This vegan orange cake is loaded with vibrant orange flavor in every bite and on top goes a yummy orange marmalade frosting. You need just one bowl and 10 ingredients to make it.
Citrus is a marvelous flavor in desserts, like this vegan lemon yogurt cake and vegan orange rolls. This vegan Orange Cake is also a dessert I've baked over and over for many years, after first finding the recipe in the Joy of Cooking. Over the years I've made some tweaks and, most importantly, I've multiplied its deliciousness by doubling the recipe and slathering it with a fluffy, decadent orange marmalade buttercream frosting.
This is a delicious cake, full of orange flavor in every bite. It has a tender crumb that's perfectly but not cloyingly sweet, and the marmalade buttercream is soft and fluffy and to die for.
It is also a rather easy cake to make: it should take you no more than 10 minutes to throw the ingredients together and perhaps another 10 to whip up the frosting, if that. It's also a one-bowl recipe because you can throw all your ingredients for the cake in one by one, and then rinse out the bowl and use it to whip up your frosting.
Best of all, you can even make your cake a tad boozy, as I sometimes do, by subbing a couple of tablespoons of the orange juice with an orange liqueur.
Ingredients
- Flour. I sometimes use unbleached all purpose but when I'm feeling a little extra-healthy, I've used whole wheat pastry flour. Both give great results that are quite comparable. You can also use half and half if you're undecided.
- Oranges. You need both the orange juice and the orange zest here. I use the pulpy juice, so if you want to just toss your oranges in a blender and juice them, go right ahead. Or just buy fresh squeezed orange juice that's pulpy off the shelf at your grocer's. You will need a whole orange to zest, though.
- Orange marmalade. This is for the frosting, and it's wonderful.
- Oil. Use a flavorless, neutral oil, like avocado oil. In vegan cakes, oil not only subs for butter, I think it makes the cake more moist, which is a win-win.
- Baking soda. There is no baking powder in this recipe and 2 teaspoon baking soda is all you need for the leavening.
- Vinegar. Use either apple cider vinegar or white vinegar.
- Pure vanilla extract
- Sugar. I use turbinado, which makes the crumb darker, but any granulated sugar will work.
- Powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar, for the frosting.
- Vegan butter for the frosting.
How to make Vegan Orange Cake
- Because this is a one-bowl recipe you don't have to worry about mixing the dry ingredients, then the wet ingredients, then merging them. Add the wet ingredients -- the orange juice, zest, oil, vinegar, vanilla and sugar -- to a bowl, beat with a whisk until combined, then throw in the dry ingredients and mix.
- Scrape the batter into two 8- or 9-inch cake pans lined at the bottom with parchment paper and oiled. Bake for 30-35 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes in the pan, then unmold and continue cooling the cakes on racks before frosting.
How to make Orange Marmalade Buttercream Frosting
- Make sure the butter is at room temperature -- not hard nor melted, but soft.
- Combine the orange marmalade in the bowl with the butter and whisk, then begin to add the powdered sugar, half a cup at a time. Beat in the sugar after each addition and taste as you go to adjust the amount of sugar up or down to your liking. For this cake I used two cups of powdered sugar and it was perfect. More sugar will make the buttercream stiffer.
- Use an offset spatula or a butter knife to frost the cake.
Top tip
If the powdered sugar has been standing around for some time and is clumping together, run it through a sieve before adding it to the frosting to make sure the buttercream is perfectly smooth and fluffy.
Recipe FAQs
The orange cake is delicious without the frosting and you can definitely serve it plain. Sift some confectioners' sugar on top for a pretty look.
Using just olive oil would overwhelm the orange flavor. I recommend using an unflavored vegetable oil, like avocado oil.
The cake will keep in the fridge for up to five days. For longer storage freeze slices, individually wrapped, in a freezer-safe bag or container. You can also tightly cling-wrap the whole cake, place it in a freezer-safe bag, and freeze for up to three months.
More vegan cake recipes
Vegan Orange Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
For the vegan Orange Cake:
- 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour (can use whole wheat pastry flour or half all purpose and half whole wheat)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups orange juice (sub two tablespoon of the orange juice with an orange liqueur if you like)
- Zest of an orange
- 2 cups sugar
- ⅔ cup avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the vegan Orange Marmalade Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup vegan butter (2 sticks)
- ½ cup orange marmalade
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the orange cake:
- Place the orange juice, zest, sugar, oil, vinegar and vanilla in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Use a whisk or the whisk attachment of the stand mixer to mix for one minute or until everything appears to be well-mixed.
