This post may contain affiliate links. See my privacy policy for details.
I love a good loaf cake and my amazing orange cake is no exception! What a welcome burst of orange-flavored sunshine this was in the middle of a seriously cold winter here. Sometimes you just have to bake up something that cheers you up with the mere taste of it – and that’s what this orange bread did.
Love loaf style cakes / breads? Try my Cranberry Orange Bread or Strawberry Bread too!
Orange Cake
Oranges are cheap, cheerful, and plentiful year-round, which is exactly why we should be cooking and baking with them. Combined with my orange icing glaze (linked to in the recipe card below), this makes an amazing dessert or even a breakfast with a nice cup of coffee!
They key to this recipe is to try and use only the very best quality ingredients that you can find. When you have such a simple recipe, the basic ingredients really stand out, so make sure you find the highest quality possible.
Ingredients
To make this delicious loaf cake, you’ll need the following ingredients. Make sure to check the recipe card below for exact measurements and full instructions.
- butter
- granulated sugar
- large eggs
- orange zest
- orange juice
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- orange icing glaze
How to Make Orange Cake
Preheat your oven to 350 °F, grease a standard loaf pan, and set aside. Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth then add in the eggs, one at a time until fully combined. Mix in the orange zest and juice until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add into the butter mixture and stir until mixed in well.
Spoon into the loaf pan, smoothing out the top. Bake until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Glaze with my Orange Icing Glaze when fully cooled.
Choosing the best oranges for your orange cake
I have good luck usually with Sunkist when I can find them, it seems that there is a better quality to them when they have that label. Cara Cara oranges are also a good bet for juice and flavour, they are slightly pink inside as well.
When it comes down to picking a good orange to use, try to find which ones are really thick-skinned and avoid them at all costs – those are always terrible inside. If you can, try to find Florida-grown oranges, those are usually the best but when everything is off-season you’re going to have to look extra hard for good oranges.
Tips & Tricks
- Find oranges with the brightest, best color on the outside. Smell the oranges when you are picking them. Sometimes you can get a really good sense of the orange inside when it smells very fragrant. That also means that the oils in the peel are strong, which means you will get a strong flavor when you zest it.
- Pick the freshest, best oranges that you can find for this cake.
- Look for oranges that have healthy peels on the outside, remember that you are going to zest the peel so look for skin that is unblemished.
- This loaf cake will stay in a container for 3 days at room temperature, refrigerating it will make it hard. I am sure your family will eat it up within those 3 days.
- Make sure to use my Orange Icing Glaze on this orange loaf cake, it is the best! If you want to mix and match maybe try out my Lemon Icing Glaze for a crazy good citrus loaf cake!
Happy baking everyone!
Love,
Karlynn
PIN THIS RECIPE to your DESSERT RECIPES Boards and Remember to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST!
Amazing Orange Cake
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour
- Total Time
- 1 hour 10 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 10
- Calories
- 272
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons orange zest
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- orange icing glaze
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 °F. Grease a standard loaf pan ( 9x5x3 inches approximately) and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at at a time until fully combined. Mix in the orange zest and juice until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add into the butter mixture and stir until mixed in well.
- Spoon into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing out the top. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool until you can touch the pan safely. Turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
- Glaze with my Orange Icing Glaze when fully cooled.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Made this recipe?
Share a photo of what you made on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thekitchenmagpie or hashtag it #thekitchenmagpie.
Please rate this recipe in the comments below to help out your fellow cooks!
Learn to cook like the Kitchen Magpie
A Very Prairie Christmas Bakebook
Cookies, Candies, Cakes & More: Vintage Baking to Celebrate the Festive Season!
Flapper Pie and a Blue Prairie Sky
A Modern Baker’s Guide to Old-Fashioned Desserts
The Prairie Table
Suppers, Potlucks & Socials: Crowd-Pleasing Recipes to Bring People Together
Riley Nelson says
This orange loaf is really lacking in orange flavor and is just too simple in flavor. It kind of doesn’t taste like much of anything and isn’t super sweet either for as much sugar as it has. I make loaf cakes and breads several times a week and this one is just really “okay”. I followed the recipe exactly as written. Probably needs some more development to make this recipe amazing.
Joan says
Really good! I made it with Splenda, next time maybe half Splenda and half sugar, also used 3/4 cup as per reviews of others. It was great and well received by all. Not dense like others had said. Wondering if perhaps they beat it too long? Thank you!
Maria says
hi havent made this yet but i thinking of adding 1/2 a cup of sour cream. Would make it more moist? Would this change the flavor?
alex says
Hi, I’ve made this before and it was so so good!! I’m wanting to bake them as muffins. Do you know how I could adjust the temp or baking time for muffins? Or could you give an estimate 🙂
SierrasMom says
Nice orange flavor and slices beautifully. The orange icing glaze is so good and definitely completes and complements the recipe. I’ll definitely make this again!
SierrasMom says
I forgot to say that the cake was done at about 47 minutes! (The 55 – 60 min in the recipe would have been way too long). Glad I set my timer for 45 min ‘just to check’ !
