This simple, sweet and plush orange loaf cake is stuffed with spring flavor! (Say that 5 times fast.) This recipe has quickly become one of my favorite desserts, and I usually don’t care for citrus or fruit in my cake!

a sliced loaf cake on a white oval platter. The cake slices are glazed with a white frosting and sprinkled with orange zest. this recipe

Orange flavor

I wanted as much orange flavor as possible for this orange loaf cake. I didn’t want to add too much orange juice and throw off the consistency of the batter and texture of the final cake, and I didn’t want to use orange extract. After a few tests with different amounts of juice and zest, I found that reducing the orange juice by half was the winning strategy.

Start out with double the amount of juice you’ll need for the recipe. In this case, you need to add 1/4 cup of juice to the batter. So start with 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice and reduce it down on the stove for about 15 minutes. That should be plenty of time to shrink it by half.

When you’re reducing down the orange juice, don’t give in to the temptation to boil it. Boiling the juice will make it more bitter than you want, and it won’t be as flavorful. Keep the juice at a low simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes, and you’ll have a beautifully concentrated liquid for your loaf cake.

a sliced loaf cake on a white oval platter. The cake slices are glazed with a white frosting and sprinkled with orange zest.

Making the batter

Once you have your concentrated juice, you can make the rest of the batter. This recipe uses the reverse creaming method. If you’ve never heard of that before, I don’t blame you! I only discovered it myself last year, but I’ve been smitten ever since.

Instead of creaming the butter and sugars together, adding the eggs and eventually the dry ingredients, you beat the butter into the flour, leavening agents and sugars. It takes a little bit, but this method coats the flour with the fat (butter) and limits gluten development. When you overbeat a cake batter, you’re overworking the gluten and causing it to form too much of a structure, which results in a tough, dry cake.

This method stops that entirely and makes this batter basically foolproof. Still, only mix the wet ingredients in just until blended. I like to stream in the wet ingredients on low speed and then finish the batter by sweeping the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula.

Baking

Because of the reverse creaming method, you won’t see a huge rise in this orange loaf cake. What you WILL see is a dense, tender crumb that’s super moist and soft, loaded with sweet orange flavor.

The cake can take anywhere from 45-58 minutes, depending on your oven. Use a toothpick or cake tester to test for moist crumbs in the center. If there is any wet batter on the toothpick, bake the loaf for a few minutes longer.

a sliced loaf cake on a white oval platter. The cake slices are glazed with a white frosting and sprinkled with orange zest.

Frosting

I tried this cake with a simple powdered sugar glaze, and it was yummy, but I had an extra half of a brick of cream cheese in the fridge, and decided to use that to make a creamy, pourable frosting/glaze instead.

You’ll love this super soft orange loaf cake! If you want more orange recipes, check out the fantastic orange curd recipe in these mini Dutch babies or mix up a cocktail with this blood orange simple syrup!

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a sliced loaf cake on a white oval platter. The cake slices are glazed with a white frosting and sprinkled with orange zest.

Plush Orange Loaf Cake

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  • Author: Megan
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 56 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour + 26 minutes
  • Yield: One 9 x 5 loaf (10 slices) 1x
  • Category: Dessert, Cake & Cheesecake
  • Method: Oven, Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

This simple, soft orange loaf cake is infused with fresh orange flavor and has the most amazing, plush texture.

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the cake:

  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (from 2 large oranges)
  • zest from one large orange
  • 1/4 cup milk (2% or whole at room temperature)
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup full fat sour cream, room temperature
  • 2 TB vegetable or canola oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 TB light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

For the glaze

  • 4 oz full fat cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

To make the cake:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a standard size (9 x 5) loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease any exposed insides with spray or butter. Set the prepared pan aside.
  2. Add the orange juice and zest to a small saucepan and bring it to a low boil over medium heat. Simmer the juice and zest for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it’s reduced by half and you have about 1/4 cup of juice.
  3. Add the reduced orange juice/zest mixture to a 2 cup measuring cup along with the milk, eggs, sour cream, oil and vanilla extract. Stir everything together until well blended and smooth. Set the liquid aside while you prepare the dry ingredients and butter.
  4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift the flour and baking powder together and whisk in the salt, brown sugar and granulated sugar until everything is evenly combined. There shouldn’t be any clumps of brown sugar remaining.
  5. Add the unsalted butter to the flour and sugar mixture, and use the paddle attachment on medium speed to gradually incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients. After about a minute, the butter should have disappeared and the mixture should look like damp sand.
  6. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly stream in the wet ingredients. Once everything has been mixed in, stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Gently fold in any remaining streaks/clumps of flour mixture until the batter is smooth.Β 
  7. Add the batter to the prepared loaf pan and bake in the center rack of the oven for 48-56 minutes. The loaf should be slightly crested with a crack down the center, and a toothpick/cake tester should pull moist crumbs from the center of the loaf. If you see any raw batter on the toothpick, continue to bake the cake until it has completely set up.
  8. Allow the cake to rest in the loaf pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Cool the cake completely before frosting and serving.

To make the frosting:

  1. Add the cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla to a small saucepan and whisk over low heat until smooth and pourable.Β 
  2. Pour frosting over cooled cake and allow to set up, which should take about 20 minutes. Once the frosting has set up, slice and serve!

Equipment

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice
  • Calories: 375
  • Sugar: 31.3 g
  • Sodium: 236.7 mg
  • Fat: 19.2 g
  • Saturated Fat: 11.8 g
  • Trans Fat: 0.1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 47.2 g
  • Fiber: 0.6 g
  • Protein: 4.8 g
  • Cholesterol: 80.1 mg

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