This Mandarin Orange Cake is a treat to make and eat. It’s a simple on bowl bake with an impactful flavor full of sweet citrus aromas. This orange cake recipe is superbly moist, light, and refreshing – I promise, you will soon add this recipe to your favorites. Full Video and step by step below.
This Mandarin orange cake recipe will make your home smell wonderful! It’s a soft, fluffy and tender cake that’s very similar to my popular Olive Oil Cake. It’s all about the citrus flavors infusing a moist and tender yogurt based cake.
We absolutely LOVE the flavors of citrus and use it sweet and savory — this Grilled Mahi Mahi is served over a citrus salad you can’t miss! Halloumi Cheese Salad is another phenomenal salad to TRY along with this Turkey Tenderloin Recipe highlighting orange, lemon and mandarin orange flavors!
On the sweeter side, hello Ginger Clementine Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and Raspberry Muffins with a lemon crumb. Elevate your average baking and try these recipes. Mini Orange Carrot Cakes, Orange Cake With Cranberries, Orange Lemon Squares with Cranberries and a Homemade Apple Cider with a hint of orange too!
Why Mandarin Orange Cake Recipe?
- Mandarins are used in this recipe rather than just oranges.
- They bring a distinct aroma and flavor to the recipe that infuses with this cake and pairs with it so well.
- To really get all the delicious flavors from the mandarine we use both the juice and the zest.
- This is a beautifully simple one-bowl recipe – no fuss involved.
- All you will need is a whisk and a bowl to create this seriously moist cake.
- In fact, this cake keeps its moistness for days after baking due to the egg, oil and yogurt ratio.
- This cake has so many uses and it’s really versatile. You can make it with a lovey mandarine orange glaze, which complements the cake so well.
- You can also use this recipe to make multiple-layered cakes.
- It’s a great recipe to use for special occasions too, such as a Mother’s day brunch cake.
Ingredients for the recipe:
All you need is:
- Flour
- eggs
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- yogurt
- oil
- sugar
- mandarin juice
- and mandarin zest.
How to Make Mandarin Orange Cake
- Firstly you need to preheat your oven and then line a 9-inch pan with parchment paper: fold over the paper into a cone shape, place the pointing edge of the cone in the center of the pan, and cut around the edge.
- Now the preparatory steps are done the next step is to mix the ingredients. Add the flour (you can sift this if you like to make sure there are no lumps), eggs, baking powder, sugar, yogurt, baking powder, baking soda, mandarin juice, and mandarin zest to a large mixing bowl.
- Using a whisk, mix all the ingredients together thoroughly until they are well combined. Don’t worry about any lumps in the mixture, this will just make for a more tender cake.
- Pour the mix into the lined cake tin and place it in the center of the oven to bake.
- Check your cake is baked with a cake tester or knife. Your cake is done when they come out clean. Once baked, take the cake out of the tin and place it on a cooling rack, and allow it to cool to a warm (not hot out of the oven) temperature before adding the optional orange cake glaze.
Orange Cake Glaze (optional but so good)
If you really want to make this cake extra special, I definitely recommend adding the glaze to this recipe. It’s super silky and very aromatic making this cake irresistible. Similar to the Olive Oil Cake, you can have it as is, or with powdered sugar, or with the glaze.
All you need for this is Confectioners sugar, Mandarine orange zest, and mandarine juice, and mix them all together. It’s very easy. You can adjust the thickness of the glaze by adding more juice to thin it out or more confectioners sugar to thicken it up.Orange Carrot Cake has a video and tutorial on the glaze.
Make sure you add this when the cake is still warm (halfway through cooling) by pouring it over the cake. You may need to spread it out to cover the top of the cake. Allow the whole bake to cool to room temperature.
Variations of this Recipe:
This seriously simple recipe is so versatile and there are many variations you can use to change this recipe up a bit.
Citrus fruit variations
This recipe lends it’s self well to any kind of citrus fruit. You can definitely make this recipe just as nicely with lemon juice and zest or even grapefruit juice and zest. Just like mandarine, they both have strong citrus flavors that will come out beautifully in this recipe.
