This Fresh California Orange Cake is one of my favorite cakes. The texture is soft and the flavor is amazing!
Several years ago when my mother was doing some cleaning out, she gave me a little spiral bound cookbook of recipes from a women she had known years ago -Marilyn Martell. Marilyn was an amazing cook and baker. Her little cookbook is full of county fair prize winning recipes. Marilyn has won numerous Sweepstake and Best of Show Awards and one year won 77 ribbons!!! In total she has won over 300 ribbons at various county and state fairs! This woman knew how to bake!
Marilyn’s husband was also my mom’s dentist. Well, small world that it is, years after my mother knew Marilyn in California, Jim and I ended up in the same church/ward as Marilyn’s son Bob. In fact it was Bob’s wife April that introduced me to this amazing recipe of Marilyn’s – Strawberry Cream Pie.
One of Marilyn’s recipes that I have been wanting to try is her Fresh California Orange Cake.
Any cake that wins the blue ribbon at the fair has to be good ! This one definitely is even though I had a bit of a challenge making it – all the challenges were my own fault though! There is nothing wrong with the recipe – it’s me!
In the description of the Fresh California Orange Cake Marilyn says that this cake was awarded a Blue Ribbon and she had to bake it three times at home before leaving for the fairground.
Well, I took Marilyn literally. I too baked it three times!! You will need two 9″ round cake pans.
The first time I made it I realized, after I had put it in the oven, that I had forgotten to add the orange juice. I yanked it out, mixed in the orange juice and put it back in, not a good idea. The cake fell in the middle but tasted delicious.
I was determined to get it right so the next morning I tried it a second time. Remind me to wear my glasses next time I bake a cake! Instead of adding 1/3 cup of butter and shortening I added 1/2 cup of each! Well, if you didn’t know this, cakes fall big time when there is too much fat in them!!
I figured the third time was the charm and Marilyn had to make it 3 times so why shouldn’t I. I was not going to be beat! I did everything right. I sifted the cake flour first and then measured it. I even sifted my powdered sugar for the frosting like Marilyn said to!
So 12 oranges later I found success and boy was it worth it. (The cake does fall slightly in the middle, even when done right.)
This cake is light and delicious. The fresh orange taste is lovely and reminds me of the orange groves in California I would smell as we drove to my grandparents home in San Gabriel.
Wear your glasses and pay attention to the recipe so you don’t have to make it three times!
I took part of the cake over to Bob’s to see if he thought it was as good as his mothers! What did you think Bob??
- 1/3 C butter
- 1/3 C shortening
- 2 tsp grated orange rind
- 1 1/2 C sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 1/2 C sifted cake flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 C fresh orange juice less 2 Tbsp
- 2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate
- 1/2 C butter
- 1 3 oz. pkg cream cheese
- 1 pound powdered sugar sifted
- 1/4 C fresh orange juice
- 2 tsp grated orange rind
- dash salt
- orange food coloring I didn't use
- 1 C flaked coconut
- 1 tsp orange juice
- 1 or 2 drops orange food coloring
- Cream together butter, shortening and rind
- Very gradually add sugar, creaming until light
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each
- Continue beating 5 minutes
- Sift together dry ingredients and add alternately with orange juice to creamed mixture
- Add in orange juice concentrate
- Beat only until smooth after each addition
- Bake in 2 greased and floured 8 inch round pans at 350 for 25-30 minutes
- Cool 10 minutes on rack and then remove from pans and cool
- Fill and frost with Creamy Orange Frosting
- Marilyn decorated hers with tinted orange coconut (I don't like coconut so just used a slice of orange)
- Cream butter and cream cheese
- Gradually beat in sugar alternately with orange juice beating until smooth
- Stir in orange rind and salt
- Add a drop or two of orange food coloring to tint a light orange
- Beat until creamy
- Combine coconut, orange juice and food color
- Shake or stir with a fork
- Coconut should be lightly colored to match frosting
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Wow this looks delicious! I’m going to have to print out all of your recipes and start a book! lol.
