By Samantha Seneviratne
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus cooling
- Rating
- 4(1,924)
- Notes
- Read community notes
It may strike you as curious, but adding an entire orange to this easy snacking cake, rind and all, imparts a wonderful flavor reminiscent of orange marmalade, pleasantly bitter and sweet. A high-speed blender is the best way to process the orange, but a food processor works too. You want the purée to be as smooth as possible. While the cake bakes, prepare an easy orange glaze. For that step — or any recipe requiring both orange zest and juice — be sure to zest your orange before juicing it, as it’s much more difficult the other way around.
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Advertisement
Ingredients
Yield:16 servings
- 6tablespoons/85 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
- 1small navel orange (about 250 grams), ends trimmed, cut into large chunks, and seeds removed, if necessary
- ¼cup/60 milliliters whole milk
- 1½cups/192 grams all-purpose flour
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ¼teaspoon baking soda
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾cup/151 grams granulated sugar
- 2large eggs, at room temperature
- ¾cup/77 grams confectioners’ sugar
- ½teaspoon freshly grated orange zest, plus 3 to 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice (from 1 orange)
For the Cake
For the Glaze (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (16 servings)
154 calories; 5 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 25 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 15 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 113 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
Step
1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the pan: Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter the parchment.
Step
2
Transfer the orange chunks and milk to a high-speed blender (or food processor) and process until it is the texture of smooth applesauce. (You should have about 1 generous cup.)
Step
3
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Step
4
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.
Step
5
Add half the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Beat in the orange mixture, then beat in the remaining flour mixture. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Step
6
Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for 20 minutes. Then, using the parchment, transfer the cake to a rack to cool completely.
Step
7
While the cake cools, prepare the glaze, if using: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, orange zest and orange juice. (Use a little less juice for a thicker glaze that will sit on top of the cake, or add a little more juice for a thinner glaze that will soak into the cake.)
Step
8
Spread the glaze over the cooled cake, then slice to serve. Store leftovers well-wrapped at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Ratings
4
out of 5
1,924
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
DL
Did I add triple sec to the glaze? I did.
Melissa
I swapped out the butter for olive oil, mostly because I am lazy and didn't feel like cleaning the mixer after creaming butter. It came out moist and tasty with a tender crumb and allowed us to feel okay about calling it breakfast.
Anne B
This cake is super easy to make and makes the house smell great. The cake itself isn’t too sweet so the glaze is a good addition. I used tangerines because I had some left over from something else and it turned out well. I was skeptical about including the peel but I was pleasantly surprised - not too bitter, nice and tangy!
Meg
A wonderful version of this concept is Molly Wizenberg's olive oil marmalade cake, which shares the method of blending a whole piece of citrus, but has you boil the oranges first: https://orangette.net/2010/02/we-ate-this-cake. I've made it with oranges, grapefruit, and lemons, all delicious. And being olive oil based, it stays moist for days...if it lasts that long
Michelle
I did this recipe twice and I have to admit that I am NOT a baker, but it looked easy enough. First time I used blood oranges. This produced the ugliest cake ever. Blue-green algae colored batter and peto-pink glaze. A truly foul combination that looked even worse the next day. Frankencake. Next try was with tangelo, which made a pretty cake and put tangerine slices on top of the glaze and sprinkled a bit more zest. Much, much better. Both cakes tasted and smelled great.
cbloring
Using brown sugar instead of white add a whole other dimension.
Peter
I finally found my orange cake recipe. My old recipe was picking up Hostess orange cupcakes at the store. A perfect size for snacking. And making this was even easier than driving to the grocery. I even like the confetti like orange zest in the glaze more than the doodles across the top of that cupcake.
Pam
We love this cake. I took someone’s tip and added a little butter to the glaze and made more of a frosting the second time. It’s great both ways. I also added a little cardamom on the cake batter both times. So good!
Lo Baker
Loved this cake, amazing flavor. I only had one egg so substituted with 1/4 cup full fat yogurt and it was perfect. Will be making this again!!
Katie C
We love this cake. I've made it 4 times in the past two months. So good for tea and for dessert. I am allergic to milk, and this is really easy to make dairy-fee with almond milk and unsalted Miyoko's cultured butter or Unsalted Earth Balance sticks.
