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    Home » Recipes » Cakes + Cupcakes

    Orange Cake

    Published: Jun 1, 2018 · Modified: Dec 9, 2020 by Modern Honey · This post may contain affiliate links · 108 Comments

    20730 shares
    Jump to Recipe

    Homemade Orange Cake with Sweet Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. How to make the best orange cake. Orange cake with orange frosting. Naked orange cake. www.modernhoney.com #cake #orangecake #nakedcake #nakedorangecake

    Best Orange Cake

    A moist, tender fresh orange cake with a sweet orange cream cheese frosting. How to make the perfect orange cake!

    Homemade Orange Cake with Sweet Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. How to make the best orange cake. Orange cake with orange frosting. Naked orange cake. www.modernhoney.com #cake #orangecake #nakedcake #nakedorangecake

    Oh, how I love baking cakes. Since my kids were little, I always let them choose their ultimate cake flavor. They would come up with some highly creative, interesting ideas! Since my daughter loves all things fruit, she always asks for a fresh fruit cake.

    She was turning 10 and requested a homemade orange cake with orange cream cheese frosting. I emailed my sister-in-law, who is an incredible cake baker, and she sent over this recipe. I have tweaked it over the years but it the perfect orange cake recipe.

    Homemade Orange Cake with Sweet Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. How to make the best orange cake. Orange cake with orange frosting. Naked orange cake. www.modernhoney.com #cake #orangecake #nakedcake #nakedorangecake

    This fluffy Orange Cake made with fresh orange juice and orange zest gives it that perfect amount of orange flavor. The frosting is a combination of sweet cream butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and orange zest. You can completely cover the cake with frosting for a traditional cake or if you love the look of a naked cake, just do a nice "crumb coat" on the outside of the cake. This makes a beautiful naked orange cake!

    Homemade Orange Cake with Sweet Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. How to make the best orange cake. Orange cake with orange frosting. Naked orange cake. www.modernhoney.com #cake #orangecake #nakedcake #nakedorangecake

    To make this Orange Cake extra special, I used a Blood Orange Olive Oil from the Queen Creek Olive Oil. This infuses the cake with a light fragrant blood orange flavor. You can buy straight from their website HERE.

    Queen Creek Olive Mill Blood Orange Olive Oil. Homemade Orange Cake with Sweet Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. How to make the best orange cake. Orange cake with orange frosting. Naked orange cake. www.modernhoney.com #cake #orangecake #nakedcake #nakedorangecake

    Tips for making the Best Orange Cake:

    1. Start with the dry ingredients. Stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. The two leavening agents – baking soda and baking powder – give the cake a nice rise.
    2. Adding Oil makes the orange cake extra moist. You can use extra-virgin olive oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, or coconut oil. My favorite thing to use is the Blood Orange Olive Oil from the Queen Creek Olive Oil. You can find it HERE.
    3. Use Orange Juice and Fresh Orange Zest to impart orange flavor into the cake. This gives it an all-natural orange flavor. A zester is an essential tool in the kitchen to ensure you only get the orange peel, instead of the bitter white rind.
    4. Sour Cream helps to create a perfect texture. By using sour cream or buttermilk, it creates a tender crumb.
    5. Bake just until a toothpick comes out clean in the center of the cake. If you want the cake to be extra moist, you may brush the layers with a simple syrup, which is a water-sugar syrup.
    6. Once the cakes are cool, frost with homemade orange frosting. The frosting is made by whipping butter and cream cheese for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, orange juice, and orange zest.

    Homemade Orange Cake with Sweet Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. How to make the best orange cake. Orange cake with orange frosting. Naked orange cake. www.modernhoney.com #cake #orangecake #nakedcake #nakedorangecake

    MORE FAVORITE CAKE RECIPES FROM MODERN HONEY:

    • LEMON Olive Oil Cake
    • VANILLA Cupcakes
    • YELLOW Cake with Chocolate Frosting
    • Love at First Sight CHOCOLATE Cake 
    • Chocolate RASPBERRY Cake 
    • COCONUT Cake 
    • RED VELVET Cake
    • Jeff's Best BANANA Cake 
    • Southern CARAMEL Cake 
    • BERRY Chantilly Cream Cake 

    Click to find some of my favorite cake pans -- 8-inch cake pan and 9-inch cake pan.

