be able to use this recipe for cupcakes without any problems – you’ll just need to reduce the cook time to around the 18 min mark 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
Typo. *ever made
So glad you loved it Lauren 😀
This is hands down the best cake I’ve everbook and that’s not becaue of me but because of the recipe. It was like something from a professional. It was SO moist! I used coconut oil instead of canola but it mixed really well with the orange flavor. This is definitely a keeper in the recipe book.
Aww yay! I’m so glad to hear you loved the recipe Lauren and I’m honored that it’s the best cake you’ve ever made!! Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback 😀
Please give me the quantity of ingredients I should use for an oven tray size cake
Due to some dietary restrictions, I made the following “alterations (and it is still amazing!);
1:1 gluten free flour
applesauce for oil
orange flavoring for vanilla
I made into cupcakes with a blueberry on top!
Thanks for the easy directions!
Awesome! So glad it still came out great with the substitutions Lori 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
This orange cake recipe from Cakes by MK is a delightful treat, The combination of fresh orange juice and zest gives it a bright, citrusy flavor that’s perfectly balanced with its sweetness. The texture is wonderfully moist and fluffy, making it a crowd-pleaser for any occasion. The clear instructions make it easy to follow, even for beginners. A must-try for anyone who loves light, refreshing desserts.
Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback Supriya!
So so happy to hear you loved the orange cake 🙂
Hi MK! I have tried your orange cake recipe and it’s now a family favorite where everyone requests for this cake during family events 🙂 Thanks for sharing this recipe. I would like to check if I want to bake the cake in a 24-mould mini muffin tray, what is the recommended time and temperature to bake the muffins? As per your recipe above, what serving size measurement should I choose to get the 24 small muffins? This would be my first time using a muffin tray.
Hi Keerthana! So glad to hear your family is loving the recipe 😀
You can totally make muffins/cupcakes out of this recipe. For a standard 12 hole muffin tray the cook time would be roughly around the 18 min mark, so smaller muffins will bake faster. I would check at around the 10 minute mark and bake more as needed. 1x the recipe will probably be enough for two (or just less than two) mini muffin trays.
Hope that helps Keerthana! 🙂