Orange Creamsicle Cake

This two layer orange creamsicle cake is bursting with citrus and vanilla flavors! Moist, fluffy vanilla layer cake is made with orange juice and orange zest then frosted in a orange vanilla buttercream frosting. 

Growing up I’ll be honest I wasn’t a fan of creamsicles. You know the frozen treat on a stick? I was more of a fudgesicle kind of girl. Or those chocolate crunchy ice-cream bars (you know the ones). Who knows maybe I could taste the artificialness going on. 

But put real orange and vanilla flavors inside a cake, and I’m on board. And I love baking with citrus in the wintertime. Citrus is in season in the winter months, so why not embrace it! 

Yes this cake was a tough one to not sneak bites of when walking by. “I’ll just take one more bite” I kept saying. Mmhmm, I think you can all guess how that battle ended. 

Cake – 1, Me – 0. Oh well, moving on. Let me wave the white flag while I take another bite.

Cake Ingredients

Frosting Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

• Flour – Cake flour has a lower protein content than regular AP flour, so you end up with a lighter, fluffier cake in the end. Lower protein = less gluten formed. And gluten is the protein that gives a cake structure. So less structure means a fluffy cake for you! If you don’t have cake flour on hand, you can make a DIY cake flour version. It won’t be exactly the same but will do in a pinch!
• Oil – I add some oil to this cake to help keep it moist. You want to use a neutral-tasting oil such as vegetable or canola oil.
• Orange zest – The cake has fresh orange zest grated into it to give it maximum flavor. I add the orange zest to the sugar, so it can really be worked in and have the orange oils release. You will use this in the cake and the frosting. 
• Eggs – You want room temperature large eggs. Room temperature eggs will bind and emulsify better than cold ones. And room temperature eggs will also create more volume as well. If you add cold eggs it will also seize up the butter in the bowl as well. I place my eggs into a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using. 
• Buttermilk – This helps to moisten the cake and give it great flavor. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make a DIY buttermilk instead. Your results won’t be exactly the same, but it will come close. 

How To Make This Orange Creamsicle Cake

1. Combine your dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together your cake flour, baking powder, and salt.   
2. Combine wet ingredients. In a second bowl add the butter, oil, sugar, and zest.
3. Cream wet ingredients. You want to cream together until light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Your mixture may slightly curdled looking at this point due to the oil. Don’t worry this is normal!
4. Add eggs and vanilla. Once the butter is properly creamed, you can add the eggs and vanilla. Make sure to add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. You want each egg properly incorporated before adding the next. You may need to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition. Sometimes ingredients will stay unincorporated at the bottom.  Then go ahead and add in the vanilla extract.

HEATHER’S BAKING TIP: For the best results I always recommend measuring your ingredients, especially your flour, by weight using a digital kitchen scale. This always ensures you get the correct amount and don’t end up with too much flour in your bowl which can greatly affect the overall texture of your cake. 

Finish batter and bake

1. Add 1/3 of the flour to the creamed mixture. You are going to alternate the dry with the buttermilk and orange juice, so don’t add it all.
2. Add 1/2 of the buttermilk and orange juice.
3. Repeat alternating the dry ingredients and buttermilk/OJ mixture. When the last of the flour is mixed in, stop stirring so as not to create too much gluten and create a tough cake.
4. Then it’s time to bake! You want to divide the cake batter between your two pans, smooth the tops and bake in the center of your oven. I always test the center of the cake with a toothpick to ensure there’s no wet batter before removing the pan. Then I let the cakes cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack before removing from the pan to cool further. 

Baking 101: Alternating the ingredients will help reduce the amount of time you need to mix everything together to get a smooth batter, so this will ensure a tender cake in the end. 

Make the frosting

While the cake is cooling, I like to make the frosting.  In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine the butter and confectioners sugar. You want to mix on low speed at first so you don’t end up with sugar all over your kitchen! Then increase the speed to medium until combined. 

Once the sugar is incorporated, add the heavy cream, vanilla, orange juice, and zest. I mix my frosting for a very long time – for 7-8 minutes until light and cream. It might seem excessive but I will ensure you get the fluffiest and best frosting ever.  And then the cake is cooled frost the cake and serve. 

Recipe Tips

• Prep Your Pans The Right Way. I recommend greasing your cake pans and lining the bottoms with parchment paper. I love using Baker’s Joy spray that has flour in it for the best release. I like to spray the pans, then line the bottom with parchment paper, then give it another spray. Here is a tutorial on How To Prepare Cake Pans (in 4 easy steps!)
• Careful when zesting. When zesting the citrus, make sure to go only down to the white pith layer. The white pith layer is bitter so you want to make sure to not zest this layer, just the outer layer.
• Soften Your Butter. You want properly softened butter so that you can cream mixture properly. The sugar punches holes into the butter creating air pockets, which helps to aerate and help the cake to rise. Here are 3 quick ways to soften your butter. 
• Don’t Overcream! – Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 2-3 minutes. If you cream for too long and too high of a speed you will end up incorporating too much air and softening the butter too much. 
• Bring your eggs to room temperature.  You don’t want cold eggs being added to your creamed butter mixture. It will seize up the butter. So place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using them. 

