Sweet, soft, moist, and tasty Orange Cake made with fresh orange juice. This Cake Recipe is easy to follow, a bit healthy and includes whole wheat flour. A lovely eggless orange cake that is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans alike!
Table of Contents
Why This Orange Cake Recipe Works
This eggless orange cake recipe is a delicious guilt free sweet treat made with fresh ingredients. I use fresh orange juice in this recipe but you can use canned or packaged orange juice.
You can swap a few ingredients in this recipe if you do not have them to hand. I used whole wheat flour to make this orange cake however, you can use all-purpose flour instead. I also used raw sugar as a sweetener but you can swap it with powdered jaggery.
The great thing about this cake is that it is very light as not much oil is needed in this recipe. You won’t get that heavy feeling after eating a slice of this orange cake. This is definitely a relatively healthy orange cake recipe compared to others.
If you want more sweetness then feel free to frost this cake with orange whipped cream or buttercream icing. However, I prefer to eat it plain with a hot cup of tea or coffee.
This recipe makes a medium-sized quantity for 3 to 4 people. You can also try this delicious egg-free Orange Muffins recipe.
This eggless orange cake can be baked both in a regular oven and in the microwave oven with the convection mode.
How to Make Orange Cake
Make Batter
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sieve 1 cup whole wheat flour with 1 tablespoon cornstarch (or custard powder), a pinch of salt, ½ teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon baking soda. Keep this sifted dry mixture aside.
Note that cornstarch is known as cornflour in India.
2. Add ½ cup sugar and ¼ cup sunflower oil to a bowl. You can include softened butter instead of oil. Use a neutral flavored oil. You can also use olive oil.
Kindly note that in the video, there is a typo for the amount of oil. The quantity of oil that you actually need to add in this recipe is ¼ cup only.
3. Beat this mixture with an electric beater, hand beater, or wooden spoon for a few minutes.
I have made this cake with jaggery too. So you can add powdered or grated jaggery instead of sugar.
4. I made fresh orange juice but you can use packaged orange juice too, preferably without added preservatives. If you are making fresh juice, use an electric juicer.
You can also blend the orange segments (seeds removed) and strain the juice as shown. I used three medium oranges to get a bit more than 1 cup of juice.
You can check this post for the step-by-step method of making Orange Juice in a blender.
5. The below photo is of fresh strained orange juice.
6. Measure and add 1 cup of the orange juice to the sugar and oil mixture. If you are using whole wheat flour, then 1 cup of orange juice works well and if you are using all purpose flour then you can add about ¾ cup of orange juice.
Do not keep the orange juice resting as it turns bitter. So use it straightaway to make the cake batter.
7. Stir very well thoroughly with a wired whisk until all of the sugar dissolves.
8. Now add the sieved flour mixture and ½ to 1 teaspoon orange zest. For a stronger orange flavor add a bit of orange extract or essence.
Note: To get the zest of orange, grate the orange peel before peeling the oranges. Use a handheld grater or zester to grate the orange peel. Do not grate the white pith.
9. Mix everything very well with a wired whisk. There should be no lumps in the cake batter.
10. The orange cake batter is ready.
Bake Orange Cake
11. Pour the batter in a lined or greased cake tin of about 7×4 inches. Use a spatula to scrape the batter from the sides of the bowl and pour it into the cake pan.
12. Tap the pan from the sides or tap the bottom of the pan on the countertop to remove excess air bubbles. The batter will easily level in the pan by itself when you tap the pan.
13. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 35 minutes.
Check the cake with a toothpick or bamboo skewer and it should come out clean. If there is any batter sticking on the skewer, then bake for some more minutes.
TIP: If the top of the cake starts browning too much, cover the top with aluminum foil or parchment paper while baking.
SUGGESTION: If you do not have an oven, then bake the cake in a stove-top pressure cooker. Follow the method as detailed in this recipe post of Pressure Cooker Cake to make this eggless orange cake.
14. Place the baked cake on a wired tray to cool at room temperature. Later gently remove the orange cake from the pan.
Serving and Storing Suggestions
Slice the eggless orange cake and serve as a sweet dessert snack or with tea or coffee.
