Another childhood favorite was the Orange Creamsicle Cake
The ice cream bar that is now a cake with my fluffy, spongy, moist and delicious Orange Cake recipe!
This time it’s layered with creamy vanilla custard and a light buttercream icing
Another food processor cake method, which simply means throw it all in the food processor and you’re done
Crunchy orange cake crumbs turns this Creamsicle Cake into a crunch cake!
This website may contain links as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, which means when you click a link and make a purchase through my website I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you
Notes For Success:
This recipe makes 3-6″ Layers
For a larger cake double the ingredients listed below for a 2 layer 8″ cake (or 24 cupcakes)
If you have not baked with cake flour and do not wish to buy it or you are worried because this has happened to you in the past
You may use exclusively all purpose flour instead of the combination I have listed below
Lately I have had some people commenting that when they use cake flour in their recipes the result is heavy, gummy and almost raw as if it won’t bake
This is not something I have ever experienced and many of my recipes often use a combination of all purpose and cake flour with no problems
As I mentioned this is a “food processor cake” method and I am using a 14 cup capacity food processor which is more than enough to blend this recipe, it can even handle a double recipe if you so choose
If you do not have a food processor you can puree the oranges in a blender and then mix the rest of the recipe all together with an electric mixer, or even by hand.
Cornstarch is a very difficult ingredient to measure consistently with a volume/spoons measure
So while I list both measures below I cannot stress enough how the grams measure with a scale is going to give you the best results.
Many times people have complained that their custard is like rubber and they don’t know why!
Small oranges like clementines work the best for this recipe since the skin is very thin.
If using another orange that has a thicker skin I would recommend to cut away a portion of that white pith from the inside which is what gives oranges their bitter taste
This batter bakes perfectly into cupcakes too! The recipe listed below will make 12 cupcakes
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CAKE!
Orange Creamsicle Cake
Ingredients
For the Orange Cake Batter
- Plant Milk ¾ cup (188ml) * I use soy milk
- 2-3 small clementine oranges= total weight of orange with skin on is 5oz
- **total volume measure of pureed orange with the skin on is a scant ½ cup
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
- All Purpose Flour 1½ + 1/3 cup (230g)
- Egg Replacer * I am using Bob's Red Mill 1½ teaspoons
- Granulated Sugar ¾ cups (150g)
- Baking Powder 3 teaspoons
- Salt ¾ teaspoon
- Vegetable Oil 9 Tablespoons (135ml)
For the Buttercream Icing:
- Vegan Butter 1½ Cups (3 sticks) (336g)
- Confectioners Sugar 3 cups (360g)
- Orange Extract 1 teaspoons *optional, you may sub in vanilla instead
- Butter Extract ½ teaspoon *optional
- Salt ¼ teaspoon
- Orange Zest from 1 large navel orange (approximately 2 teaspoons)
For the Custard:
- Plant Milk 2¼ cup (533ml)
- Granulated Sugar ¾ cup (150g)
- Cornstarch 5 Tablespoons (40g)
- Vegan Butter 1½ Tablespoons (21g)
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- First wash the skins of the oranges very well with warm water
- Next pull of the hard stem of the orange (if there are any) and check the oranges inside for seeds by slicing them in half and remove seeds if there are any.
- The skins stay on the orange, so leave that intact.
- Place all of the cake ingredients including the oranges into a food processor and processor until smooth batter (about 30 seconds)
- Divide the batter evenly amongst your greased & parchment lined cake pans
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 20minutes or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Next prepare the orange buttercream icing: Whip the vegan butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy on medium to high speed for about 3 minutes.
- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure it is evenly mixed and add the salt and orange zest and the extracts
- Turn the mixer speed down to low and add the sifted confectioners sugar
- Mix on low speed until all is incorporated , then scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and mix on high speed for another 3 minutes.
- Next prepare the custard recipe combine all the ingredients except for the vanilla extract and the vegan butter in a medium sauce pot over and cook over medium to high heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly to avoid scorching the bottom .
- Once it starts to bubble let it boil on low heat for about 10 seconds.
- Remove from the heat and add the vegan butter and vanilla extract and stir until melted and smooth.
- Once the cakes are completely cooled (I Like to refrigerate mine for several hours to make sure they are also very COLD)
- Build the cake with a ring of buttercream to hold in the custard filling.
- Crumb coat and then do a final icing with the buttercream
- I garnished the cake with toasted cake crumbs from the trimmed cake layers, this is optional
If using cake flour do we just measure 230 grams cake flour?
Can’t wait to make this but can already taste it and know it will be amazing! Thank you : )
Hey there, I prefer including at least a blend of AP if you want to use cake flour. This is a very high liquid recipe and cake flour won’t absorb like AP does, so some people have experienced heavy gummy cakes that seem raw & doughy & I suspect that is from using cake flour.
Make this cake!! it is over the top delicious:)
I doubled the recipe & baked them in 2 8″ cake pans. The layers came out nice & tall & torted beautifully. The custard makes plenty of filling for all the layers so no need to double the recipe.
The only change I made was to add fresh grated orange zest to both the cake batter and filling.
Thank you Gretchen for the recipe:)
Seeking clarification,
When using the oranges the whole orange skin and all is to used in the food processor, what if we don’t have a food processor what suggestions can you offer?
In all of my more recent recipes~ (within the last year) ~ I have been including a section called NOTES FOR SUCCESS where I try to preemptively answer questions before they come, while giving tips for the best results as well as ingredient substitutions.
From this recipe post:: As I mentioned this is a “food processor cake” method and I am using a 14 cup capacity food processor which is more than enough to blend this recipe, it can even handle a double recipe if you so choose
If you do not have a food processor you can puree the oranges in a blender and then mix the rest of the recipe all together with an electric mixer, or even by hand.
I just made the orange creamsicle cake
I made it as a sheet cake
Frosted 1/3 with chocolate icing for my husband
1/3 with orange drizzle icing for me and left 1/3 plain so who ever wants a piece can put what ever topping they want
It turned out amazingly
Use a good serrated knife to cut it
Sounds so good with those icings! Yummm Chocolate! Thanks for sharing