Orange vanilla cake
This orange vanilla cake is incredibly moist and bursting with fresh citrus flavor. Orange season is at its peak right now and this cake is here to celebrate it!
I love a simple bakery style loaf cake that is served by the slice. This recipe is inspired by the Danish Bakery “Juno”. It is high up on my list of bakeries to visit when we one day travel to Denmark. It has become super popular in the past few years and it’s known for its excellent quality.
I made a light vanilla creme diplomat to go with the cake to add some balance to the more dense cake texture and also added a little bit of orange compote to add even more orange flavor.
The cake may be more dense but it is definitely not dry! It is the moistest cake with an intense orange flavor!
Why you will love this cake:
1. The flavor! It’s so fresh and fruity where you really notice the orange. Paired with the warm vanilla is simply an amazing combination.
2. The texture: the cake is super moist and stays moist for days! I kept eating slices of this cake for a whole week and it didn’t loose the moist texture! ( a plus that it’s easy to make in advance when needed)
What also adds more flavor and moisture is the orange vanilla sirup that is brushed on after baking
Adding the vanilla creme diplomat on top gives the perfect light balance to the dense/moist cake.
3. Making it: it’s an easy recipe that doesn’t require many extra ingredients that you normally wouldn’t have in your pantry. It comes together rather quickly and as mentioned it stores really well.
What is Creme Diplomat:
Creme diplomat is simply the mixture of vanilla pastry cream also known as Creme Patissier and whipped cream. It makes a very light but stable cream that is used for fillings and also for piping.
It is my go-to recipe for cream and fillings. It is incredibly smooth in texture and has a really light flavor that can also be adapted, such as a banana creme diplomat (banana cream) that I used for banoffee cream buns
Ingredients you’ll need:
For the cake:
Sugar: granulated white sugar
Eggs: whole eggs (make sure to measure the eggs by weight)
Butter: good quality butter at room temperature
Flour: Use all purpose white flour such as the type 550
Baking powder: for leavening the cake
Salt: regular table salt for added flavor and balance
Almond flour: finely ground white almond flour (from skinned almonds)
Orange juice: freshly squeeze orange juice from the skinned oranges
Orange zest: freshly zested oranges for the most intense flavor. I recommend using a microplane to get the best zest.
Make sure to only zest the orange skin and not the white part as the white skin is very bitter and will add that flavor to your cake.
Vanilla: use vanilla powder and vanilla beans from the best quality vanilla you can find ( I use Vanilla Dream)
For the Vanilla Creme Diplomat:
Milk: whole milk
Sugar: granulated white sugar
Vanilla: vanilla beans of the best quality ( I use Vanilla Dream)
Salt: regular table salt for added flavor and balance
Cornstarch: gives the creme patissier its thick custard like texture. Adds stability.
Eggs: whole eggs and egg yolks (make sure to measure the eggs by weight)
Butter: use good quality butter. This adds creaminess and stability
For the orange compote:
Orange filets: from the zested oranges
Vanilla: vanilla beans of the best quality ( I use Vanilla Dream) you can also use an old vanilla bean that has been scraped out and allow it to cook with the orange compote.
Sugar: granulated white sugar
Pektin NH: It is a stabilizer and binding agent that is planted based and it works really well when binding citrus fruits but you can alternatively add 1/2 leaf of gelatine (soaked in ice cold water)
The cake is coated in an orange sugar which adds even more orange flavor to the cake. Adding the vanilla creme diplomat gives a balance to the cakey texture.
The orange compote adds a real punch of citrus flavor to the cake!
Tips for making an orange vanilla cake:
1. For the cake make sure that your butter is at room temperature. It gives the cake a much better texture and it’s easier to mix in the rest of the ingredients. The mixture should not be whipped or have too much air incorporated into it. You want to keep the more dense texture.
2. Add in the eggs little by little and scrape down the sides to ensure an even mixture. You don’t want any clumps of ingredients left in the batter.
3. Use seasonal ingredients. Using oranges or any other fruit that is in season gives you the best possible flavor.
4. Bake the cake using top and bottom heat. I normally always use the fan setting to bake any of my cakes and pastries but with this cake the top and bottom heat works best. I tried it with the fan setting and I did not get the same result (it had sunk in the middle)