If you want to save some cake for later then wrap the remaining cake in cling film or store in a covered container, and refrigerate for about a week. You can also freeze this cake for about a month.
Expert Tips for Orange Cake
- Flour: Make sure you sieve the flour before making your cake batter. This gets rid of any bran in the flour, and splits up lumps of flour. I used whole wheat flour to make this orange cake recipe as it is a healthy alternative however, you can use all-purpose flour if you do not have any whole wheat flour to hand.
- Oil: I added oil to this orange cake batter which makes it a vegan option. For a vegetarian option use butter instead. Both ingredients work well in this cake.
- Orange juice: If you are making orange juice from scratch then use medium-sized, juicy ripe oranges. Make sure you remove the seeds before juicing them. Sieve the juice to ensure that the orange fibers do not get added to the cake batter. Alternatively, you can use canned orange juice without preservatives or additives, if you are short of time.
- Leavening ingredients: It is important to add baking soda and powder to this recipe as they help the cake to rise. Make sure that both leavening ingredients have not expired because this will stop the orange cake from rising.
FAQs
Adding too many liquids to cake batter can result in an overly moist cake. Make sure you add ¼ cup of oil to this recipe to achieve the perfect amount of moisture.
Yes, you can. In this recipe, I have only added fresh orange juice but you can add orange extract or essence to enhance the orange flavor. Add a bit of orange extract along with the sieved flour mixture and ½ to 1 teaspoon of orange zest.
Yes, it is very easy to freeze orange cake. Allow the cake to cool completely and wrap it tightly in cling film then foil. Label the cake and freeze it for up to 1 month.
There are a few reasons why your cake may not have risen. Perhaps the batter was mixed too much or maybe it wasn’t mixed enough. Also, using expired baking powder or soda will prevent the cake from rising.
I add corn starch to this recipe to give this cake a delicious soft texture.
More Delicious Cake Recipes!
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Orange Cake (Eggless, Vegan & with Whole Wheat flour)
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour – 120 grams or can use all-purpose flour or half-half of both the flours
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
- ¾ to 1 cup Orange Juice – If using whole wheat flour then add 1 cup orange juice and if using all-purpose flour, then add ¾ cup orange juice
- ½ cup raw sugar – 100 grams, can use powdered jaggery or powdered sugar – add more if required
- ¼ cup sunflower oil or olive oil or butter or any neutral oil
- ½ to 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch (cornflour) or eggless custard powder
Instructions
Making batter
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Sieve whole wheat flour with the corn starch (or custard powder), a pinch of salt, baking powder and baking soda. Keep this sieved mixture aside.
- In a bowl add the sugar and oil. You can also use softened butter instead of oil.
- With an electric beater or hand beater or a wooden spoon, beat this mixture of oil/butter and sugar for a few minutes until well blended. Set aside. I have made this cake with jaggery too. So you can add powdered or grated jaggery instead of sugar.
- Now make the fresh orange juice. You can extract the juice with a handheld juicer or in an electric juice or blender. For the blender method, blend the orange segments (with seeds removed) and strain the juice to filter out the fibers. I have used three medium oranges to get a bit more than 1 cup juice.
- You can use packaged juice too.
- Measure and add 1 cup of the orange juice to the sugar and oil mixture. If using whole wheat flour, then 1 cup of orange juice works well and if using all purpose flour, then you can add about ¾ cup of orange juice.
- Mix very well until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Now add the sifted flour mixture and orange zest. To get a more dominant flavor of oranges, add a bit of orange extract or essence.
- Mix everything very well with a wired whisk. There should be no lumps in the cake batter.
Baking orange cake
- Pour the batter in a lined or greased cake tin of about 7×4 inches. Use a spatula to scrape the batter from sides and add it to the cake pan.
- Tap the pan from the sides or tap the bottom of the pan on the countertop, so that excess air bubbles are released and the batter becomes even in the pan.
- Bake the cake in a preheated oven for 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Check the cake by inserting a bamboo skewer and it should come out clean. If it has any batter on it, bake the cake for some more minutes.
- Place the cake on a wired tray or rack to cool it completely at room temperature.
- Later gently remove it from the pan. Slice the eggless orange cake and serve as a sweet dessert or with tea or coffee. You can wrap the remaining cake or store in an tight container and keep in the fridge for about a week.
