Serves a Crowd
Sunset's Whole Orange Cake
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125 Reviews
LeBec F.
April 14, 2024
aside from achieving the moist pure oranginesh, i find this recipe so disappointing. it's like advocating orange wonder bread.
i would much rather to use ingredients that include spelt flour, chopped prunes, chopped almonds or pecans, dark chocolate bits, and/or spices: basil, anise,, thyme. Ie: TEXTURE and surprising pinpoints of spice.
best,
mindy
i would much rather to use ingredients that include spelt flour, chopped prunes, chopped almonds or pecans, dark chocolate bits, and/or spices: basil, anise,, thyme. Ie: TEXTURE and surprising pinpoints of spice.
best,
mindy
Imbatnan
April 14, 2024
So why not add those things if you like them?
I love this recipe - it’s perfect for mini Bundt cakes for Christmas. Dark choc does sound like a nice addition. (The others make it sound too much like fruit cake to me.)
I love this recipe - it’s perfect for mini Bundt cakes for Christmas. Dark choc does sound like a nice addition. (The others make it sound too much like fruit cake to me.)
FK
January 27, 2024
I love the flavor of this cake, but the batter is SO THICK and the cake turned out crumbly. Do I need to cut off more of the orange ends? Do I need to supplement with more juice? I desperately want to make this work.
Beth
January 27, 2024
Probably depends on the oranges, some are more juicy than others, some have thicker skin than others. Yes, add more juice if necessary.
Maruta28
January 10, 2024
Fabulous! Make sure you butter the pan really well, even if it is silicone, like mine, to avoid sticking. Also, I reduced sugar to 180g and it was perfect. Very fresh and citrusy.
Gini
August 19, 2022
As is, it can be a show stopper. But with mint leaves and golden berries surrounding the circumference it looks like a beautiful wreath. Plus, it's delicious.
Jenny
January 2, 2022
The cake was wonderfully moist and fragrant with a lovely marmalade-like sweet and bitter flavour. I reduced the amount of sugar to 175g and found it to be plenty, especially with the icing on top. My bundt pan could only just about fit the cake in it, so it would potentially have been better to halve the recipe. Another thing that stood out to me was that the amount of flour in grams was quite a bit less than it was in cups, so I went with something in the middle: a bit more than what it said in grams but a bit less than the amount in cups. Would next time confidently just go by the amount in grams. I also happened to end up with more of the orange puree than in the recipe and used it instead of discarding the leftovers. Lovely recipe!
Mecablond
October 26, 2021
I made and it was really good, I also made the gluten free version and was also as good and friends with this type of problem were really satisfied........Now I need a tip to use this recipe using pineaple insted of oranges....... can you help?
Hilary
April 27, 2021
Really lovely! Made as instructed, except added a touch of vanilla to the cake batter and increased the salt to 1/2 tsp as per the suggestion in the comments. Lovely!
Jane L.
March 15, 2021
Just Delicious!
I doubled the glaze recipe since my family are a bunch of icing freaks. Rave reviews! Thanks!
I doubled the glaze recipe since my family are a bunch of icing freaks. Rave reviews! Thanks!
Amy
January 17, 2021
Lovely cake! I think the cake flavor would be improved with more salt, glaze flavor improved with salt and vanilla extract.
Smaug
January 3, 2021
This was pretty good. I made half the recipe in a smallish (8x4x2 1/2) loaf pan, which worked fine and left a fairly flat top for the glaze. That allowed me to make a wetter glaze (65g. sugar and 5 tsp. sour tangerine juice), which would have mostly run off a Bundt cake- it did take a while to dry, but I didn't want so much sugar on top. The texture is as advertised, very nice. The bitter tone from the peel was interesting- I don't know that I particularly liked it, but interesting.
Smaug
January 17, 2021
Tried this again with most (I'd say about 80%) of the pith removed; also added 1/4 tsp. orange oil. I'd say that the flavor was overall better balanced, but it lacked some of the je ne sais quoi factor of the original. Also, of course, you lose the just toss it in the blender appeal of the original- the oranges need to be zested, then peeled before cutting them up. In theory, it should be a little less moist than the original, and maybe it was, but quite moist enough for any normal purpose. I made 1/2 recipe in a 7" springform, a very good fit, and it allowed me to glaze the cake while still warm (which of course you couldn't do with a bundt cake). I used the same glaze above (I have sour tangerines because there hasn't been enough cold here for them to ripen fully- an alternative would be sour orange juice, or maybe Meyer lemon)- the cake absorbed a good deal of it, and it dried quickly.
garlic&lemon
January 2, 2021
Cara Cara Oranges are in season! They make the most amazing version of this cake. Such a treat in the winter. In a couple of months when the oranges start to get less fragrant, I add 1/2 tsp of Boyajian Orange Oil to boost that orange flavor right back up. Even in the pandemic with only 2 people in the house, I slice it and freeze them with some waxed paper between the slices to keep them from sticking together. A quick 20-30 seconds in the microwave and fresh cake for lunch desert. All ready for the next 4 hours of Zoom.
MJ-YOW
December 26, 2020
Excellent Results - i added about a half cup of unsweetened shredded coconut and half cup of chopped dried pineapple- amped up the tropical notes
Nancy
December 7, 2020
Late to the party, but glad to see this recipe. Both because of the whole orange (sounds good!) and because of Sunset Magazine, which I've always found a treasure trove of recipes.
Ditiya F.
September 17, 2020
I have made this cake several times now and it is just really really great. I would recommend using the 2 whole oranges, not omitting the peel because when it's baked into the cake, it gives it a slight bitterness that i absolutely love and also makes the texture much more interesting. I end up with a cake batter that is quite stable, fluffy and aerated, not runny at all but not dense, making sure to fold in the flour and orange without knocking out all of the air from the creamed butter and sugar. It comes out with such a delicate crumb and aromatic flavor. So nice! I usually get away with using only 3/4 cups of sugar in the batter and adding a dark chocolate drizzle on top.
beejay45
November 19, 2020
Yes! As I watched the video, I was thinking that what this cake cried out for was a dark chocolate glaze. Orange and chocolate are never wrong.
Alison
May 18, 2020
I should have added that I scrubbed my oranges to get off any wax or coating—they were organic to begin with, but I didn’t want any flavors from the coatings that are so common.
Alison
May 18, 2020
This was absolutely delicious! I used two Cara Cara oranges and one Moro, which produced an orange flavor with depth and a perfumed aroma that was amazing. The Moro orange had a lot of pith, so I trimmed some of that one more. I made according to recipe. It seemed plenty sweet to me, but not overly so. I will be making this again.
gratifi K.
April 16, 2020
Hi, I scrolled through the reviews to see if anyone has tried this cake with whole Meyer lemons? Even for Meyer lemons, the pith might be too bitter?
alicia D.
May 22, 2020
Christina’s Cucina website has a recipe for Whole Lemon Cake (one for conventional orange and GF orange as well. Her GF whole orange is the most delicious GF recipe I e ever eaten.)
Brianna R.
June 7, 2020
I make it with 3 lemons regularly, it’s delicious. I do usually add a bit of extra sugar.
Justine S.
April 5, 2020
I loved this cake! My whole family did too. It will definitely go into heavy rotation for us. I'm wondering if it would work with other fruits too? I made a kumquat cake a few months back and I could see that working here easily - but what about something like strawberries, or lime (would it be enough sugar) - would it work out since the fruit brings so much moisture to the batter?
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