Storing This Cake

When it comes to cakes I highly recommend making them ahead of time. There’s a lot of work that goes into them so it’s great to make them ahead! You can store the cake layers, unfrosted and then frost them later.  You can also store the cake layers, or the whole cake at room temperature. 

You can also freeze the cake layers too if you need to!

Cake Layers only: 

• At room temperature: You can make the cake layers 2-3 days ahead of time. Leave them unfrosted, and wrap in plastic wrap or tin-foil. Just make sure they are completely cool before doing so. 
• Freezing: You can also wrap the cooled cake layers and freeze for up to 3 months if you don’t plan to use the layers in a few days. I let them thaw at room temperature before icing them.

Frosted Cake: 

• At room temperature: If you have frosted the cake, then be sure to cover it properly. I like to store the cake in a plastic cake container, like this one. It will be fine at room temperature for about 2 days. The frosting will lock the moisture in.
• Freezing: Yes you can freeze a frosted cake! You can freeze a whole cake, or slices. I recommend freezing the cake (or slices) first unwrapped until frozen solid, about 4 hours. Then wrap carefully in plastic wrap (a few layers) and a final layer of aluminum foil. When ready to enjoy, just thaw at room temperature. 

Orange Creamsicle Cake Recipe FAQ’s

More Recipes To Try

• Momofuku Milk Bar Cake
• Homemade White Cake
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
• Homemade Funfetti Cake
• Berry Chantilly Cake

Orange Creamsicle Cake

This easy two layer cake is made with fresh orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla to give it the classic orange creamsicle flavor!

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 613kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

• ▢ For the cake:
• ▢ 3 ¼ cups (390 g) cake flour
• ▢ 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ ½ cup (1 stick, 113 g) unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ ½ cup (120 mL) vegetable oil
• ▢ 2 cups (396 g) granulated white sugar
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons orange zest
• ▢ 4 large eggs room temperature
• ▢ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) buttermilk
• ▢ ¼ cup (60 mL) orange juice
• ▢ For the frosting:
• ▢ 3 ¾ sticks (423 g) unsalted butter softened
• ▢ 3 ¾ cups (453 g) confectioner sugar
• ▢ 3 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
• ▢ 1 ½ Tablespoons vanilla extract
• ▢ ¼ cup (60 mL) orange juice
• ▢ zest of 1 orange (about 1 tablespoon)

Instructions

To make the cake:

• Preheat and prepare pan. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Set aside.
• Combine dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Cream butter and sugar. In a second mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter, oil, sugar and zest together until light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add eggs and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition. Add vanilla extract.
• Alternate dry ingredients with buttermilk. Alternate adding the flour mixture with the buttermilk and orange juice, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
• Bake. Bake 30-35 minutes (for 9” layers).

To make the frosting:

• Mix butter and sugar. In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine the butter and confectioners sugar. Mix on low speed at first, then increase the speed to medium until combined.
• Add heavy cream, vanilla, orange juice, and zest. Add in your heavy cream, vanilla extract,juice, and mix on medium to high speed for 7-8 minutes until light and cream. When cake is cooled frost cake and serve.

Notes

• Different Pans: Bake 35-40 minutes for a 9″ x 13″ pan; 24-27 minutes for 8″ layers, or 23 to 25 minutes for cupcakes. The cake is done when it’s golden brown around the edges and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack (unless in a 9×13 pan) to cool completely.
• Storage: 
  • Cake Layers – At room temperature: You can make the cake layers 2-3 days ahead of time. Leave them unfrosted, and wrap in plastic wrap or tin-foil. Just make sure they are completely cool before doing so. 
  • Freezing – Cake Layers: You can also wrap the cooled cake layers and freeze for up to 3 months if you don’t plan to use the layers in a few days. I let them thaw at room temperature before icing them.
  • Frosted Cake (at room temperature) If you have frosted the cake, then be sure to cover it properly. I like to store the cake in a plastic cake container. It will be fine at room temperature for about 2 days. The frosting will lock the moisture in.
  • Freezing Frosted Cake: Yes you can freeze a frosted cake! You can freeze a whole cake, or slices. I recommend freezing the cake (or slices) first unwrapped until frozen solid, about 4 hours. Then wrap carefully in plastic wrap (a few layers) and a final layer of aluminum foil. When ready to enjoy, just thaw at room temperature. 

Nutrition

Sodium: 246mg | Calcium: 92mg | Vitamin C: 7mg | Vitamin A: 445IU | Sugar: 73g | Fiber: 1g | Potassium: 210mg | Cholesterol: 83mg | Calories: 613kcal | Saturated Fat: 8g | Fat: 21g | Protein: 7g | Carbohydrates: 99g | Iron: 1mg

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