Orange Snack Cake

This recipe was developed and tested in my home kitchen at 5,400 feet above sea level. This Orange Snack Cake is one of the easiest cakes you can pull together and it’s the perfect cake to have on your counter for a quick snack here and there through the week. I really love the way the orange makes this cake taste a little like a creamsicle, and the orange sugar sprinkled on top gives the cake a lightly crisp topping that I’m obsessed with.

I developed this recipe using a specific mixing method, if you can even call it that, and it makes pulling it together insanely quick and easy. Let me show you how to make it!

How to Make an Orange Snack Cake

We’re keeping everything really simple here for ingredients and using all the normal suspects plus some fresh orange zest and juice to make this cake bright and delicious.

As a first step, I like to place the sugar and orange zest into a bowl and gently mash them together to help bring out the oils of the orange zest. I’ve seen some debate on whether or not this actually works, but I’ve always found it to be helpful and I like to reserve some of the orange sugar for the top of the cake.

Then to the mixing method- we’re simply adding all of the cake ingredients into a large bowl and mixing it together all at once. I wouldn’t recommend this method for any cake recipe, but I’ve specifically worked with this recipe to avoid over-mixing and still have a tender crumb while simply mixing everything together at once until you have a thick batter.

Spread the cake batter evenly into your prepared cake pan. I’m using a quarter sheet pan, but you can also use an 8-inch cake pan here and it may take a few minutes longer to bake through. Then sprinkle on the reserved orange sugar all over the top of your cake batter before baking. This will become lightly crisp as it bakes and it’s super delicious.

You can frost this cake if you like, but I actually just enjoy it plain, sliced into squares, with the sugary topping. It’s a really simple, lightly citrusy, soft cake that I think makes the perfect afternoon snack with a coffee.

Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Orange Snack Cake

Here are my tips to help along the way to the perfect Orange Cake:

• Do I have to use fresh orange juice and zest? Yes, this cake relies on the fresh zest and juice to pull through a naturally bright flavor from the oranges.
• Do I have to mash the sugar and orange zest? I recommend here- I like the combination of the orange sugar within the cake and on top of it, so I would not skip this step!
• Do I really mix all the cake ingredients at one time? Yes, this cake works well because it avoids any over mixing by doing it all at once. It’s ok if you have a few tiny pieces of butter running through the batter- it still bakes into a lovely, soft cake.
• How do I know when the batter is finished mixing? The cake batter is finished mixing when there are no dry pockets of flour remaining and it’s well mixed. The batter will be fairly thick and it’s ok if you can see a little butter here and there.
• How do I know when the cake is finished baking? The cake should become lightly golden on top with a crisp layer of sugar, and a cake tester should come out with just a few crumbs clinging to it!
• I’m at about 5,000 ft. above sea level, and I find that most people who live between about 3,000-7,000 ft. above sea level do not need to make any adjustments to my recipes.

Enjoy!

Print

Orange Snack Cake

Servings 10 slices

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tbs oil
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs orange zest
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8-inch square cake pan or a quarter-sheet pan. Optionally, line the pan with parchment paper with overhanging edges for easy removal.
2. In a small bowl, add all of the granulated sugar and all of the orange zest. Gently mash the orange zest into the sugar until everything is well mixed and coated. This helps to bring out the orange zest oils and flavors. Remove two tablespoons of the sugar mixture and set it aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the room-temp butter, oil, remaining 1/2 cup sugar with the zest, eggs, buttermilk, and juice, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, and salt. This is a bit of an odd mixing method, but trust the process- you want to just beat everything together at once until just combined. The batter will be thick.
4. Evenly spread the batter into your prepared cake pan, and sprinkle the additional reserved orange sugar evenly over the top. Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it. Let the cake cool completely before slicing and serving.

Nicole Hampton

Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!

[addtoany]