- Add the baking soda, salt and flour to the bowl and mix. Scrape down the sides of the pan after 20 seconds of mixing and mix for 20 seconds more, but no longer.
- Spray two 8- or 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray or oil. Preferably line the bottom with parchment paper, or, if you don't have this, flour the pans. Divide the cake batter equally between the two pans.
- Bake the cakes in a 350-degree oven for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then slide a thin knife around the edges of each cake
- Gently flip each cake onto a plate, slide onto a rack, and continue cooling before you frost.
Make the frosting:
- Place the orange marmalade, vanilla and butter in a bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until combined, around 30 seconds.
- Add the powdered sugar, half a cup at a time, incorporating well into the butter mixture after each addition. Your frosting should be smooth, creamy and fluffy.
Assemble the cake:
- Place one of the cakes, on a plate or cake stand. Dump half of the frosting on the cake, use an offset spatula or knife to spread it evenly, then place the second cake on top, taking care to ensure they line up evenly. Spread the remaining frosting evenly over the top of the cake, using anything that remains for the sides.
- Slice and serve.
viyth
I made this for diwali yesterday and it was a great hit! I didn't have any liqueur so used some orange zest instead and baked it in an 8inch round pan. Decided to add a glaze (1/4 cup breakfast marmalade + 1 tablespoon rum heated up for a bit) on top and it was perfect. Needless to say, no leftovers so thank you Vaishali!
Vaishali
So glad you liked it. Happy Diwali! 🙂
Anonymous
This recipe is a family favorite. Family members have requested it for their birthdays, and my grandson is graduating high school today and requested it for his party!! I double the recipe and put it in a 13 x 9 in pan, otherwise there'd never be enough for seconds with my crowd!
Vivienne
I made this cake the other day and it was SO delicious. I baked mine for 35 minutes and it probably still could've gone for another minute or two, but it was still awesome. I also made a small addition that worked surprisingly well (and might've been why it needed a few more minutes).
I removed and discarded the membrane from the inside of 3 oranges (after I juiced them), cut the rind into a small dice, and boiled with about 3 cups of water for 10 minutes. I then drained the rind and put it into the completed cake batter and it gave the finished cake a nice texture. Would highly recommend! This cake also tastes very good with home-made cranberry sauce (any time of year!). Great recipe!
Lisa
Another successful cake recipe from HCV! Thanks Vaishali! I really don't see the need for adding eggs to a cake batter anymore. Seems to me that eggs could be one of the ingredients that make cakes dry out anyway after baking the vegan way several times now. This orange cake is tender, moist, and full of orange flavor, particularly since I added the zest of an orange before blending the flesh to make fresh juice.
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Lisa, so happy you liked it! And can't agree more on the use of eggs in cake -- they do seem to dry the cake out. Besides that smell! Even when I was eating meat and eggs etc., and I did enjoy eggs, I couldn't stand the eggy smell in baked goods. 🙁
Thanks for your feedback, and the orange zest sounds like a great idea! 🙂
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Lakshmi, it's hard to say what could have happened, since you used a convection oven-- I've only made this in my conventional gas oven where the heat comes from the top and bottom. In a convection oven, a fan blows the heat around which should allow for even cooking. Perhaps next time you might try reducing the temperature a little bit-- by about 25 degrees-- and see how it works.
Leslie Sanford
I know this is kind of belated, but I want to thank you for taking a stand against Michael Vick. You are so right, and I feel his punishment was totally inadequate because of his fame. And now this animal torturer has a new dog - I fear for its life and am sure it will be trained to fight. A pit bull would be too obvious, so he got a Belgian Malinois - used frequently by military handlers and can be trained for aggressiveness and attack.
shani
this cake is so amazing!! made it twice now and it came out perfect each time 🙂
not to mention - easy! can whip it up in less than 10 minutes!
a tip - before I put it in the oven I sprinkle it with poppy seeds for a orange and poppyseed cake 🙂
so delicious - you don't need frosting!