You can use these fruits in both the sponge part of the recipe as well as the glaze. If you really feel like experimenting, you could try mixing and matching flavors in the sponge and glaze.
Other additions to this recipe
If you want, you can add topping to this recipe to give it some extra texture. A really lovely addition to this recipe is to add shredded coconut on top.
This recipe combines a lovely sponge with refreshing and aromatic flavors. You can keep this recipe for days and it will retain its moist texture. This is definitely a cake to try, especially if you need to bake a cake for a special occasion. Everyone is sure to love it.
Mandarin Orange Cake Tips and FAQ
- Preheat your oven before starting to make the cake, as it takes 10 minutes to mix together and the batter is ready.
- One bowl and one whisk is all you need–don’t try to aim for a smooth batter. Lumps are encouraged.
- The amount of orange zest is up t you–feel free to double it for maximum flavor!
- Use any type of citrus you’d like or even a combo of.
- The cake is baked in an 8 inch square pan, however you can bake it an 8-9 inch circle pan as well.
- You may also double the ingredients for a layered cake.
- Feel free to add in nuts, coconut or any of your favorite cake additions.
- This cake stays moist for days because of the yogurt, oil and eggs ratio. Just cover it well and keep it at room temperature.
- A similar variety of this cake is called Pig Pickin’ Cake–which involves a pineapple frosting.
What is Pig Pickin’ Cake?
It’s a Southern classic which is often also called Mandarin orange cake, and it’s mainly served with pig roasts. It’s served with pineapple frosting for a refreshing twist to the orange.
What is the difference between mandarins and clementines?
Mandarins are slightly wider than clementines and easier to peel. Their flavors are similar, and both are available all winter long.
Orange Recipes
Avocado Orange Salad with Citrus Dressing
Orange Lemon Squares with Cranberries
Orange Chai Spice Date Muffins
Mandarin Orange Cake
Mandarin Orange Cake is a soft, moist and one bowl cake that's infused with orange flavors. It's a fool proof cake recipe that's so comforting and delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 mandarin oranges zested
- 1 Mandarin orange juiced--about 3 tbsps
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup Yogurt
- 1/2 cup oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper.
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In a large bowl, add all ingredients together.
-
Use a whisk to mix in all the batter, while keeping some lumps.
-
Pour the batter in to the prepared cake pan.
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Bake (middle rack) for about 30 minutes ( always check 5 minutes before or after depending on the pan size you chose) until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
-
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
-
Dust with confectioner sugar and serve.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Mandarin Orange Cake Tips and FAQ
- Preheat your oven before starting to make the cake, as it takes 10 minutes to mix together and the batter is ready.
- One bowl and one whisk is all you need--don't try to aim for a smooth batter. Lumps are encouraged.
- The amount of orange zest is up t you--feel free to double it for maximum flavor!
- Use any type of citrus you'd like or even a combo of.
- The cake is baked in an 8 inch square pan, however you can bake it an 8-9 inch circle pan as well.
- You may also double the ingredients for a layered cake.
- Feel free to add in nuts, coconut or any of your favorite cake additions.
- This cake stays moist for days because of the yogurt, oil and eggs ratio. Just cover it well and keep it at room temperature.
- A similar variety of this cake is called Pig Pickin' Cake--which involves a pineapple frosting.
What is Pig Pickin' Cake?
It's a Southern classic which is often also called Mandarin orange cake, and it's mainly served with pig roasts. It's served with pineapple frosting for a refreshing twist to the orange.
What is the difference between mandarins and clementines?
Mandarins are slightly wider than clementines and easier to peel. Their flavors are similar, and both are available all winter long.
This was everything a gourmet dessert should be, and then some! Turned out light, fluffy and sweet; easily, a new favorite dessert recipe!
This is such a lovely cake with great texture and a lovely citrus flavor. Perfect with a cup of tea!
This cake turned out so soft, moist, and delicious! Perfect for tea time!
This cake was super light, fluffy, and had great orange flavor! It was the perfect dessert to serve when we had friends over last night!
We tried the Mandarin Orange Cake for dessert last night, and it was a huge hit with my family! The zesty citrus flavour was a delightful surprise, and the cake was incredibly moist.