Video
Notes
- If using fresh orange juice, then make the juice just before you add it to the oil-sugar mixture. Keeping orange juice for a long time can result in it getting bitter and spoiling the taste of the cake.
- The recipe can be scaled easily. If scaling, then keep in mind that the time of baking will increase if you bake the entire cake batter in one pan. If you decide to bake in 2 to 3 pans, the timing will remain almost the same.
- Omit cornstarch (cornflour) or custard powder if you do not have it.
- Make sure that your baking soda and baking powder are fresh, active and within their shelf period.
- You can use all purpose flour in this recipe. Add ¾ cup orange juice if making the cake with all purpose flour.
- Note that the approximate nutrition info is for one slice of the orange cake.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Orange cake recipe post from the blog archives (first published on February 2013) has been republished and updated on 5 June 2021.
Hi.. this recipe is looking something yummy… m gonna try it for sure..
i wanted to knw is for how long we should preheat oven ?
thanks neha. preheat for 10-15 minutes.
Hello, could this cake be made in a round pan?
If yes, I have a 9 inch pan would it be ok or should Iou double the recipe?
Thank you for your recipes.
you can make in a round pan, but 9 inch pan would be too big. a 5 to 6 inch pan would have been fine. i am not sure if the recipe when doubled will work or not.
Hi Dassana,
I baked this cake today. Even after 35 minutes of baking at 180C in my IFB convection microwave, the toothpick was not coming out dry. I baked for 10 minutes more, checking at 5 minute intervals. It looked and smelled great but the inside texture was not crumbly. It was more like a halwa. I felt my batter was thinner than yours as in the pic. Can this be responsible? Can you also let me know if I can substitute oil with dairy products like curd? If so, in what proportion?
hi preeti, did the cake bake well finally. since oven temperatures are different in various oven, the timing will vary. even if the batter is thin, it might take some more minutes for baking. possibly the thin batter was taking a long time to bake. batter may become a bit thin or thick depending on the quality of flour. depending on the recipe, you might substitute. but if the recipe calls for more curd, eg 1 cup or 3/4 cup then better to avoid. since some oil or butter must already be there in the recipe and if you add more, the cake will become oily. again it also depends on why curd is added. for making the cake soft or for taste or for any other reason. 1 or 2 tbsp can be substituted. instead of curd, you can add fresh fruit pulp, like mango or banana or papaya. you can also add pumpkin puree or apple sauce. for making both of these, just cook some pumpkin or apples in little water. when they get softened, let the mixture cool and then blend with a hand blender or in a grinder/mixer. sometimes i make apple sauce and keep in the fridge. it stays good for about 20 days. no need to add sugar while making apple sauce or pumpkin puree. apple sauce gives a neutral flavor and you will not know that the cake has apples in it. other fruits will give their taste and flavor.
Thanks Dassana. Even after 45 min of baking, the texture remained like a halwa. The taste was good and my husband devoured it. The same thing had happened when I had tried your banana cake recipe some time back. The taste was good but the texture was not crumbly. I do not know what is going wrong. Everybody else is getting it right except me.
Can you tell me if curd can be used instead of oil in this particular recipe? I have previously successfully baked sponge cakes without even a drop of oil or butter and so, wish to try that in all recipes.
i think preeti, the batter is getting over mixed. the batter just has to be mixed evenly and with light hands. thats the reason why the texture is not coming good in both the cakes. when we overdo mixing and folding the batter, then there is a possibility of gluten strands being formed and this will destroy the texture of the cake.
i have not tried with curd. so not sure how will curd react with orange juice. you can experiment though.
Many thanks, Dassana. I tried the recipe again and it came out much better. I had used an electric beater previously, which I didn’t this time. I also made a few more changes. I added 1 tsp baking powder instead of 1/2 tsp and 4 tbsp thick curd instead of oil. I also reduced the amount of orange juice to 1/2 cup. I also did not add corn flour. I used only refined flour and not whole wheat flour. The taste was good with no hint of curd. The texture was ok but not very soft. The cake rose in the middle but not at the sides. I shall try hiking up the amount of curd next time. Please let me know if I should make any other changes as well.
