Orange Cake Recipe (Moist, Made With Whole Oranges)
“Everyone LOVED this cake! One person called it divine, another…went on and on about it!… It is very moist and strong orange flavor…” Lynn
This super moist orange cake recipes is soft, moist, and packed with bold citrus flavor – made with whole oranges for intense fresh orange flavor.
It’s simple to make using a blender or food processor, and delivers that “wow” factor whether you serve it plain, dusted with powdered sugar, or topped with orange buttercream.
I’ve been making a version of this recipe, originally from Noreen Gilletz, for over 30 years. If you love orange desserts with bold (not subtle) orange flavor, this one’s a keeper.
What to expect
Taste & texture
- Soft, tender cake that’s exceptionally moist
- Bold orange flavor throughout – not just a hint
- Any bitterness from the orange peel is reduced with a simple trick
Process & ease
- Made with whole oranges for maximum flavor – blended for a smooth batter.
- No juicing or zesting – just blend and go
- Simple prep with minimal ingredients
Using whole oranges gives the cake its signature fresh, intense citrus flavor. If your oranges have a thick white pith, trimming some of it before blending helps keep the flavor bright and balanced without bitterness.
Easy enough for everyday, but special enough to serve at a shower, tea, or dinner party.
Ingredients – tailored to your taste
- Oranges: Use 2 sweet, seedless oranges (navel, Cara Cara, or Valencia all work well). If the oranges have very little white pith under the rind, you can skip removing it. Thicker pith should be trimmed to avoid bitterness
- Remaining cake ingredients: eggs, flour, sugar, baking powder, butter, salt.
- Glaze or frosting (optional): butter, icing sugar, orange juice, and orange zest
Substitutions
- Flour – you can substitute 1/4 of the all-purpose flour with almond flour or whole wheat flour. Replacing more than that will change the texture of the cake and make it denser.
Variations
- Glaze/frosting (optional)
- I use a thin orange buttercream glaze, but you can easily adjust it. For a thicker frosting, use more butter and icing (confectioner’s) sugar or less orange juice.
- A 3-minute chocolate buttercream icing (like we use on our best banana cake) is excellent here because chocolate and orange are a perfect pairing.
- Or try this cream cheese frosting from our blueberry cake recipe. Add orange zest to make it an orange cream cheese frosting.
- Decoration – For a simple finish, try orange peel, thinly sliced orange slices, a dusting of confectioner sugar, chocolate shavings, or crushed toasted nuts.
Step-by-step instructions
Tips
- Reduce bitterness: Trim most of the white pith under the orange peel before processing the oranges. This keeps the taste bright and prevents bitterness.
- Use room-temperature ingredients: Butter and eggs blend more smoothly (without curdling), helping create a lighter, more even texture.
- Don’t overmix: Once the flour is added, mix just until combined to keep the cake tender.
Shortcuts
- Use thin-skinned oranges: If your oranges have very little white pith, you can use them whole without trimming.
- Keep the finish simple: Skip the glaze or frosting and dust the cooled cake with icing (confectioners’) sugar instead.
What to serve with orange cake
This cake is flavorful enough to stand on its own, but a few simple additions can round it out for dessert or entertaining.
For a simple finish: Whipped cream or a spoonful of lightly sweetened yogurt. Or a side of fresh berries.
For a more dessert-style plate: A scoop of vanilla ice cream and/or a drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce.
For brunch or afternoon tea: Coffee, espresso, or tea. And fresh fruit or a light fruit salad.
Orange cake tips & FAQs
Most of the bitterness comes from the white pith, not the peel itself. To keep the flavor bright without bitterness, trim away most of the pith before blending the oranges.
If your oranges are very thick-skinned, you can also boil the peel to mellow any bitterness.
Yes. Using whole oranges (including the peel) gives the cake a deeper citrus flavor and extra moisture. Just remove any seeds and trim excess pith if it’s thick.
You’ll need a food processor or blender to break down the oranges and create a smooth batter.
You can also use it to cream the butter, sugar, and eggs, then blend in the oranges – no need to wash it in between.