Rosemary
An easy way I learned to remove seeds from an article on making marmalade: Cut the citrus into wedges from stem-to-flower; take a knife and cut off the pith in the center; remove the seeds. (all of the seeds are along the core)If you're making marmalade, you can then easily slice the wedges.
Halina
Added vanilla and cardamom to orange sauce. Eggs were ginormous Used half and half mix of olive oil and butterUsed 1/2&1/2 in lieu of milk Used TJs Cara Cara orangesAdded zest to batter not glaze. Used glass baking dish w parchment Delicious.
Nicole
I haven't made this yet, but a note: Florida oranges have less pith (the bitter white stuff in the peel), so maybe would make a less bitter cake than California oranges.
Adelaide blair
Saw this recipe on Instagram and immediately made it. Delicious! I left off the glaze and it was a perfect snack cake.
Allison
I replaced the glaze with a more substantial frosting by adding a couple of tablespoons of butter to the sugar and juice. Added a richness without much extra effort.
chloe
Made with half butter have coconut oil, subbed coconut milk for the water, and added shredded coconut. And poof you have the most delicious and moist coconut orange cake!
Sarah
If you choose to substitute olive oil, you’ll use 60g.
LH
I decided to use olive oil instead of butter - turned out rather gooey. Next time I’ll reduce the oil to 4 Tbs!
BB
A very easy and forgiving cake. It came together quickly and is totally delicious. There wasn’t quite enough glaze for my liking, I’d use a 1/4 cup more powdered sugar next time.
Annie
Forgive me…but do I peel the orange first? Before putting it into the processor with the milk?
Sarah
You do not peel it first. That's why it's called "whole-orange." It's super good!
Jordan
• Half and half olive oil / butter • Half and half light brown sugar / natural cane sugar • Extra sharp cheddar slice with a piece for lunch the next day. Do not inquire into this madness further, just do it and thank me later.
Jonathan
Well, it's a cake, so it's good. But the orange flavor is not particularly pronounced. It's subtle.
Eileen
Can these be frozen?
Mary B.
I made this twice, with modifications to make it gluten-free and vegan. I thought the glaze was much too sweet, so the second time I added the extra orange zest to the cake batter and skipped the glaze altogether. I think topping it with marmalade might work well, but I haven't tried that yet.
More Orangey-ness
It was nice and tasty, but not nearly as orangey as I was hoping, especially since the batter tasted like a creamsicle which got my hopes up. I'd like to figure out a way to add more oranges without unbalancing the wet to dry ratio.
MMK
Substituted corn meal for half of the flour and otherwise followed the recipe except for no frosting. Weight of citrus instead of "one orange" enables use of smaller varieties including blood oranges. Makes a wonderful breakfast with yogurt on a 1/8 or larger serving. Freezes well to enjoy another day.
Olivia
I replaced ~10g sugar with molasses and added 1/2 tsp almond extract and enjoyed the flavor much more - more complex and less stridently sweet
Shelby Watters
Easy, simple, quick to assemble and absolutely delicious. I ended up with a just-barely-heaping cup of orange/milk puree (which I pureed in three batches in a mini food processor, and due to Celiac, had to use a gf flour blend. I weighed the flour blend according to the label's stated weight of 1/4 cup. That's the only change that I made. It came out perfect. Moist, with a depth and complexity that I wasn't expecting. Perfectly balanced orange flavor. Even before icing, it exceeds expectation.
Nadine
Used half-n-half instead of milk. To the orange pulp mix (just before adding to the batter), added 1 Tab Cointreau, 1/4 tea orange extract, and 1/4 tea vanilla. Added extra orange zest to final batter.Glaze: started with 2 Tab. orange juice, 1 Tab. Cointreau, 1/4 tea orange extract. Added extra orange juice as needed to make it thickness I wanted. Also added tablespoon or so very soft leftover sweet butter. Added zest to glaze at very end, gently.Might make with cake flour next time.
Name Erin
Made this just as written. It was really good, very moist, guests enjoyed it.
Private notes are only visible to you.