    Homemade Orange Cake with Sweet Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. How to make the best orange cake. Orange cake with orange frosting. Naked orange cake. www.modernhoney.com #cake #orangecake #nakedcake #nakedorangecake

    Homemade Orange Cake with Sweet Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. How to make the best orange cake. Orange cake with orange frosting. Naked orange cake. www.modernhoney.com #cake #orangecake #nakedcake #nakedorangecake

    Orange Cake

    Melissa Stadler, Modern Honey
    A fresh homemade orange cake with a sweet cream cheese frosting.
    4.83 from 57 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Saved!
    Prep Time 15 mins
    Cook Time 20 mins
    Total Time 35 mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 ½ cups Flour
    • 1 ¾ cups Sugar
    • 1 ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
    • 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
    • ¾ teaspoon Salt
    • 1 cup Oil (extra-virgin olive oil, canola, vegetable, coconut, or blood orange evoo)
    • 1 cup Fresh Orange Juice
    • 3 Eggs
    • 1 cup Sour Cream
    • 1 - 2 teaspoons Orange Zest

    Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:

    • 1 cup Butter softened
    • 1 - 8- ounce pkg. Cream Cheese softened
    • 4 cups Powdered Sugar
    • 1 teaspoon Orange Zest
    • 2 Tablespoons Fresh Orange Juice

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    • In a large mixing bowl, stir flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
    • In another mixing bowl, cream oil, orange juice, eggs, sour cream, and orange zest until completely mixed.
    • Fold in dry ingredients, mixing only until combined.
    • Generously grease your non-stick cake pans with non-stick cooking spray or grease them with butter and flour. Pour batter into greased (3) 8-inch or (2) 9-inch cake pans.
    • Bake for 19-21 minutes, depending on the size of pan used. To test if the cakes are done, insert a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cakes are done. Let cool for 15 minutes before removing from pans.
    • To make frosting:
    • In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of the bowl halfway through mixing. Stir in powdered sugar, orange zest, and orange juice.
    • Once cakes are cooled, frost with orange cream cheese frosting.
    Keyword orange cake
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

     

    Pin on Pinterest:

    Homemade Orange Cake with Sweet Orange Cream Cheese Frosting. How to make the best orange cake. Orange cake with orange frosting. Naked orange cake. www.modernhoney.com #cake #orangecake #nakedcake #nakedorangecake

    That girl, who was turning ten years old, just graduated a few days ago from high school. Of course, I heard from older mothers about how fast time goes but still wasn’t fully prepared. I am so excited for her to experience college life but my heart aches to think of her leaving home. The day after graduation, we took off for Kauai Hawaii to celebrate her graduation. This is just what the family needed – some good relaxing family time while filling our days with some serious adventure! You can follow along on instagram @modern_honey. Happy Baking, my friends!

    More Cakes + Cupcakes

    • Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
    • Best Lemon Loaf Bread
    • Chocolate Orange Cake
    • Hummingbird Cake

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jilly

      December 04, 2020 at 10:01 am

      This cake is amazing! I had enough batter to fill three 9" cake tins (520 grams each). They took 23 minutes to bake. Based on the comments, I used about 1-2 tbsp less oil and it came out moist and delicious. Cream cheese isn't for me so I used swiss meringue buttercream (with a citrus curd in the middle) and piped the top with roses. I'd highly recommend this recipe!

      Reply
    2. Stephanie

      December 18, 2020 at 2:48 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious cake!

      The baking time was not enough so I kept it in longer and just watched it.

      Next time I'll use flour on the pans so the cake won't stick.

      Reply
    3. Chele

      January 10, 2021 at 9:39 pm

      I made this recipe, but as cupcakes. Sadly they turned out very oily and crumbly. If I try it again, I'll cut the oil in half. (Just a heads-up if anyone wanted to try it for cupcakes. )

      Reply
    4. Nancy

      January 12, 2021 at 10:23 am

      5 stars
      This cake is moist and delicious! I made it a few days ago. It was a huge hit. I made two 8 inch layers and they took 30 minutes to bake. (Not the 19 to 21 minutes mentioned in the recipe.). I sprayed my pans with baking Pam (which has flour in it). It came out perfectly. Definitely a keeper!