You can use a 9″ (23cm) springform pan, two 8″ (20cm) round pans (for two layers), an 8″ (20cm) square pan, a 9″ round pan, or a 9×5″ (23×12.7″) inch loaf pan.
Baking time will vary, so start checking for doneness during the last 10 minutes.
Yes. The cake keeps well at room temperature for a day and actually improves in flavor after a few hours. For longer storage, let it cool completely, wrap well, and freeze for up to 3 months.
Dense texture is usually caused by overmixing, too much liquid, or inaccurate flour measurement. Use room-temperature ingredients, measure flour carefully, and avoid adding extra orange, which can make the center heavy or sink.
More cake recipes to try:
If you enjoyed this moist orange cake, here are a few more easy, popular options to try:
- Best banana cake with chocolate icing – super moist and very popular
- Moist apple cake recipe with bourbon caramel sauce – warm spices, decadent sauce!
- Simplified blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting – a simple version that is still special
- Easy berry cake – with fresh or frozen mixed berries.
Need a gluten-free option? Try our orange polenta cake – citrusy, moist, and naturally gluten-free.
Please leave a 5-star rating ***** with a comment in the recipe card below if you like the recipe. Thank you so much!
Moist Orange Cake Recipe
Equipment
- food processor (or blender), medium-large mixing bowl, 9" (23cm) springform pan, Note 1 for other pan options.
Video
Ingredients
whole orange cake
- 2 large seedless oranges about 184g each
- ¾ cups butter, cut in chunks 1½ sticks
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar (use an extra ¼ cup/50g if oranges aren't too sweet)
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups all purpose flour Note 2
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt skip if using salted butter
orange glaze or buttercream frosting (optional) Note 3
- 1 cup icing sugar also called confectioners or powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon butter, softened
- 1 orange (use half an orange for fresh orange juice and zest) other half for decoration
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- HEAT OVEN TO 350F/177C. Spray 9 inch (23cm) springform pan with oil. Note 1 for other pan options.
- PREPARE ORANGES: Using a sharp knife, place orange on cutting board and slice off the thin top orange layer all around the orange. Try to get as little of the white pith layer as possible (leaving on some is fine – no need to obsess!). Then slice off the white pith layer and discard. Repeat with second orange. Cut oranges into quarters. Shortcut: If your oranges only have a very thin layer of pith, you can use the whole orange.
- CREAM BUTTER, SUGAR, EGGS: Place butter, sugar and eggs in food processor bowl. Process for 2 minutes at high speed until fluffy and creamy. Scrape down sides of bowl once or twice. Scoop mixture into medium-large bowl.
- GRIND ORANGES: Place oranges and orange peels in food processor. No need to clean out processor first. Process until finely blended, about 1 minute. Scrape orange mixture into bowl with butter mixture.
- FINISH BATTER: Add flour mixture of flour and baking powder. Gently fold into wet mixture just until incorporated. Do NOT over mix or the cake will be dense. Pour batter into prepared pan. Tap pan on counter to level the batter evenly.
- BAKE: for 45-50 minutes or until cake no longer jiggles when shaken and when cake tester or toothpick is inserted in center and comes out clean. Two 8" round pans will take less time, about 25-35 minutes. Timing depends on size of oranges (amount of liquid in cake) and your oven (all ovens are different and not perfectly accurate on temperatures). Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing on pan. Cool completely on cooling rack before frosting.
- MAKE FROSTING/GLAZE (OPTIONAL): While cake is baking, whisk icing/confectioner sugar, 1/2 of orange juice and orange zest with a fork in a small bowl. Add more orange juice until you get the consistency you like. Note 3 for traditional orange buttercream frosting.
- DECORATE: Sprinkle orange cake with powdered icing sugar (through a sieve) if not using frosting. If using frosting/glaze, spread it on top of cake letting it slip down the sides if desired. Decorate cake with orange zest strips, orange slices, drained mandarin oranges, a little bit of zest or crushed nuts if you like.