🙂 wow does that look DELICIOUS!!!
My next cake project is your lemon crumb cake, but I must say that orange cake with cream cheese frosting sounds amazing! Too many cakes, so little time 🙂
This looks like a great summer cake… we are having a family get together this summer and this just may have to make an appearance. Thanks!
WOW that sounds so good..thanks for sharing that recipe…my mom and dad always make orange oatmeal cookies, wont they be excited when i bring that Fresh California Orange Cake over..YUMMY.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Melissa from Naches, WA
Ohhh! This sounds so good! It cracks me up to think that she made all these sweet baked goods and her husband was the dentist to fill cavities from the sugar. 🙂 I’m running out of printer ink copying your recipes! They all are so great! Thanks!
I can’t wait to make this one! I need to head over to my grandma’s and pick some oranges STAT!
Looks divine!!
LOL…my aunt who taught me to bake always insisted flour should be sifted before measuring for baked goods. I still do even though cooking show hosts don’t seem to think it’s important. I notice that Test Kitchen still does it…I’m careful to watch recipe…2 1/2 cups sifted flour or 2 1/2 cups flour, sifted…makes a difference.
Your lemon curd recipe yesterday reminded me of a dessert I used to make a lot for bridge, etc…. add lemon curd to whipped cream that has been well whipped. Not important to have it well blended…kind of want little chunks of curd. Pour into layer of crushed vanilla wafers. Top with some vanilla wafers. Freeze well. Frozen lemon pie!
Umm… yum. And the Strawberry Pie. I think I need to plan a grocery trip so I can make both of these. Thanks for sharing.
That looks divine! Sounds like a perfect dessert for summertime! Will definitely try this recipe out as the temps start rising…
What I wouldn’t give to reach into the computer for a slice of this! Maybe we’ll have to rethink our dessert idea for our Empty Nester’s party this weekend and switch to this! Then I’d have two of your recipes on the menu (rice pilaf!).
Hee hee, I’m guessing my family would LOVE it if I had to make this 3 times!!
I know I’m late to the cake party, but I wanted to share my cake recipe. I noticed that it is similar to your chocolate cake. My mother-in-law gave me this recipe before I got married, and we have loved eating it for the last ten years. Hope you enjoy our variations! http://hillhang-out.blogspot.com/2010/04/let-them-eat-cake.html
wow…it looks so moist….so delicious I am becoming an instant fan of this site!!
Help! I made this cake tonight and the frosting was runny. In the recipe it says “1/4 fresh orange juice” and I assumed it meant 1/4 C. Is that right? I can’t think what else I would have done wrong. Was yours runny at first? Did you refrigerate it before frosting the cake? Thanks!
Leigh Ann, made this cake today, shared it with all my neighbors, it really turned out pretty, and love the orange flavors, I am with orange like you are with lemon, love it. Thanks for the wonderful recipes.
I also found an article on Blooming Cupcakes for Mother’s Day, they are floral topiaries, using regular and mini size cupcakes and putting them together with bamboo skewers. It’s in the May issue of Ladies Home Journal.
They must serve this in the celestial kingdom! 🙂 Making this as we speak, and sure hope it tastes as good as the batter does!!
I made this cake this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t collapse at all on me. There they were…two perfect level cakes. Woo Hoo. Anyhow, what a great treat. It’s a fantastic spring/summer cake. Thanks.
I added a little orange oil to the cake to enhance the orange flavor even more. Now I need to make one of those cute cake plates that you have in your tutorial.
I think I need to stop eating cake now. It’s not helping the figure. Thanks for the great recipes. I would love to spend a week with Marilyn and collect some of her wonderful recipes. What a treasure.
Hi
How do you measure a 1/3 cup of butter.
Your butter wrapper should have markings on it for measuring – 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup. It also usually lists Tablespoons or you could just fill your 1/3 C measuring cup with butter.