Jeanne Farrar says
Made it in a bundt pan cooked 35 minutes, used honey bell oranges, cooling now. smells awesome
Pat says
I found this to be. Rey dense and rather dry. Can I add sour cream or applesauce, maybe more juice to lighten it up. ? Flavor was great but disappointed in texture.
Karlynn Johnston says
If it’s dry, that means you over-baked it, so try baking it less. You could add some sour cream for tang if you wanted!
Rebecca Harrington says
Followed the recipe exactly and the loaf cake came out very dense with flour taste. the batter seemed very dry. Was it supposed to be baking soda instead of powder. Dissatisfied.
Glorimar says
It fluffy at all . If you like fluffy add more eggs.
Stephanie Vanderweide says
The advertisements on this page make it impossible to view or follow the recipe
Jillian says
I am a novice and this was so easy to follow and it turned out amazing. Both of my SUPER picky kids loved it and now seem to expect I will always have a loaf of this ready. Looks like I’m going to need ALOT more oranges. Awesome recipe.
Nicole Auo says
Simple but delicious!! Fluffy and flavourful. I tend to lessen the sugar with most cake recipes I use, I felt for this cake in particular doing that brought out the orange flavour even more. Just dusted a little icing sugar on the top – perfecto. My family loved this on the first go – safe to say it’ll be a house staple – thank you for sharing!
Kathleen says
Love this recipe! It came out perfect and was easy to make. Lite and airy not dense, of which o love! I see some people here say their cake was dry.
My tip is: be sure to fluff up the flour before scooping the needed amount. This way the flour isn’t packed in the measuring cup. Also, over baking even a little bit will cause dryness.
I poked holes all over cake before pouring the glaze on top making the cake moist and oozing with orange goodness. Thank you Karlyn
Adriana says
After following the recipe to a T, the dough seemed very dry, almost like cookie dough. I added a half a cup of sour cream and it fixed the issue. Bread came out soft and fluffy.
LAURIE FANCY says
Hi, there!
Was very excited preparing all the zest and juice for this recipe. It took 3 medium navel oranges!! Yummy! Unfortunately, the loaf cake did not live up to my expectations. It was too dry. I was expecting more of a pound cake, but it tasted great!!
James Mahomes says
I cannot find the icing
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
The link to the icing is in the recipe card but here it is as well: https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/how-to-make-an-orange-icing-glaze/
J says
Was a dry bread. Cooked it for 50 min. Followed every direction.
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
Sorry to hear it didn’t work out, I’d recommend following the instructions thoroughly next time.
Diane says
Delicious!
I poked some holes in the loaf so that the glaze could seep down into it. Yummy!!
Thanks for this recipe.
Judy says
Brilliant! Like a” poke cake.”
Donna Sullivan says
Delicious & so easy to make
Rin says
As always, delicious recipe! Made it again tonight and doubled the recipe to make two loaves, added a tsp of cinnamon and a cream cheese glaze for a festive twist. Keep up your awesome work!
fer estrada says
in my oven it needed about 45 minutes or so, i made the icing but added cardamom seeds instead, just to add it a little twist, my batter was way too dense and the final result was too, feel like it could have been fluffier, maybe it was the mold used, anyway, taste was really good
Anais says
Hi this was delicious!!! I used margarine instead of butter and a little less flour and brown sugar instead of white and it was beautiful and delicious still !! Perfect
Mitchella says
I love this cake! Thanks for sharing your recipes with us.
Dee says
Very good cake. Text is spot on. Dense, yet moist and flavorful. I was worried about flavor since the ingredient list is minimal but it’s great. I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe. Except eat it in the morning with coffee.
I baked it to just barley done. Cooled it with plastic wrap draped over top on a wire rack. Maybe that helped keep the moisture in.
Mani says
Excellent recipe!!! Tasted wonderful
marie says
Hi
Love the taste and very simple to make . I just find it very dry, any help on how to make it a bit more moist?
Anisah says
This is the loaf that my husband dubbed the best orange cake he’s ever tasted. It’s my second time making it, upon his request and I can’t praise it enough. I reduced the sugar to 3/4cups, and gave half whole wheat flour and used trans fat free margarine because I needed it dairy free. Didn’t do the icing and and didn’t miss it. Thanks for the great recipe!
Eab says
Try using self rising flour instead of all purpose flr, baking powder and salt. Salt can cause rasping agents to not react.
Ryz says
I am a beginner in baking and I tried this. It’s so delicious! My family loved it. I felt like a seasoned baker when my family praised me while eating this cake. Thank you so much
Terry says
I just made this today. Followed directions exactly. Only took 50 minutes in my oven. It looked nice when I took it out, however after it cooled, it fell. It’s about 2 inches high now. I haven’t tasted it yet. My fear is that it’s going to be dense. I’ve baked a lot, not sure what went wrong.
Christine says
Your baking soda is no good . Throw it out , that is why your bread fell .
Beth says
Delicious orange cake…
Robin says
Had a bit of fresh OJ wanted to use up and your lovely brevipe came up in a google search. I added a touch of nutmeg and walnuts, otherwise made to recipe. It was a smooth wonderful smelling dough and made the house smell great while baking. Definitely a 5 star, easy recipe and will be making again.