Orange Cake Recipe from Scratch

This homemade orange cake is light, moist, and packed with bright citrus flavor. Sweet-and-tangy cream cheese frosting is the perfect finishing touch!

If you love lemon cake, give our fresh orange cake recipe a try! It uses freshly grated orange zest to give the cake a bright citrus flavor. 

If you have extra oranges laying around, use them to make Orange Muffins or Orange Cranberry Granola.

Orange Layer Cake ingredients

Note that you’ll also need two 8-inch round cake pans or springform pans for this recipe. Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for specific amounts.

FOR THE ORANGE CAKE LAYERS:

• All-purpose flour
• Finely grated orange zest
• Baking powder
• Unsalted butter – Let this come to room temperature before starting the recipe.
• Granulated sugar
• Eggs – Let the eggs come to room temperature, too. Room temperature eggs hold more air when beaten, which means a lighter, fluffier cake.
• Vanilla extract
• Milk – Use either 2% (reduced-fat) or whole milk.

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

• Unsalted butter – This should also be room temperature so it’s easy to whip into a creamy, dreamy frosting.
• Cream cheese – Use 12 oz total of brick cream cheese
• Vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar – Also known as confectioners’ sugar.
• Light orange food coloring – optional, but tinted the frosting a pretty light orange color! I used AmeriColor brand.

Recommended Cake Baking Tools

• 8 inch Springform pan
• Bake even cake strips
• Cake leveler
• Parchment paper

How to Make Orange Cake

A two layer cake is a good place to start if you’re new to making layer cakes. Plus, you can divide the hands on time into two days if you don’t have time to fully assemble the cake in one day.

MAKE THE LAYERS:

Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350ºF and grease the bottoms and sides of two 8-inch round cake pans or springform pans, then line the bottoms with round pieces of parchment paper.

Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, orange zest, baking powder and salt. 

Mix the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until they’re fluffy. Then, beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

Bake. Divide the batter into the prepared cake pans (about 2 & 1/2 cups per pan), spreading it evenly with a spatula. Bake the cake layers for 30 to 34 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean.

Cool. Let the cakes cool in the pans on cooling racks for 10 to 20 minutes, then carefully remove the cakes from the pans and let them finish cooling directly on the racks. Once cool, remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cakes. 

Prep for assembly. If you need to level the tops of your cakes, do so now using a cake lever or serrated knife. Wrap the cakes in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for up to a week.

MAKE THE FROSTING:

Beat the butter and cream cheese. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until it’s light and fluffy. 

Add the remaining ingredients. Beat in the vanilla extract and the powdered sugar, starting with 2 cups. Continue adding the powdered sugar until the frosting reaches your desired thickness and sweetness, beating on low until fluffy and smooth. Add light orange food coloring if you want the frosting to have a pale orange color. 

PUT THE ORANGE LAYER CAKE TOGETHER:

Stack the cake layers. Spread a small amount of buttercream on an 8-inch round cardboard circle set on a turntable or cake plate. Place the first cake layer on top of the cardboard. Spread about 1 cup of buttercream on top of this layer, then place the next layer over the buttercream. Repeat for each layer.

Do a crumb coat. Once all of the layers are stacked, use an offset spatula to spread a thin layer of buttercream around the sides of the cake. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Finish frosting. Use an offset spatula to spread the rest of the frosting onto the cake once the crumb coat is chilled.

How Much Frosting Between Cake Layers

 For an 8 inch 2 layer cake chocolate cake I recommend 3/4 to 1 cup of frosting between the cake layers. The remaining frosting will be used to frost the sides and top of the cake. 

How to Prepare a Cake Pan

I recommend greasing your cake pan with butter or shortening, not non-stick cooking spray. Liberally butter the entire pan. I find that butter works better to grease the pan to ensure the cake doesn’t stick. 

Place your hand inside a ziplock bag or paper towel, use 1/2 tablespoon of butter or shortening and liberally butter the pan. The bag or paper towel will prevent the butter from getting all over your hands. 

For super easy cake removal, cut out a circle of parchment paper that is the same size as your pan and place it in the bottom of the pan after you buttered it. I trace the bottom of my springform pan onto the paper, then cut it out. 

How to serve

To serve layered orange cake, carefully slice it into portions using a sharp knife. Place each slice onto individual plates or a serving platter. For extra wow factor, serve each slice with fresh orange slices or orange zest.

How to store Orange Birthday Cake

This orange cake recipe can be left at room temperature for up to 3 days. Loosely cover it with plastic wrap or store leftovers in an airtight container.

Orange Cake Recipe variations

Here are some ideas for switching things up with your orange layer cake!

• Add poppy seeds. Turn this into an orange poppy seed cake by adding 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds to the batter.
• Make a blueberry-orange cake. Toss blueberries with a small amount of flour and fold them into the batter. The flour keeps the blueberries from sinking!
• Add a filling. Instead of frosting between the layers, you can use orange curd, custard, or a berry filling.

FAQs for this Orange Cake Recipe from Scratch