Orange Cake Recipe with Toffee Sauce: This orange cake recipe started off somewhere else entirely and ended up as an orange cake. A friend SJ and I were discussing a book she recommended and she sent me the recipe for a lemon loaf cake that she said I must try.
Although I do agree that fruit cakes must be baked and had at Christmas time, they are not my favourite kind. So I try to work around that by making fruit cakes but with only one fruit. That counts, right? Oranges are super flavourful and making a cake with oranges is just, a good idea you guys! Orange rind, which can be added to anything flour-based really, makes this cake that much better. While most orange cake recipes I have seen uses orange juice in the batter, this one doesn’t have that. You can make a glaze with orange juice and icing sugar or go the route of this toffee sauce (recipe below) I have used. Either ways, this orange cake is delicious.
Christmas baking is probably my favourite activity and I usually make some brownies, bars, and a cake with some type of fruit action going on. While my eggless fruit cake is possibly the most popular one I have baked and shared, this orange cake is a close second. At some point, people get tired of all that dried fruit and nuts I guess.
This orange cake recipe bakes up nice and spongy and doesn’t rise too much so don’t panic. I decided to go with the toffee sauce that goes so well with the sticky date cake (another great cake for the Christmas season!) that I have now baked countless times. You can add lesser sugar to the cake if you prefer, since the sauce is fairly sweet and can make this cake quite rich and delicious. Did I mention this orange cake recipe also uses just one bowl? Win!
Oh and also, this orange cake recipe calls for vegetable oil and usually, I am wary of using oil in cakes (I have tried a few with mixed results) but I needn’t have worried at all. It worked like a charm in this one. Just buy regular vegetable oil from the supermarket, or you can use melted butter too.
Orange Cake Recipe with Toffee Sauce
Ingredients
Orange Cake Recipe
- 1.5 cups regular flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp fresh orange zest
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Toffee Sauce Recipe
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup cream I use whipping cream
- 6 tbsp butter cut into small pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
To Make the Cake:
- Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Add eggs, sour cream, oil, orange zest and vanilla to the flour mixture.
- Using an electric blender on med-low speed, beat for 1 min, until blended. Scrap sides and bottom, beat on med. speed for 1 min. If beating by hand, do it briskly in one direction for about 3-4 mins until well blended and you can't see traces of flour sticking out.
- Spread batter in greased cake pan or loaf pan.
- Bake at 350F / 180C for 50-55min. Let cool in the pan for 10mins.
- Poke holes all over warm cake with a fork and pour the toffee sauce over it. Cool completely before cutting and serving.
To Make Toffee Sauce:
- In a pan, combine sugar, cream, salt and butter
- Bring to a boil whisking continuously.
- Reduce heat and simmer whisking for 2mins till sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla extract.
- Let it cool for 5mins or till slightly thickened.
- Pour over cake while still warm.
Notes:
– To make this orange cake more of a christmas cake, add 1 tsp cinnamon powder and 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder to the above recipe. You can also try adding 1/2 tsp fresh garam masala to make it spicier.
– When measuring flour, use the scoop and sweep method – ie – scoop flour loosely into the measuring cup and when full, sweep the excess off the top.
– This is a one-bowl cake and is very easy to put together so there’s no need for creaming of butter and sugar or sifting of dry ingredients. Using an electric mixer makes the mixing process more uniform so I would recommend that.
– The toffee sauce can be refrigerated for up to a week and used on any dessert or ice cream of choice. It’s delicious and gets it’s consistency back by microwaving on low heat or leaving out for 10 mins at room temperature.
Thankx a lot for ur wonderful recipes. Expecting more sweet snacks from u God bless..
thank you jaya!
Hi Nags,
This is a long overdue compliment. Thank you so much for sharing such a great recipe! This is my go to cake if I want to bake something simple yet flavorful. Another favorite of mine is your banana cake. It is truly the best banana cake ever 🙂 Wishing you all the best and cheers to more mouthwatering recipes.
Ambika
that’s so great to hear, thank you ambika 🙂
Hiii…the cake looks awesome!
Will this be good without eggs? Is there any substitute that way?
Thanks!
i haven't tried it but substituting the eggs with yogurt or buttermilk may work
Hey
I occassionaly follow your blog for Kerala recipes and saw this great orange cake recipe. Im usually very scared to bake coz of past experiences. I have a very very basic question. When you say 1 'cup', how much is that exactly? What do you use for these measurements?
i use a measuring cup which i bought from a baking supply store. it's equivalent to 200ml
Hi,
can you tell me what to substitute instead of sour cream? or if possible how to make it? all we get here is regular cream of amul.
try buttermilk
Hv made this a zillion times… It's fantastic and I always use yoghurt instead of sour cream same measurement …
Thanks for that tip Anita 🙂
Hi Nags,
The cake looks wonderful :)…Can i use olive or sunflower oil instead of veg. oil as i never liked its smell?
Regards,
Diya
Any neutral oil will work. veg oil works in this cake recipe because it doesn't have a strong flavour. don't use olive oil, try sunflower oil if you'd like. i haven't tried either so can't promise the results 🙂
wat can u suggest other than sour cream? i dont get it here.
plain yogurt may work too. try it 🙂
Girl give the original lemon loaf a shot if you don't like it I will shave my head.
kidding. But try it out.
i definitely intend to! so many ppl wrote in after trying this 🙂
OMG, since you published this post i must have made this cake a dozen times, i mean literally dozen times. I made is for friends, co-workers, and even for my Daughters' day care teachers for Christmas. It's that easy and a very different yummy cake. Nags thanks a lots for posting it, i meant to comment on the post like a month ago but somehow missed it. I am baking the cake again today just because i have couple of oranges at home 😉
that is so awesome, and i am SO glad you liked it 🙂