Recipe Notes
- Pan options: Different pan sizes will affect baking time, so start checking for doneness during the last 10 minutes. You can use:
- 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan (what I use)
- Two 8-inch (20 cm) round pans (for a layer cake)
- 8-inch (20 cm) square pan
- 9-inch round pan
- 9×5-inch (23×12.7 cm) loaf pan
- Flour options: You can substitute up to 1/4 of the flour (in this recipe, 1/2 cup/68g) with almond flour or whole wheat flour. More than that will make the cake dense.
- Orange frosting/glaze: The recipe makes enough thinner frosting/glaze to cover the top of the cake. If you want a thicker, more traditional buttercream frosting (easier with a food processor or electric mixer, use:
- 1 1/2 cups (180g) icing sugar,
- 1/4 cup butter ((4 tbsp/1/2 stick/57g) and
- 2-3 tbsp orange juice.
- Other frosting options:
- A chocolate buttercream frosting like we use on our best banana cake is a fantastic option because chocolate and orange are a perfect match.
- Or try this cream cheese frosting from our blueberry cake recipe. Add orange zest to it if you like.
- Lower calorie, lower fat version: Substitute half the butter with unsweetened applesauce using 6 tbsp butter and 6 tbsp applesauce. And skip the frosting (just dust with icing sugar).
- Make Ahead:
- The whole orange cake can be stored at room temperature for 3-4 days in an airtight container to keep it fresh and moist.
- The cake can also be frozen for 2-3 months.
This looks amazing, and I have too many oranges to eat! Mine are mandarin oranges on the larger side, and I don’t have a scale. About how many cups of pulverized orange chunks and peels would you say you use? Thank you for sharing this!
This was a lovely cake! Thank you for the recipe!
I did drop the sugar to 170g (same as the butter) and this amount of sweetness is perfect for us.
Added a small amount of cooked orange sweet potato to intensify the colour and orange oil (I have made) for more orange flavour.
Baked it in a loaf pan with sliced oranges and filleted almonds on top.
A stunner! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing all your wonderful tips and tweaks Ina. So glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Everyone LOVED this cake!:)). One person called it divine, another, a chocolate lover went on and on about it, others said they LOVED it!:))) It is very moist and strong orange flavor. Mine looked like the close up of your sliced pic. I did weigh my naval oranges, and used less of them as they were big, to get the weight you recommended. Not doing that will get different results, i am sure. Also, my pith was rather thin….so, more orange. I did use a vegetable peeler with light pressure to get the rind off. it worked great for taking off very little pith. I did make 2 X the recipe. One in a metal 9″ square pan and the other in a heavy glass 8″ square pan, which took much longer to bake. Thanks So very much for this recipe!:))
Oooh, that is high praise Lynn 🙂 Thank you so much. And thanks for sharing your great tips with readers.
Can I add baking soda to the ingredient? Will it change the consistency?
If you are looking to replace the baking powder with baking soda, they are not actually interchangeable. Baking powder contains both acidic and alkaline components, while baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate and requires an acidic ingredient to activate it (and it’s stronger than baking powder). In a pinch for this recipe, you can try 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon cream of tarter to replace the 2 teaspoons baking powder. Keep in mind that the texture of the cake may be altered a bit. Hope that helps.
Love the cake
Great to hear! Thanks Shama 🙂
I made this cake yesterday morning in a bundt pan, but used 7 small mandarins (“cuties”) because I had more than we could eat. I made the sugar/juice glaze but subbed 1/4 cup regular sugar and spooned onto cake while hot. Personally, I love citrusy desserts, and feel like this may possibly be the best cake I’ve ever eaten! On first bite I was back in Sorrento, surrounded by citrus groves. Try a slice for breakfast, topped with a little ricotta and a drizzle of honey- absolutely DEVINE!
Just made this recipe and followed the recipe to the T. I made mine in a Bundt pan and it came out perfect.
That’s what I love to hear Susan! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment.
Can’t wait to make the whole orange cake as well as carrot and pineapple cake.
Let us know if you like them!
I loved this recipe my cake was the best, we really enjoyed and my friend too thank you.
Glad to hear! Thanks very much for taking the time to leave a comment Gladys.
100 stars please. This is my new favourite thing!!
100- wow! So glad you like the orange cake! Thanks very much for leaving a comment.