We have spent a lot of time experimenting in the kitchen lately in search of the BEST scratch Orange Dreamsicle Cake.
I’m excited to announce that we have found it, and this amazing homemade Orange Dreamsicle Cake recipe belongs in your Recipe Box too!
There are few cakes that spring to mind for summertime parties more quickly than this Orange Dreamsicle Cake recipe. When I think of summer, I think of desserts with fruit, and ice cream!
This cake truly lives up to it’s name, it tastes EXACTLY like a Dreamsicle! This light, flavorful citrus cake couldn’t be more perfect for summer gatherings.
The cake tastes fantastic, and the orange filling and orange cream cheese frosting are the perfect complement to the flavorful orange cake layers.
We’ll leave our cake recipe below along with links to the Orange filling & Orange Cream Cheese frosting that we loved so much.
I’m sure other filling and frosting combinations would work well also, but try these first! They are wonderful!
*This moist cake is stable enough for fondant, and versatile enough for cupcakes. I would highly recommend injecting the cupcakes with the orange filling! YUM!
***This recipe calls for a mixing technique known as the Reverse Creaming Method. This refers to the order that the ingredients are added to the recipe. The result very moist cake with a tight crumb.
The reverse creaming method of mixing results in a cake that is slightly denser than if you were to make this recipe using the traditional method of mixing. We spell everything out in the recipe instructions, but if you’d like to watch a video on the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing, see our free video here: Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
Orange Dreamsicle Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (285g) cake flour
- 1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoon (12g) baking powder
- 1 1/2 sticks (12 T) (169g) unsalted butter....Cut into 1/2 inch slices onto waxed paper to soften slightly (still very cool to the touch. If it becomes too soft, refrigerate for a few minutes. Do not soften in microwave
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (190g) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
- 1/2 cup (121g) milk
- 1 Tablespoon (10g) orange extract
- zest of 1 orange
- Orange Coloring Gel (optional) We used a small amount.
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (This Recipe uses the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.)
- Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch round pans.
- In the bowl of your mixer add the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.
- In a separate bowl, add the eggs, orange juice concentrate, milk, orange extract and zest.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the slices of butter a few pieces at a time to the dry ingredients. Increase the mixer to medium speed and beat until the dry ingredients look crumbly and moistened. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl.
- SLOWLY add 1/2 of the egg mixture, increasing to medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes, the batter will become thick and fluffy. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Add a small amount of Orange Coloring Gel to the bowl if you would like the batter to be orange. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
- Let the cakes cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out.
- Works well for cupcakes.
- Makes 6 cups batter.
You can find our delicious Orange Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe Here: Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Flavorful, pipeable, and silky smooth! You’re going to love this recipe!
You can find our EASY Orange Cream Filling Here: Orange Cream Filling
This orange filling is SO delicious and can be whipped up in a matter of minutes! Makes a perfect filling for your cakes and cupcakes!
Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to check out our other tried and true cake recipes and frostings in our Recipes section, and free cake decorating tutorials in our Free Tutorials section!
If you are looking for more cake ideas for summertime gatherings, don’t miss our roundup of favorite summer cakes and ideas!: The BEST Summer Cakes, Recipes, Tutorials, and Ideas!
This looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try it! The scratch lemon cake and the WASC scratch are my go-to recipes now! This one will go in that file for sure! Thanks for sharing!
No food coloring on the cake mixture? That’s a pretty color.
Thank you Cake Queens for the recipe!
Sounds delicious! I’m going to try it. My favorite ice cream was always the Dreamsicle – so excited! :) You guys are awesome!
what is cake flour? is this all purpose? Thank you!
Carolina Bass, cake flour is real. I’ve seen it in the baking isle at the grocery store. I believe that it comes in a box and shows a white frosted cake on the front of it, at least the one I saw did. Hope this helps you.
This cake looks VERY DELICIOUS!!! Thank you sooo much!!!!! I love orange cakes!!! I make new cakes for my church and they’re going to absolutely love this one!!!!
Thanks everyone for your comments!!
@Scott- I’m glad that you pointed that out! We did add a tiny bit of Orange coloring gel to get that shade of orange. I’ve just noted this in the recipe. (We almost left it the natural color which was more yellow, but decided to give it more color in the end.)
