ย Hereโs the best Orange Cake recipe on the internet. With light orange citrus notes, real orange zest and juice, and a perfect texture. Also, itโs grandmaโs and nothing ever beats grandmaโs baking.
Thatโs not always true, one of my grandmotherโs was not a very good baker. She made her chocolate chip cookies salty. But lucky for you, this recipe is from my grandmaโs-food-is-the-best kind-it-makes-you-feel-comfort-when-you-have-it kind of grandma.
Some of my most fond memories of growing up were in my grandmotherโs kitchen. She (Nola) had a sweet tooth and loved baking so sheโd have me measuring ingredients and following recipes as soon as I could read and climb up on a chair to reach the counter. I have countless memories of baking all kinds of things in her kitchen from oatmeal cookies to custard to my all time favorite, Nolaโs Orange Cake. This recipe is simple and easy to follow, even if you’re a beginning baker.
The use of real orange zest helps bring out the orange flavor in the cake. You will want to use an organic orange for the zest. The light, but full, citrus flavor that comes through from the fresh zest is the best part of this orange cake. If you prefer lemon cake, you could try this lemon bundt cake which has similar citrus notes.
When making this orange cake, she would always have me get the rind off the orange. I didnโt like zesting because it was a lot of work with the side of the grater. However, as soon as I took the first bite, I forgot all about that. Now, fast forward many years later and using a microplane makes getting the rind of way easier and this orange cake recipe still holds up. You ever notice how some things are better left as a memory? Well this cake is not one of those things. This cake tastes like pure joy, comfort and nostalgia. Here’s some more ways to use orange zest if you happen to have a lot of oranges.
I have taken her orange cake recipe and decided to not change a thing about the cake itself. The cake batter doesnโt seem like cake batter actually, it’s closer to a bundt cake, and previously I’ve tried to change that. With trial and error, I came back to the beginning and realized it is perfect just the way it is. It is quite thick and so you need to spatula it into the pan and level it with the spatula. Trust that this is okay, I experimented with making the batter thinner and I made a lot of sub-par cakes in the process. Believe me it turns out perfect.
Print
Nola’s Orange Cake
Description
A sweet, light, orange cake with real orange zest and a perfect glaze icing.
Ingredients
- 2 ยผ cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ยผ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 ยฝ cups sugar
- ยฝ cup butter or shortening
- 2 eggs
- Zest from 1 orange
- ยฝ cup orange juice
- ยฝ cup water
Icing
- 2 Cups Icing Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Orange Juice
- 2 Tbsp Milk
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- Zest from 1 orange
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. and grease a 9โ x 13โ standard cake pan .
Zest two organic oranges, divide zest in half with the zest of one orange for the cake and the zest of the other for the icing.
Juice both oranges and set aside.
Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until blended.
In your mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar and eggs and beat until fluffy.
Add your fresh squeezed orange juice, water and orange zest.
Once wet ingredients are blended, slowly add the blended dry ingredients.
Blend wet and dry together until all batter is evenly moist and fully blended. Don’t over beat.
Fill greased cake pan, and use a spatula to smooth batter to an even depth.
Bake for 30-35 min.
Cake is baked when a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
Making the icing:
Add all icing ingredients to a medium mixing bowl.
Blend until icing is semi-thick, similar to pudding.
When cake is cool, pour icing on top and spread it out over the cake.
Cut and serve immediately, or let the icing harden before serving.
Notes
Do not glaze cake until it is completely cooled, if icing is applied while the cake is still warm the icing will melt and puddle off the cake onto the platter.
Ingredients for the orange cake:
- 2 ยผ cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ยผ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 ยฝ Cups Sugar
- ยฝ cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- Zest from 1 orange
- ยฝ cup orange juice
- ยฝ cup water
Icing
- 2 Cups Icing Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Orange Juice
- 2 Tbsp Milk
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- Zest from 1 orange
To start with, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Zest your two oranges, and juice them. Set aside half the zest for the cake and the other half for the icing.
Mix all of your dry ingredients together in a bowl (not your mixing bowl) until incorporated. Grab your mixing bowl and cream your shortening, or butter. Once creamed, add your sugar and eggs and beat until fully creamed and fluffy.
Then add your fresh squeezed orange juice, water and orange zest. Once all of your wet ingredients are fully combined, slowly add the dry ingredients until fully mixed.
Then you want to grease a 9โ x 13โ standard cake pan or you can do two 9โ round pans and make a layer cake if you want. I use vegetable shortening but you can use butter. Finally, spatula your batter into the pan and spread it out as evenly as you can. Remember, it is quite thick so you have to level it with the spatula. Then stick it in the oven for 30-35 min. Give it a toothpick check at 30 mins then decide how many more minutes you need based on the results. Cake is cooked when the inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Now to the good stuff! The icing. What grandma and I used to put on this orange cake was just basically a vanilla glaze so I decided to spruce it up a bit and made it better. You want to wait for your cake to cool before adding the icing or it will all pour off the cake onto your plate. You can start making it after you pull the cake out of the oven though but not really before that because you if you make it too soon, ย it starts to harden.
Grab a medium sized mixing bowl and start with your icing sugar. Then add all the rest of your ingredients and start mixing. Mix until combined completely, it will sort of have the texture of the inside of a Cadbury Cream Egg.
Once the cake is cooled, just pour this icing on top and spread it out over the cake.
It will level itself out and harden a little bit, just like it does on a doughnut.
As soon as your icing is on, you can dive right in and take a bite. You donโt need to wait for the icing to harden, you can take a piece as soon as you want!
We used to have a slice of Nolaโs Orange Cake with a glass of milk, but now I think it goes better with a cup of hot tea. Chai tea would be the best, it goes nicely with orange and you can always make it yourself.
Meet Savanna
This is a guest post by Savanna Hines.
Used with permission. https://www.peterkalaszphotography.com/
Savanna lives in British Columbia and has experience in the hospitality industry/entrepreneurship.ย Sheโs also a certified life coach. Authenticity is important to her.ย Sheโs passionate about living a raw, authentic and unabashedly vulnerable life! She also believes that the whole raw vulnerability thing is the cornerstone for growth, love and connection so sheโs committed to inspire conversation about all of the qualities that make us human.
On her blog โBeing Rawโ (coming soon) Savanna wants you to explore with her the concept of taking in and putting out raw vibes to the world with amazingly unique raw/vegan recipes and insights on being your most vulnerable self.
Leave a Reply