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A round cake covered in white buttercream on a gold cake stand.
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4.93 from 13 votes

Easy Orange Cake with Buttercream Frosting (the BEST ever!)

A bake from scratch orange cake with buttercream frosting and candied peels. It's deliciously moist and fluffy and very easy to make too!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Decorating Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 2 Seven inches round cakes / Six inches square cakes
Calories: 5461.3kcal
Author: Priya Maha

Ingredients

Cake

  • 360 g self raising flour
  • 360 g granulated sugar
  • 360 g butter at room temperature
  • 6 eggs at room temperature
  • 90 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 4 oranges grated rind only
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ teaspoon baking powder

Orange Buttercream

  • 300 g shortening
  • 600 g powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest grated

Decoration

  • Candied Orange Peel
Metric - US Customary

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 170 °Celsius.
  • Beat butter and sugar till soft and creamy.
  • Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  • In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with orange juice, starting and ending with flour.
  • Finally, add in grated orange zest and combine well. Pour batter into two greased and floured cake tins of the same size and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
  • Baking time for larger cakes may be slightly longer than smaller ones. Use a skewer to check that your cakes have cooked completely. Your cakes are also done when they start to separate from the sides of the cake tins and the top of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with finger.
  • Remove cakes from oven and let them cool completely before decorating.
  • Baking time may vary slightly for larger cakes.
  • To make the buttercream, add shortening into a large bowl. Beat until creamy.
  • Add icing sugar in 2 batches. Beat until the buttercream turns fluffy. Add grated orange zest and beat for another 30 seconds until well mixed.
  • Fill the cake layers with buttercream and use the remaining to cover the top and sides of the cake.
  • Decorate with candied orange peel.

Notes

  • Self raising flour can be substituted with all purpose flour and baking powder. To make 360g of self raising flour (as per recipe card above), mix 360g of plain flour with two and a half teaspoons of baking powder. Mix well and sift 3 times before using.
  • To make a loaf cake, cut the recipe above into half and bake the cake in an 8 inches by 4 inches loaf pan.
  • To make an orange bundt cake, half the recipe and bake the cake in a 6 cups capacity bundt tin. Make sure not to fill the cake tin all the way until it is full (ideally, fill only about two thirds of the cake tin height) to avoid overflow. Bake the cake at 160 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
  • Shortening in the buttercream can be replaced with butter for an all butter buttercream.
  • Buttercream frosting can be replaced with other frosting of choice. Cream cheese frosting and chocolate ganache are 2 great options. Orange glaze made with orange juice is another great option especially for orange loaf cake or orange bundt cake. Follow my cake glaze recipe here and replace the lemon juice with orange juice. Also add 1 teaspoon of finely grated orange zest to the glaze.

 

Calculated Tin Sizes

6 inches round/ 5 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 240 g butter
  • 240 g castor sugar
  • 240 g self-raising flour
  • 4 eggs
  • Grated zest of 2 ½ oranges
  • 60ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
 
8 inches round/ 7 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 480 g butter
  • 480 g castor sugar
  • 480 g self-raising flour
  • 8 eggs
  • Grated zest of 5 ½ oranges
  • 120ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • ⅓ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
 
9 inches round/ 8 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 600 g butter
  • 600 g castor sugar
  • 600 g self-raising flour
  • 10 eggs
  • Grated zest of 6 ½ oranges
  • 150ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • ⅓ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
 
10 inches round/ 9 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 720 g butter
  • 720 g castor sugar
  • 720 g self-raising flour
  • 12 eggs
  • Grated zest of 8 oranges
  • 180ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
 
11 inches round/ 10 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 840 g butter
  • 840 g castor sugar
  • 840 g self-raising flour
  • 14 eggs
  • Grated zest of 9 ½ oranges
  • 210 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
 
12 inches round/ 11 inches square (makes 2 layers of 2 inch high cakes)
  • 960 g butter
  • 960 g castor sugar
  • 960 g self-raising flour
  • 16 eggs
  • Grated zest of 10 ½ oranges
  • 240 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  • ⅔ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
Note:
  1. Larger cakes may take a longer time to bake.
  2. Use cake tins that are at least 3 inches high. 

Nutrition

Calories: 5461.3kcal | Carbohydrates: 646.8g | Protein: 42.5g | Fat: 312.5g | Saturated Fat: 134.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 51.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 104.8g | Trans Fat: 25.7g | Cholesterol: 878mg | Sodium: 1812.4mg | Potassium: 986mg | Fiber: 10.8g | Sugar: 502.7g | Vitamin A: 5902.6IU | Vitamin C: 164.3mg | Calcium: 350.3mg | Iron: 4.9mg