I also wanted to tell you that I have also made your veg pizza recipe and mathura ki dubke wali aaloo ki sabzi. Both turned out very well. The aaloo ki sabzi is really awesome because of its simplicity and great taste. All the recipes are easy to understand since you describe them so well and also add pictures at each step. You have added a lot of flavour to my life. Thank you once again.
hi preeti, one suggestion would be to add baking soda, when adding curd. it will make the cake more soft. so you can reduce the baking powder to 1/2 tsp. i would also suggest to add a few tbsp of oil, just to make the cake soft. about 2 tbsp. you can try these proportions. though i am just guessing and cannot say how the cake will turn out. 1/2 tsp each of baking soda and baking powder, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup curd and 3 tbsp oil. for the curd and oil, you can play around with 1/3 cup curd and 1 tbsp oil.
thanks for the feedback for the other recipes. and most welcome preeti 🙂
Thanks for sharing this recipe to me. I love orange since I was child. I want to turn orange into a cake
welcome stefZero
can i add candies orange peel to this to get even more of an orangey taste? Also, i just want to know if we really need to strain the segments..? they add such a lovely mouth feel.. or will it make the cake too watery during baking? Thank you for the lovely recipe!
I intend to bake it and revert to you maybe with a few pics too!
welcome lekha. yes you can add candied orange peels. yes its better to strain the segments. otherwise the cake will have the feel of the segments in them. you can share your pic at our facebook page or email us – vegrecipesofindia@gmail DOT COM
I tried your banana cake it was liked by everyone …..
your recipes are so simple and delicious that even on busy schedule i can try making them
thanx for sharing beautiful recipes
welcome sneha. thanks for sharing your positive feedback.
I tried making cupcakes with it. Turned out awesome. Moist, fluffy and so orange-y. Thank you 🙂
welcome chitra. glad to know this.
nice n very easy recipe
thanks noopur
I tried this cake today and it came out delicious.
thanks sonam
Tried the chocolate cake recipe today…It turned out so good. Now I am baking the banana cake.
I am hooked to ur site.
Thank you so much for sharing all the wonderful and easy recipes.
Love sonam
welcome sonam. thanks for sharing positive feedback on cake.
Hi there,
All-purpose flour is basically maida, no?
Thanks in advance.
welcome amreen. yes all purpose flour is maida.
I have baked this cake twice. It came out super amazing. The aroma of orange flavour is lovely. This has become my family’s favourite cake.
The second time, i garnished with chopped walnuts. Everbody felt that they r store bought or made by a pro.
Thanks for such an awesome recipe.
welcome payal. thanks for sharing your positive feedback on cake.
This was my first of many attempt on making a cake all by myself.
What could be better. That was loved and liked by all.
and this includes someone who values taste.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe. The fresh orange idea is a winner..
welcome pooja. thanks for sharing positive feedback. do try some more cake recipes and soon you will be good in baking cakes.
Yes, thanks. Read it soon after.
Also wanted to ask that sometimes when we check the cake for it’s doneness with the toothpick it comes out clean but on eating it it tastes a bit undone. What could be done about that?
the toothpick has to be inserted completely in the cake and from 2 to 3 sides – center and the left as well as right hand side in a rectangular cake pan. sometimes what happens is the cake is cooked from the sides but not from the center. so i always check properly before removing the cake from the oven. there should be dry crumbs on the toothpick or it should be clean. there should be no moistness or a sticky batter like crumbs or consistency. hope this helps.
Hi,
At what stage do we add the orange zest?
Thanks
welcome minakshi. you can check step by step photos. orange zest is added at step 8.
Hi Dassanna
You are simply awesome and your recipes are yummylicious..They are so good that even at times when I am busy, I take time out to specially go through them. This is a nice cake recipe and I would love to try it..I am basically a novice at cooking but the best thing is I love to cook and am a very enthusiastic learner…Baking is something which I am very keen to do perfectly and your cake recipes are my inspiration..Love you for your superb presentation..Keep up the good work!!!!! 🙂
chayanika, thanks for this sweet feedback. the more you cook, the more you will be good at it. good part is that you are very open and looking forward to learn baking and cooking. so soon you will master both. i wish you all the best.