@Carolina Bass- Cake Flour will give you a softer crumb as there is less gluten in Cake Flour. We use Swan’s Down brand. If you’d rather not purchase Cake Flour, a common substitute is: 1 cup cake flour (3 3/4 ounce) = 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (3 3/8 ounces), plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch (5/8 ounces)
I hope this helps!
@Heather, Paula & MsGF- So happy that you all plan to make it! xoxo Let us know what you think!
Wow !! Thanks for sharing you guys are awesome , I am going to try it
This looks yummy! I am going to make it. I will let you know how it turns out ! Thanks!
Thank you so much for this beautiful recipe, Michelle! I had to stop just about all my baking due to arthritis. But I’ll try to make this in stages.
I had to discontinue my membership for your school because of the arthritis. I really appreciate your keeping in touch and the occasional awesome recipes and videos. They make me happy just to see them!
Thank you for your kind words, Judy! I’m so sorry to hear that your arthritis has become so painful. I’m glad to hear that you are thinking of making this recipe, and I hope you’ll continue to pop by now and then! xoxo
This is such a great recipe!!! I made it for my family and everyone loved it. It really does taste just like a dreamsicle! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for your feedback, Connie! So glad that your family enjoyed the cake! xo
My son-in-law offered me an orange dreamsicle bar during a recent visit. I remembered this recipe and promised him one for his birthday in Aug. He requested several taste tests. I’m excited to try this.
Great! I think he will love it!
Is orange juice concentrate the frozen oj concentrate?
Hi Kristin, Yes, frozen orange juice concentrate.
Hi Melissa, This looks amazing. I am going to make it for a family reunion tomorrow. I was wondering is this recipe for one of the layers or do you split the mixture into two pans?
Hi Janice, We baked this recipe in two 8inch pans. Hope your enjoy it!!
Hi! I found your recipe and decided to make it for my daughter’s 1st birthday last weekend. I have never baked cake from scratch but I wanted to give it a go! This cake was WONDERFUL! I can’t say enough about it. It was a lovely surprise and different from traditional flavors. I wanted to do something special for my sweet girl and this was fun to try. Thank you!
From England, not sure what you mean by frozen orange juice concentrate
Hi Angie, It is a concentrated orange juice product that is mixed with water to make quantity of orange juice. We have had an email from another member from England that frozen orange juice concentrate was not available there. I am sorry about that.
Hi, I love this cake, would love to make it but unfortunfortunately, the frozen oj concentrate isnt available in our country 😔. Is there anything else I can use unsted? 🤔
Thank you,
Antonina
Hi Antonina, Here is a link to a tutorial on making fruit juice concentrate, link to instructables.com.
I have never tried it and it looks time consuming. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try.
hi….cant wait to make this cake…..but frozen orange concentrate seems to be a road block…..can get tang in india which is orange flavored and mixed in water to make juice……its in powdery form…..can that be used
I make my own cake flour by sifting together 7 cups of all purpose flour and 1 cup of corn starch. Lots less expensive
Hi could you incorporate custard powder and how much would you add? Thanks
Hi Manita, I’m sorry but we have never tried using Tang as a substitute for the orange juice concentrate. If you give it a try, I think I would measure out 3/4 cup (190g) water and stir in triple the amount of Tang needed for 3/4 cup. Let us know how it goes.
Hi Krystal, I am not sure what you mean with using custard powder. Are you making the Orange Cream Filling? If so, I don’t know if the custard powder is the same as Jello Instant Pudding powder, but if you think it is similar the package we use is 3.9 oz (96g)
Hi tried to make this cake but my cake is extremely thin and nothing like the picture of yours can u tell me where I went wrong?
Hi Lindsey, I am sorry your cake did not turn out well. If it did not rise as it should have, it sounds as though the baking powder was left out or was out of date. Do you think that is a possibility ?
Just double checked it and it’s best before Dec 2016. I’m positive I put it in . Will try again x
Is orange juice concentrate the same as a carton of fresh orange juice.
HI Lindsey, I think I would replace the baking powder since it is getting close to the expiration date. It does lose some of its effectiveness over time . Just checking……. your cake did not rise and then sink once taken out of the oven, it just never rose to the proper height, correct? Orange juice concentrate is not the same as a carton of fresh orange. I used Minute Maid brand. It is a 12 fl. oz. container of frozen orange juice, it is meant to be mixed with 36 fl. oz. of water to make a 48 fl. oz pitcher of orange juice. In our recipe, it is not diluted. We used 3/4 cup (190g) of the frozen concentrate (thawed) .