Selvi
Hi Vaishali...I baked this cake twice using all the ingredients in the same proportion except for the liqueur part. I used one cup of fresh orange juice instead. I threw in some orange zest. I also used unbleached flour and substituted the oil with melted vegan butter. The final product was soft and moist and tasted delicious. However, the orange cake appeared more like a brownie as in the colour. When I took it out from the microwave convection oven, it was light in color but became brown over time. I used a dark colored baking tin. It took 15 minutes to bake at 150 degrees Celsius.How do I get the orange color as illustrated in your picture to live up to its name "orange cake"?Thank you.
Vaishali
Hi Selvi, it's strange about the color. A dark tin can indeed darken the final product, but the cake pan I use is also a pretty dark one. One possibility is the microwave convection oven which might brown differently than my gas oven does. Is it orange inside, or brown inside as well? Anyway, glad you liked the texture and taste.
Selvi
Hi Vaishali...thank you for the reply. It's also brown inside...dark chocloate so to speak. The thing is it was lighter in colour when I took it out from the oven once baked and as it cooled down...it was browning all round. This has only happened to this recipe. I have tried other recipes and they turned out normal. Anyway, the cake is still good to go. Thank you.
Vaishali
Sorry I couldn't be more help, Selvi, but glad it at least tastes good. Happy baking! 🙂
Jessica
So, cupcakes were great. I also added fresh diced pineapple, used spiced rum in place of the Cointreau I did not have, decided that made it a kind of spiced cake so added fresh ground cinnamon and nutmeg, used carrot orange juice b/c that's what I had, threw in a handful of poppy seeds because why not, and used half and half canola oil and olive oil for the veg oil, again, what I had. I doubled the recipe and did one 8" cake and 12 cupcakes. RAVE reviews by all.
Vaishali
That's great to know, Jessica, so glad the recipe worked as cupcakes. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us.
Donna
Do you think the orange cake recipe would work out ok using gluten free flour? I can't use almond or any other nut flour as my daughter is anaphylactic with ALL nuts and most seeds, so it needs to be just GF flour or a mix of that & GF oat flour?
Vaishali
Hi Donna, GF flour should be fine for this cake!
Jessica
I wonder if these would work as cupcakes? Only one way to find out...actually two if others have tried this and want to let me know.
vkbook
Hi Vaishali, made this cake today. It tasted great. Thanks for this easy recipe
Vaishali
VKbook, that's great! Glad you enjoyed the cake, and thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Hasita
I just made this cake with only orange juice and a white chocolate ganache to go on top. It looks like a gourmet cake now! Also, I only had chilli vinegar on hand so I used that and it seems to have added a milt heat to the cake, which is awesome on the taste buds. amazing! Also, no egg means I can eat as many slices as I please 🙂
Mel
Hi,
I came across this page while surfing for a vegan banana cake and just want to say I'm totally with you in disgust and horror over what Vick did to those poor dogs. I think that anyone capable of such sadism who clearly enjoys torturing animals (and how many more during his life that we don't know about?) can't be changed by a stint with the Humane Society. He's obviously a thug and has hoodwinked the judiciary and others. I'd have given him a lengthy sentence and forbidden him any contact or ownership of animals for the rest of his life. A slack judiciary, but sadly it's the same still in most countries.
Good on you Vaishali for speaking of this and for a fabulous website! - Mel from New Zealand
Ramya
Hi hi..i tried this few weeks back and it came out soo fluffy and awesome!:-) I just love ur vegan cake collections...Next on list is the mango cupcake:-)
SS
I have baked this last year for my son's 6th bday, also made it for my daughter's 3rd and now making it again for my son's 7th. It was liked by all of our friends. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Anonymous
Hi,
The cake looks so yummy. How big was the cake pan that you used?
Thanks,
cheri
Hi, I googled vegan orange cake recipe this morning and came across this post. I am going to make it this afternoon! I am from England and so I had no clue who Vick was until you mentioned it. I won't go and google it though because it will make me very angry. I am going click the follow button too if you dont mind.
Anonymous
I've made this cake 3x in as many months. Every time I make it I'm asked for the recipe. I made a few tweaks-- I use 3 T of Grand Mariner and I add the zest of a large orange. By the way-- heed the warning of it being sticky, flour generously!