Make Ahead

Mandarin Orange Cake

October  4, 2022
4
2 Ratings
Photo by Tom Hirschfeld/ Bona Fide Farm Food
  • Makes 8 or more slices
Author Notes

This is a summer cake. It is a kid's cake. It is a cottage or cabin cake. It is a quick cake. It is a delicious cake —thirschfeld

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the Cake
  • 1 Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Vanilla Cake Mix (1 lb. 3 oz. )
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise (do not use miracle whip)
  • 11 ounces can Mandarin oranges
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • For the frosting
  • 16 ounces heavy whipping cream
  • 4 tablespoons Dr. Oetker's Organic Instant Vanilla Pudding mix
  • 1 teaspoon pure orange extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons mandarin orange zest or orange zest
Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 350? F. Ignore the ingredients list and instructions on the back of the Vanilla Cake Mix bag.
  2. Drain the orange segments into a strainer set over a bowl. Reserve 5 segments to for which to decorate the top of the cake. Measure out the juice. You need a half a cup. If you have less then a half cup add water to make it a 1/2 cup.
  3. Combine the orange segments, half a cup of juice, gluten-free flour mix, vanilla, mayonnaise and the eggs in the bowl of a mixer. Using the beaters or the whisk combine the ingredients till smooth. For me it wasn't as runny as normal cake batter but it wasn't stiff either.
  4. Spilt the batter between two 8 inch cake rounds that have been greased and have a parchment round on the bottom. Bake for 35 minutes or until a tester or toothpick comes out clean. Or, if you will, the cake is firm to the touch when you gently push down on the middle. Remove from the oven. Cool on a rack until completely cool. You could stop here and once the cakes are cool carefully wrap them and let the sit till the next day to ice them.
  5. To make the frosting put all the frosting ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk with the whisk attachment until the cream forms stiff peaks being careful not to turn the frosting into a flavored butter.
  6. Place one of the layers of cake onto a cake stand and ice the top. Place the other layer onto the top of the icing and ice the rest of the cake. Fan out the 5 segments of orange to make a pinwheel in the center of the cake. Refrigerate or serve.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Joe Schramer
    Joe Schramer
  • mommychef
    mommychef
  • Gibson2011
    Gibson2011
  • Pat E. in SLO
    Pat E. in SLO

10 Reviews

Angela September 8, 2015
Made this for our Labor Day block party with Trader Joe's vanilla cake mix and Jello brand instant vanilla pudding mix. I couldn't find Dr. Oetker's anywhere! With the Jello pudding, we needed to add about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to make it sweet enough (but not too).
 
Joe S. August 13, 2015
Can we have a scratch version not using a cake mix please
 
Elizabeth June 22, 2014
This cake was great! The orange flavor was subtle and not overwhelming. The frosting was amazing. So different from the regular sugary frosting. Very simple and easy to make as well. Thanks for sharing.
 
mommychef June 20, 2014
I've renamed it "Block Party Cake"...perfect for the occasion and every crumb gone, which pretty much says it all.
 
Gibson2011 June 19, 2014
This reminds me so much of a cake that I grew up with called Daffodil Cake. Very similar, but it also has crushed pineapple in the topping.
 
Lynn June 18, 2014
Can this be made with a regular cake mix or must it be a gluten-free mix? This cake mix is not available in my area.
 
Pat E. June 18, 2014
I made it with a Trader Joe's 16 oz regular cake mix and it was great!
 
Pat E. June 14, 2014
I made this for a group of ladies. Baked in a 9X12 pan and turned it out on a green marble slab. Couldn't fnd the pudding so stablized with sour cream and powdered sugar. No orange extract but Grand Marnier made a great substitute! :-) Decorated with the suggested orange slices and garden fresh nasturtiums. Delicious, easy, and beautiful. Another hit!
 
Paul,Rybarczyk June 13, 2014
It's Ok. Surprisingly little orange taste in the cake itself, despite all of the oranges and juice. The best part, I think, is mixing the pudding into the whipped cream frosting to make a stable cream frosting. The orange extract in the frosting was too alcohol-y in taste; I don't know why...never had anything like that happen before. really distracted from the taste. The cake itself was nice and moist. Would not bother to make this again.
 
Jabarwok June 3, 2014
You should put gluten free in the title, I almost passed over it because I assumed it had wheat flour.