Orange Drizzle Cake

Sharing is caring!

This Orange Drizzle cake is delicious, light, moist and full of the flavour of orange. This recipes uses  simple ingredients and is easy to make.

 

With yet another lockdown announcement and many of us turning to baking for some light relief, I wanted to share a really simple recipe for an orange drizzle cake.

The best Citrus Cake Recipes to try

I have a slight obsession with citrus flavours and am forever making zingy, zesty cakes and bakes. Some of my favourites are Chocolate Orange Cake, Sticky Orange traybake, Sticky Orange traybake Chocolate Orange and Honey Cake – Dairy Free, Gluten Free Lemon & Poppyseed Bundt Cake Lemon Pistachio Cake. I also have a Lime and Pistachio, Chocolate Lime Pie, Lime and Coconut Loaf coming soon. Recipes that were photographed over a year ago and are still crawling their way onto the blog.

Easy Orange Drizzle Cake Recipe

I have made many many lemon drizzle loaf cake recipes over the years so I know how I like my drizzle loaf to be. I have made an orange drizzle one a few times over the last year and how found the version I like the best. 

I wanted to create a light but moist cake with a close crumb but most importantly I wanted it to have a crunchy top, taste of orange and be sweet and zingy. 

Orange Drizzle Cake with simple ingredients 

This recipe uses ingredients that you probably already have. 

I have been a little specific re orange juice quantities here because the size of an orange can vary quite a lot and is open to interpretation. A small orange to one may be a medium orange to another. 

You can however use as much zest as you like. Just make sure you don’t get any of the bitter pith in. 

How to make Orange Drizzle Cake

Preheat oven to 170°/150° fan/gas mark 3.

Line a 1kg/2lb loaf tin with a loaf liner or baking paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer for 5 minutes, with the paddle attachment or in a medium bowl using a hand mixer.

Add eggs one by one and mix full after adding each one.

Add the juice and zest and beat again on medium speed briefly until fully combined.

 

Add half the dry ingredients to this bowl and fold in until just combined, then add the remaining half and fold in slowly. Don’t over mix at this stage.

Pour the batter into the loaf tin and spread evenly with a spatula

Place in the preheated oven and bake for around 50-55 minutes. 

While the cake is baking, make the orange drizzle topping by simply mixing the caster sugar and lemon juice together with a spoon in a small bowl.

Check the cake is baked through by inserting a cake skewer or cocktail stick into the centre. It should come out clean.

Once baked and still hot from the oven, poke lots of holes all over the cake with a skewer or cocktail stick.

Pour over the orange drizzle.Leave to cool on a wire rack and wait until completely cooled before removing from loaf tin.

Do I need an electric mixer to make this cake? 

For most cake recipes because you are creaming together the butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes, I would highly recommend using a stand mixer or hand blender. If you do this by hand, it will take much longer. This process makes for a much lighter cake as you are beating air into the mixture. I use a Kitchenaid and sometimes a hand blender. At the moment, it is the hand blender. When the pics were taken it was the KitchenAid.

Recently, my lovely machine walked off (more like flew off) our work surface right onto the floor. I was kneading bread in it and unbeknownst to me, one of the parts had become slightly loose so it was moving more then it normally would. I had left the room and heard a crash bang wallop in the kitchen.

I returned to see my beloved on the floor. It was lying there looking up at me all confused. The bowl got a little bent and the lever/dial thing that is used to increase the speed is really really bent but it still works. The electric salt/pepper mill that was next to it flew across to the other side of the kitchen and had to go into the bin. 

How do i know the cake is done?

Firstly, it should be a deep golden colour. You can also insert a skewer into the centre of the cake. If it is done, it should come out clean. 

Why did my mixture curdle?

Often with cakes like these, when you put your eggs into the butter and sugar mix it can curdle. This is rally because there is a temperature difference between the eggs and butter. For the purposes of baking, eggs should always be kept at room temperature.

Often we are told to just add a 2 – 3 tbsp of flour to the bowl to help bring the picture back together. This looks like it works but actually it just masks the problem. The recipe will still owkr but it will not be as light. 

The best way to fix this issue is to apply some heat underneath the bowl of your stand mixer by putting the bowl over a bain marie. This allows the fats to emulsify properly. 

Cake Browning

If the cake is browning too quickly, add a layer of foil across the top for the last 15 minutes.

What is the best way to store this cake?

Store Orange drizzle cake in slices or as a whole, in an airtight container for 4– 5 days. Don’t put it in the fridge! It hardens the cake and dries it out.

Can Orange Loaf Cake be frozen?

To freeze, allow the cake to cool completely. Wrap it in cling film twice. Cover in foil. Add to a airtight container or cover in 1 more layer of foil or a ziplock bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.

How to thaw

Transfer the unwrapped cake to a wire rack and leave at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours. Once the cake has thawed, remove greaseproof paper and store it in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 4 days. 

More Cake Recipes:

**If you make it, I’d love for you to rate/comment or tag me. Thank you! xx