Have you ever made this as cupcakes? My daughter has to do a homeschool presentation on the state of California and likes the idea of an orange cake or cookie. Thanks!
I have not made them as cupcakes. I might be a bit leery just because it is a light, somewhat fragile cake and I have had it fall a bit in the middle. That is easy to cover with a cake but not so much with a cupcake. It is yummy though!!!
I just pulled mine out of the oven and though i is done in the middle it has fallen on both of the rounds. I am soooooo disappointed as this is for my elderly mother’s birthday party tomorrow and it is already 8:00 p.m. I am just hoping that it will still look alright when I frost it. I suppose it will be quite a bit smaller than I had hoped. What wet wrong???
Rita, I’m wondering if it is really humid where you are? That can cause cakes to fall. Hopefully it still tasted great.
Yummy…looks like an awesome dessert for Easter!
I want to eat the cake. I will tell my wife to make it later.
Can’t wait to try!
I just made this cake and it is very bitter. 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder seems like way too much for this cake but I used it anyway because when I bake a new recipe I like to do as directed the first time. The orange flavor isn’t very strong either. I had to alter the icing to try and make up for the bitter cake and nonexistent orange flavor. Not sure if it’s even edible at this point.
Wondering if maybe your oranges weren’t sweet enough. The cake does not have a strong orange flavor, more of the flavor comes from the orange in the frosting.
Maybe your oranges were not sweet. Mine came out with a world of orange taste.
Is this sweetened or unsweetened coconut?
Which ever you prefer. I don’t use it.
I have been looking for this recipe for about 45 years. My grandmother never wrote down recipes and she was a amazing cook. Her method was judge it or better yet handfuls. lol!
I have been talking about this cake for years and I think my daughters are very tired hearing it. I use to beg my grandmother to bake it for every week when I went to stay with her and of course, she always did.
I can’t wait to bake this cake for my family. This recipe from what I can remember is exactly as she make it. Now if I could only find the recipe for her Black Walnut Filled Cookies.
Sandra, I am so glad you found it too. It is one of my all time favorite cakes. I am curious, where is your grandmother from? I got the recipe from a friend, it was his grandmothers and she was from Southern California. Just curious, maybe they knew each other!
I just started making this cake. The batter is thick and not “flowy”. Almost lumpy. What went wrong? It hasn’t came out of the oven so I don’t know if it’ll turn out ok still.
P.s.
If I have to do it over, can I use regular flour?
My boyfriend LOVES anything orange. I tried out this recipe because I saw it on pinterest. He LOVED it so much it became his new favorite over the dark chocolate cake I usually make. This recipe is officially in our rotation!
Ashley, so glad you he loved it. This is probably my favorite cake of all time!!
I made this cake for Mother’s Day. It was perfect.
Thank you.
It’s been too long since I made this cake – it is definitely one of my top favorite cakes. I need to make it too! So glad you enjoyed it.
I found the frosting too lose and had to add more powdered sugar. Next time I will reduce the amount of orange juice.
It was delicious!
What is orange juice concentrate?
It is the frozen orange juice. The frozen juice you add water to. It is called orange juice concentrate before you add the water to it.
I made this cake for Easter and it was great. The frosting tasted wonderful but it did not go on the way other frostings I’ve made for layer cakes. The frosting kept sliding down so even though it tasted great it really wasn’t a pretty presentation. The cake was totally cooled when I frosted so I don’t understand what went wrong. I did use organic powdered sugar but i can’t imagine that would make any difference. Any ideas on what I can do differently the next time? Thanks!
I’m considering making this cake for my husbands bday. If I don’t use the orange concentrate and don’t use fresh orange juice. How much of a difference is there in the taste. I love orange juice but many times fresh squeezed juice isn’t that sweet. Thank you!
Caroline, I am a little confused by your question – what are you planning on using if you don’t use orange concentrate or orange juice? The concentrate is combined with the fresh orange juice to give it a stronger flavor than just what you would get with fresh squeezed juice.