Orange Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting.
Orange cake with coconut cream cheese frosting is the perfect spring cake! Fluffy orange sheet cake covered in creamy coconut cream cheese frosting. So delicious, citrusy and great for a crowd.
Believe me when I tell you that this is everybody’s favorite orange cake.
This orange cake is so perfect for Spring. Ideal for the Easter season, it’s a cake that my grandma would make all the time. We would all lose our minds over it – it was incredible. Fluffy orange cake with creamy coconut icing. The combination is a dream!
This cake has been a long time coming.
If you’ve been around for a while, then you may have read my story about mother lovett’s orange cake. A recipe is even in that wordy post – yes that is how we structured recipes back in 2011. Secretly wish nothing had changed – ha!
Her orange cake was one of her best cakes.
Personally, I think it’s a toss up between her orange cake and her coconut cake. Both were fantastic, so fluffy, so sweet and delicious. And she barely even glanced at her recipe. She made them for so many years and years that she knew how the batter should look and feel on the spatula. And she knew exactly how much orange zest to grate!
She baked cakes or pies every weekend and was known for them. As a kid, I usually wanted chocolate or peanut butter desserts but I always made an exception for her orange cake. It was MAJOR.
Funnily enough I changed her recipe a bit. I based this on her recipe and a lemon cake from the NYT, because I wanted to make sure I could get it perfect as a 9×13 sheet cake.
Those are my favorite cakes to make! They are simple and huge crowd pleasers. My pumpkin dream cake and banana cake with espresso frosting are huge hits. So is this triple berry vanilla sheet cake! Anyone can make those cakes. And everyone loves to eat them.
Mother Lovett always frosted her orange cakes with a fabulous coconut frosting. Because I’m such a cream cheese nut, I did a coconut cream cheese frosting.
I’ve used this before on my banana carrot easter cupcakes and it’s so creamy and wonderful. Sweet but tangy at the same time!
Like I said, I live for a sheet cake like this.
It makes for the best dessert at any dinner or party. It’s also a nice little afternoon snack with some coffee or according to my mom, breakfast. Cake for breakfast was a huge thing in her house growing up, probably because her mom made so much cake!
Can’t blame them, this is definitely breakfast worthy.
Orange Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
Orange Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
orange cake
- 3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ⅓ cups whole milk
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup freshly grated orange zest
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
coconut cream cheese frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon coconut extract, optional
- 1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with nonstick baking spray. I like to use the kind specifically for baking that has flour in it.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and soda. In a measuring cup, whisk together the milk, lemon juice and orange juice.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar on medium speed until fluffy, for 5 full minutes. Scrape down the sides as needed. Beat in the orange zest until combined. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, mix in half of the flour mixture. Mix in the milk mixture. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until just combined.
- Pour the batter in the greased baking pan. Spread the top to even it out. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes back clean.
- Let the cake cool completely before frosting. I usually remove mine after about 30 minutes in the pan - I just invert it and frost the flat side. You can leave it in the pan and frost too!
coconut cream cheese frosting
- Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Beat in the sugar until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract and coconut extract. Frost the cooled cake! Sprinkle on the coconut and press so it gently adheres to the frosting. I like to keep the cake in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting, plus we love cold cake!
Notes
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Loveliest little fluff square.
7 Comments on “Orange Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting.”
love the throwback reference to Mother Lovett! your posts about her are so sweet and remind me of my Mommom. thank you for sharing!
All recipes are sublime.
I had just juiced 2 gallons of OJ. I found this recipe and proceeded to have an impressive list of fiascos. I always follow to the letter the “1st” time out then add lib the 2nd. I set everything out for temp, except the milk. I thought I warmed it enough but my butter turned to small chilled nuggets in the mixer. I kept my warm hands on the steel bowl which actually works. Started incorporating, dang, no fresh lemon. I gave a good squeeze from the plastic lemon and topped off with more oj. Got it in the oven…sheesh forgot the vanilla! Baked anyway, drizzled it with a little coco Reàl syrup (for pina colada’s) and saw that the rack was not inserted correctly so the cake was tilted. 30 min in aluminum pan. Okay, ready to frost. Or not, no cream cheese. Frosted the next day (forgot the vanilla again!) then did the coconut decor. After a night in the fridge the acids mellowed out and flavor dispersed. This recipe survived even my brain fog!
My daughter wants this cake for her birthday, which is coming up soon. Would you make a modifications to make this as a layer cake instead of a sheet cake? I know generally sheet cakes have a softer crumb that doesn’t translate well into layers. I referenced your original recipe which you made as a layer cake, but feel there are so many changes between that recipe and this one, I thought I would check. Any guidance is greatly appreciated!
Is 1/4 cup orange zest correct? I just want to make sure because it seems like alot.
yes it is correct!
Is it possible to make this ahead of time? if so, how early? I want to make it for christmas but have many other items to prepare so I was hoping I could make this 1-2 days before. Also, would baking this in a pyrex be okay?
thanks!