This Orange Cake is one of my favorite cakes. The texture is soft and the flavor is amazing thanks to fresh orange juice and zest!
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 named 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!
Several of Marilyn’s recipes have become family favorites, including this Strawberry Cream Pie.
Marilyn’s Orange Cake is another favorite and I think I can honestly say it is my favorite cake ever! Any cake that wins the blue ribbon at the fair has to be good ! In the description of the Fresh California Orange Cake Marilyn says that she had to bake it three times before leaving for the fairground. Practice makes perfect.
Well, I took Marilyn literally. I baked it three times too!! 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 do it right and the second time I forgot to wear my glasses and 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 since Marilyn had to make it 3 times, why shouldn’t I. So 12 oranges later, I found success and boy was it worth it. Note: The cakee does fall slightly in the middle, even when done right so don’t worry. I figure there is just more room for frosting! 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.
The secret to success with this cake is using freshly squeeze orange juice along with some frozen orange juice. The fresh juice makes a difference.
How to Make Orange Cake
- You will need two 9″ cake pans. Grease and flour them. I also like to line the bottom of mine with wax paper which I also grease and flour.
- This recipe uses cake flour. Cake flour will give you a more tender, lighter cake, so go get yourself some. You will usually find it in a box in the baking aisle.
- One trick to a nice, tender cake is to not over mix it after adding the flour.
- To get even cake layers, be sure and get an even amount of batter in both pans. I like to use my kitchen scale and weigh the pans with the batter in them. Add or subtract as needed.
- Bake until golden brown and a tooth pick comes out clean. Allow cake to cool for 10-20 minutes and then run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn upside down onto a cooling rack. Be sure and remember to remove the wax paper from the bottom of each cake layer. Don’t worry if the cake falls a bit in the middle, just more room for frosting.
- After the cake is completely cool, wrap each layer in plastic wrap so that it is air tight and freeze. Freeze overnight or at least a couple of hours. The cake will frost so much easier if it has been frozen.
- Remove from the freezer and assemble the cake, adding frosting between the two layers. Then, apply a crumb coat of frosting over the whole cake. A crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting that locks in all the crumbs so they don’t come through on the final layer of frosting.
- After applying the crumb coat, pop the cake back in the freezer for about 30 minutes so the crumb coat will firm up. Add the final layer of frosting and garnish with slices of orange.
Can I Freeze Cake?
Cake actually freezes really well, frosting and all. Just be sure and wrap it up airtight in plastic wrap. You can also slice the cake into pieces and wrap each piece in plastic wrap or place in an airtight container. It will keep for up to a year, but it never lasts that long at our house.
Check out more of my favorite cake recipes:
Orange Cake Recipe
Orange Cake
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/3 cup shortening
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 1/2 cup cake flour sifted
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup orange juice fresh squeezed, less 2 Tbsp
- 2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate
Creamy Orange Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 6 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 1/4 cup orange juice fresh
- 2 tsp orange zest
- dash salt
Instructions
- 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
- Wrap cake layers in plastic wrap and freeze for an hour to overnight before frosting. (See frosting directions below)
Creamy Orange Frosting
- 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 and spreading consistency.
- Place frosting between cake layers. Put a thin coating of frosting over entire cake, a crumb coat and then freeze cake for 30 minutes.
- Add final layer of frosting over entire cake. Garnish with some fresh orange slices.
Nutrition
originally published April 15, 2010
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I did a dark chocolate ganache instead with a little bit of orange zest and it was amazing.
Recipe turned out great! And VERY delicious! I didn’t have cake flour so used all purpose flour and sifted it 5 times. It was moist and delicious!! The icing with the orange zest was amazing! When I first tasted it I thought about adding a little orange extract, but with the cake, it was perfect!
I am so glad you loved the cake. It is my favorite cake ever!!
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.
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!
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 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!
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.
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 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?
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!
Is this sweetened or unsweetened coconut?
Which ever you prefer. I don’t use it.
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.
Can’t wait to try!
I want to eat the cake. I will tell my wife to make it later.
Yummy…looks like an awesome dessert for Easter!
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.
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.
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.
They must serve this in the celestial kingdom! 🙂 Making this as we speak, and sure hope it tastes as good as the batter does!!
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.
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!
wow…it looks so moist….so delicious I am becoming an instant fan of this site!!
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
Hee hee, I’m guessing my family would LOVE it if I had to make this 3 times!!
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!).
That looks divine! Sounds like a perfect dessert for summertime! Will definitely try this recipe out as the temps start rising…
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.
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!
Looks divine!!
I can’t wait to make this one! I need to head over to my grandma’s and pick some oranges STAT!
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!
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
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!
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 🙂
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!!!