Whole-Orange Snack Cake Recipe (2024)

Did I add triple sec to the glaze? I did.

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.

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!

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

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.

Using brown sugar instead of white add a whole other dimension.

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.

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!

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Saw this recipe on Instagram and immediately made it. Delicious! I left off the glaze and it was a perfect snack cake.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Made this just as written. It was really good, very moist, guests enjoyed it.

what an excellent cake - so flavor-full. i took advantage of honeybell season for this. added some cinnamon and a few passes of nutmeg on the microplane zester in the batter. i happen to love dark chocolate with orange - so i added 2 tbsp of butter to the glaze and 10gm of finely chopped 70% chocolate. if i had a coarser grater, maybe i would have just done a pass over the top with some chocolate shreds/curls. i will be making more this week for gifting (maybe freezing for me?).

One of the best cakes I've ever made. Used Cara cara oranges, (1 and 1/2 and made a butter cream frosting with just and zest. I am not sorry.

I had wondered how the pith and juice composition of individual oranges would affect the bake…what happens when you use an orange with a thicker rind or one that is less juicy or isn’t very sweet? In my case, I found the resulting cake to be claggy, especially along the bottom, despite a clean toothpick after the full 40 minute bake. I also felt the flavor to be overwhelming more bitter than sweet. Considering the chemistry of baking, and the variables of oranges, I’ll look for another recipe.

Yummmm!!

This was really good. I didn't use parchment paper -- instead I buttered and floured the pan, which worked well.

Didn't follow the recipe exactly because had no mixer so very glad for tip from another about using oil instead of butter. This was a SUPER big hit. I doubled it, baked in two pans, came out perfect. Crazy unusual cake.

I made this recipe with my stepdaughter and we couldn't find the wands to the mixer, so I did it with my muscles and a wisk, and it turned out great! Next time we make it, we will use the electric mixer, as I'd like to try it with buttercream frosting.

This was delicious. Very easy and tastes nicely of orange - sweet, very pleasant but not too sweet. Made as directed except used 1/2 c. almond flour instead of 1/2 c. regular flour. Easy to make, did not even bother to sift the flours, came out with nice crumb, moist but light. Have not glazed, just eaten plain and is great with cup of black tea. Highly recommend!