Yes that’s correct it never rose. Could it have been the orange juice that’s caused the problem. I thought I had the right thing because it said orange juice concentrate on the carton.
The frosting recipe says it will frost a 3 layer cake. Will this make too much for the orange dreamsicle cake (I’m wondering if I should cut in half to avoid waste?) Thanks!
Hi Nicole, I would not cut the recipe in half. You want to have enough for a generous amount of frosting on your cake.
Hi Lindsey, The recipe calls for 3/4 cup (190g) orange juice concentrate. If you measured your juice by weight, 190g I think you would have had more than 3/4 cup. I think it would take more of your juice to equal 190g. If you just measured out the 3/4 cup, of the juice you used, I think it would have only affected the recipe in that you would not have had the intense orange flavor that the frozen orange juice concentrate gives.
I had the same problem Lindsey had. I weighed my ingredients and the cake didn’t rise and was VERY dense. (More dense than a pound cake ) My family ate it anyway because the flavor was great. I’m know I added the BP and it’s fairly new. I used frozen oj concentrate. I will definitely make it again because I know it will be wonderful if it’s light as it should be.
hi….if i use orange essence will it be half of orange extract
Hi Manita, I have never used orange essence so I don’t know how concentrated it is. Does the company that makes it have a website that can give you information on how to substitute it for orange extract?
Hi Sharon, I am sorry your question was overlooked until now. Possibly your cake did not rise because of method. During the mixing process, add 1/2 of the wet ingredients very slowing then increase the mixer speed to medium. If you add 1/2 of the liquid all at once, it can affect how the cake rises. Hope this helps
Hi, ca you use orange oil instead of orange extract?
Thanks.
Hi Antonia, I have never used orange oil so I do not know how concentrated it is. Check the website of the company that makes the product and it may give you information on how to substitute it for orange extract.
Hi when you make this cake it said to add baking powder, but it did not say to at baking soda. Most cakes recipes I use require baking power and baking soda and the cake comes out high, light and fluffy. I notice when I use a cake recipes with just baking powder the cake comes out dense and heavy.
Hi Danielle, I think it would be fine to adjust the baking powder if you like. The general guideline for leavening is 1 teaspoon baking powder per cup of flour and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda per cup of flour. Baking soda is most often used when there is an acidic ingredient in the recipe.
Has anyone used gluten free flour for this recipe? If so how was the flavor? Thank you.
Thank you so much! I was so happy to find this recipe; all the other ones I have seen use cake mixes and I don’t care for that. I’d much rather do it all from scratch.
Can’t wait to try this!
You are welcome, Susi. We love this cake, hope you will too!
Could u use regular orange juice concentrate not frozen?
Hi Natascha, I am not familiar with that product, but it should work if it is orange juice concentrate. If the product says “made from orange juice concentrate and is diluted it will not give your the intense orange flavor that you need for the recipe.
For the English among us, I made this with orange juice from concentrate and it worked a treat
This looks fabulous, do you know if I can replace the cake flour for a gluten free version and if yes do you know of a good kind available in canada ?
link to pamelasproducts.com
link to pamelasproducts.com
Hi Wendy, The above links are to Pamela gluten free mixes that I have heard were good. I am sorry but it takes a lot of trial and error to change a regular cake mix into a gluten free one so I do not think you would have success with replacing gluten free flour in the Orange Dreamsicle recipe. If you decide to give the Pamela Mix a try, let me know what you think.
Hi Sally, Thank you so much for your post!!
Can you make this cake using the traditional creaming method?
Hi Pat, Yes, you can make it using the traditional creaming method. I suggest re-writing the recipe into the traditional method, count the ingredients making sure you have not left anything out. Hope you like it!
Just tried this recipe. It was delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Donna, Thank you so much for your nice comment about the recipe, I am so happy you like it!
Would you by any chance have a gluten free yellow cake recipe?
Can I make in two 9″ pans?
Hi Debra, Yes, you can make in 9 inch pans the cake layer will just not be as tall.
i was wondering if you could make cup cakes with the dreamsicle cake batter and pipe the filling in side after baking and then frost? what would you suggest for baking temp and time?
Hi Dawn, Yes, you could do that, just keep them refrigerated until just before serving. Bake the cupcakes at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center to see if done.
