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Fresh orange cake with orange vanilla bean icing is a vibrant and zesty sheet cake that’s a breeze to whip up and even easier to enjoy.
Did you grow up enjoying orange creamsicle popsicles? I couldn’t get enough of the tangy orange flavor mixed with the softer notes of vanilla — it was a treat that I’ve loved ever since and enjoy replicating in other sweet treats! This fresh orange cake with orange vanilla bean icing is like the sheet cake version of creamsicles, and it’s oh-so good. This is the perfect summertime cake for all kinds of festivities and celebrations. (Plus, orange slice candy takes the cuteness to new heights — they’re optional but I highly recommend!)
Long live all the sheet cake recipes! I make sheet cakes often because they are so easy and great to take to a party because they can feed a crowd. This orange cake is a bright fun one. I also love to serve my Grandma’s Chocolate Sheet Cake and it’s always a hit. My other two favorites are Easy Vanilla Sheet Cake and in the fall we love to make Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Caramel Frosting, oh wow is that one good too!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Quick and Easy: Sheet cakes are so fast to whip up and bake so quickly. They’re a perfect treat to throw together when you want something yummy in a hurry.
- Fresh Citrus Flavor: Fresh juice and orange zest make for a double dose of bright, orangey flavor.
- Simple Ingredients: You probably have all of these ingredients in your house already! Desserts made from panty staples are always the best ones because you can make them whenever you’re in the mood.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- Oranges: the recipe amounts are for large oranges. If you use a small mandarin variety, you’ll need to use more.
- Yellow Cake Mix
- Eggs
- Butter
For the Frosting
- Butter
- Orange
- Vanilla Bean Paste or Pure Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar
- Orange Slice Candy: for the garnish, it’s optional
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make Fresh Orange Cake with Orange Vanilla Bean Icing
Step #1. Preheat the oven. Butter a jelly roll pan and set aside. Pour the cake mix into a large bowl. Strain the orange juice into the bowl. Add the zest, eggs and melted butter. Mix well.
Step #3. While the cake is baking, in another bowl, whisk together the first three icing ingredients. Add one cup of powdered sugar and beat well to remove all the lumps. Continue to add the powdered sugar until it is a soft icing.
Step #2. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a spatula until it touches the edges and corners. Bake 17-20 minutes until it springs back.
Step #4. Ice the cake with the icing after it has cooled completely. Garnish with orange slices, if desired, and serve.
Recipe FAQs
Extracts tend to be really strong, concentrated flavors, and they can be over-powering if too much is used. I’d suggest adding extract in recipes more to taste, not as a full on substitute. If you do try using extract as a sub, use half (or less) of the amount called for in directions. For example, if you need 2 tablespoons of orange zest, I’d use less than 1 tablespoon of orange extract.
Some cakes actually do really well with olive oil instead of butter. It will give it a bit of a different flavor and texture, but not overwhelmingly so! I actually think olive oil complements citrus well — it’s why you see so many citrus vinaigrettes. I have not tried using it in this recipe, but if you want to give it a go, be sure to use 3/4 of the amount of butter you’d need. So, if you need 8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick), only use 6 tablespoons of olive oil.
Because this cake uses fresh orange juice and zest, it won’t last quite as long as some other cakes. Store it covered in the fridge for up to 2 to 3 days — or take it to a party and it’ll be gone before the heyday’s over!
Expert Tips
- Be sure to zest your oranges before you juice them. It may seem like common sense, but it’s easy to forget to do it first. Full oranges are much easier to zest then juiced ones.
- When zesting any citrus fruit, you want to just take off the colored part that’s on the outside. If you go too deep, you’ll get to the white pith which is bitter.
- For recipes like this, you want to use the kind of zester that looks like a very small cheese grater, usually called a microplane. You’re looking for those itty-bitty pieces of zest and not those long pieces or curls that other zesters will give you.
- You could switch the garnish up to thin orange slices, edible flowers, or even mint if you’d like.
- If your oven bakes unevenly, give your pan a 180° turn halfway through baking.
More Cake Recipes to Consider
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Fresh Orange Cake with Orange Vanilla Bean Icing
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 4 oranges, zested and juiced (1 1/4 cups juice)
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
- Additional butter for pan
Orange vanilla bean icing:
- 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
- 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
- Orange slice candy, optional
Instructions
For the cake:
- Butter a sheet pan with sides (jelly roll pan), and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Pour the cake mix into a large mixing bowl.
- Strain the orange juice to remove big chunks.
- Add the orange juice, orange zest, eggs, and melted butter to the bowl.
- Mix together with a whisk until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Pour into buttered pan, and use a spatula to spread it out. The consistency is a little different than a normal cake mix, so you need to be sure to spread the batter to the edges; it won’t go there on its own.
- Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden and the cake springs back when touched.
- While the cake is baking, make the icing.
For the orange vanilla bean icing:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, orange juice (unstrained — the pulp is pretty), orange zest, and vanilla bean paste.
- Add 1 cup of powdered sugar, and whisk it all together until you get a smooth wet paste. This is the time to get all of the lumps out.
- Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, whisking after each cup, until you get a soft icing consistency, around 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. The icing should be thin, but not run off of a spoon dipped into it. Ice the sheet cake in the pan after it has cooled completely.
- Garnish with orange candy slices if you’d like.
Notes
- If your cake turns out dry, it was probably overbaked. Check the cake for doneness at the earlier baking time, then give it a couple more minutes if needed. It should spring back when touched lightly.
- If one side of the cake bakes up higher than the other, your oven most likely cooks unevenly. Give the pan a 180° rotation halfway through cooking next time.
- A tough cake is usually a sign of overmixing. You want to mix the batter just until it’s all combined. Don’t worry about getting all the lumps out – they will bake out in the oven.
- A little garnish just makes the cake feel extra fancy. Use candy orange slices, curls of orange zest, thin slices of orange, or even a little mint.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in 2012, and has been updated and rephotographed in August 2019.
How did you make the chicks next to your Sugar cookie nest , with green icing&eggs?
Sooo Cute! Thanks
So I made this a year ago & loved it, but when I made it today, the icing was too buttery & not orangy enough. I double checked & did the right amounts.
i made this yesterday & it tasted sooo good!!!
yum!
That looks so yummy! I might have to try a gluten free version!