      Reply
    5. Barbara

      February 01, 2021 at 11:41 am

      Cake has great flavor but it calls for way too much oil and sour cream. Cake would not raise properly. On 2nd try with just a 1/2 cup of blood orange olive oil, a single serving size of nonfat plain Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream and it raised beautifully.
      Also you do not need near the amount of butter in the cream cheese frosting and it is still as good.

      Reply
    6. alexis adams

      February 07, 2021 at 11:27 am

      This cake is delicious! Came out perfectly (a little longer bake time for me - approximately 30 minutes). I am so pleased! I did use a teeny bit less than a cup of the blood orange oil. Everyone thinks its delicious. So happy to have found this recipe!

      Reply
    7. Anne

      February 20, 2021 at 1:19 pm

      4 stars
      the cake is delicious! I didnt have cream cheese so I used mascarpone with powder sugar, heavy whipping cream, a pinch of sale, a dash of vanilla extract and orange zest. AMAZING! I did take a star off because the cake is extremely oily and it wouldnt hold its shape. Even fridge chilled, it wanted to break into pieces. Next time I might reduce the amount of oil and sour cream to create a bit more structure. This cake wouldnt work for cupcakes I dont think.

      Reply
    8. Karen Austgen

      April 05, 2021 at 8:01 am

      5 stars
      Thank you so much for this recipe, I LOVE IT! And it might now be my favorite cake ever (replacing Red Velvet with the traditional cooked frosting). I made cupcakes, and baked them for 18 minutes. The cupcakes were very tender and delicate but definitely baked completely. Oh, and I made my own blood orange evoo by processing the peel from 2 blood oranges with 1-1/4 cup of evoo. I let it sit for 90 minutes before straining out the peel. I will definitely be making this recipe again and again!

      Reply
    9. Joanne Gera

      April 19, 2021 at 12:38 am

      5 stars
      Made this cake for my son's birthday and it was so delicious. I was worried it would be too sweet or overpowered by orange flavor, but no, it was perfect. Will definitely be making this again! Thank you for sharing your recipe ☺️????

      Reply
    10. Susan E Hammond

      August 27, 2021 at 2:13 pm

      5 stars
      I made this for a friend's birthday and everyone loved it. Definitely going to make it again!

      Reply
    11. Martha

      September 10, 2021 at 8:33 pm

      5 stars
      I'm going to bake this in a Bundt pan. How long should I bake the cake for? Thanks. Love your recipes!

      Reply
    12. Julie

      January 02, 2022 at 7:36 pm

      This cake was really good - even the chocolate lovers loved it. The one thing I’d mention is that there isn’t a great deal of frosting. It will only allow for a naked cake and even then there isn’t a great deal of frosting. Make more if you like frosting!

      Reply
    13. Mandi

      February 03, 2022 at 2:27 pm

      Made this cake for a friend’s birthday; followed the recipe with a few small changes: added vanilla paste to both the batter and frosting, used the zest from all oranges juiced (3 for cake and 1 for frosting), and baked it in 2 8” round pans (they were quite thick and ended up taking almost 3x the baking time). The cake was a huge hit and tasted so fresh and decadent and was so incredibly moist. I’ll be making it again today, but using milk in place of orange juice to make a vanilla confetti cake - it was so moist that I couldn’t wait to try the recipe again!

      Reply
    14. Jeanette Dornbusch

      February 19, 2022 at 11:34 am

      5 stars
      OMG I Just Made This Luscious Cake With No Problems I Subbed The Sour Cream With Greek Plain Yogurt And It Worked Fine My Cake Pans Took 30 Mins...My Husband Loves This Cake!! I Might Add More Orange Zest Next Time..Oh And That Frosting Is To Die For Especially With More Orange Zest! Thank You So Much For Sharing This Winner.I Look Forward In Trying Those Pizza Sliders And A Few Of The Chicken Recipes!!

      Reply
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    Melissa Stadler Modern Honey

    Hi, I'm Melissa Stadler! I am an Award-Winning Recipe Creator. Cover of Food Network Magazine. Two-Time Pillsbury Bake-Off Finalist. I am passionate about sharing the best recipes so you have success in the kitchen!

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