I made this cake for Easter this year. We all enjoyed it. I had previously purchased Peter Rabbit plates & napkins. The cake and this set looked so sweet together. I would love to share a pic. Icing a cake is not my expertise, but I smoothed the sides out by using hot water in a glass and dipping the icing spatula every now & then. I was too nervous to swirl in the food coloring without specific instructions, so I just tinted it. Then I made swirls using the back of my spoon starting on the edges working around the cake and all the way in towards the center. It gave it a natural, rustic look.
Hi Melissa . Can i use freshly squeeze orange juice or Tang, FRozen orangejuice isn’t available here in our country
Hi Mina, I am sorry to say that the cake will not have the distinctive orange flavor it needs without the orange juice concentrate.
OH. MY. GOODNESS…. This the absolute best cake and filling I have ever had! I thought your Maraschino Cherry Cake was at the top of my list but it’s headed down to number 2. I seriously cannot stop praising JESUS over this one LOL! I’m practically speechless – and that’s rare for me!! HA! I made it for a birthday cake and I’m actually bummed that I have to put buttercream frosting over it! The cake and filling alone are perfection!! You have waaaaaay outdone yourself on this one, it’s the perfect summer cake!
Hi Julie!! Thanks you so much for your feedback, we’re so happy that you love the cake and orange cream filling!! Wish I had a slice right now! ;0) xoxo
I’m making this cake in 2 days for my daughters birthday. I could not find orange extract in my small town and finally did find it in a larger town but cannot get there before I’m making the cake. I did find Orange Oil and bought it but it says its 4 x stronger than extracts. Is there a ratio that I can use to make sure the orange does not overpower the cake? I was told I could use the entire .125 oz in the cake mix but I wanted to be sure before I did that. Thank you.
Have you tried squeezing oranges and using the fresh juice in place of the concentrate? I would think the flavor would be intense, although it would be thicker than the thawed orange concentrate.
Hi Terra, Let us know what you think if you give the fresh juice a try.
I made this cake on Saturday. After a long search I did find orange extract and the cake, filling and frosting turned out beautifully. The taste was perfect and my daughter has declared this to be her forever birthday cake!! Thank you for sharing recipes.
Hi Martha, Thank you so much for leaving a comment about the recipe. We are thrilled that your daughter loved her birthday cake!!
My mother made this cake,it was Fabulous!!!! My whole family enjoyed very much after eating it. Thanks for this amazing recipe……
link to cakengifts.in
I have all but stopped using the regular creaming method. I am a professional cake baker and this is the best method especially if you are tiering a cake. Follow the directions EXACTLY. Never fails for me. This recipe can be used for so many different cakes, just change what liquid and flavorings you use. This is to me a perfect summer cake.
Can I convert this to a sheet cake? Would you recommend it being done at the same temp for the same length of time?
Hi Esther, Thank you so much for posting your thoughts on reverse creaming and the recipe.
Hi Lynette, the recipe can be made as a sheet cake. A 9×13 pan would need 7 cups of batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. The cake would probably be only 1 1/2 inches high since this recipe makes 6 cups of batter. You could double the recipe for 12 cups of batter and fill the 9×13 pan 1/2 to 2/3rds full for a 2 inch high sheet cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. It is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. You will have left over batter for a few cupcakes. If you have rose nails, you could add two to the bottom of the pan before filing to bring heat to the center of the cake. At about 40 minutes into baking you might want to cover the top of the pan loosely with aluminum foil if you think it is coming too brown.
Can I make this in a 9×13 cake pan? It’s easier to feed my coworkers that way. Thanks!
Hi Lisa, This recipe only makes 6 cups of cake batter so your cake would not be very tall. You could increase the ingredients by 1/2 for more batter. Here are links to two cake batter amounts according to pan size that you will find helpful
link to wilton.com
link to fromkarenskitchen.com
Thank you!
To those struggling with falling cakes or rising problems, check your elevation. I’m at about 5,000 feet and I’ve had to adjust all my recipes. If you google high elevation baking, you’ll get some great results. Personally, I use the Craftsy recommendations. It’s a nice table that actually tells you the percentages to increase or decrease ingredients. I just use a calculator against the weight measurements and it tells me exactly how much to add or subtract. It’ been a game changer for me and I hope it helps others.