Soft and tender Orange Poppy Seed Cake topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting. This easy cake comes together in minutes and is perfect for your next celebration!
More one layer cake magic 🌟
You’re going to fall in love with this citrus wonder. A super easy Orange and Poppy Seed Cake that takes only minutes to throw together.
Topped with a thick and creamy orange cream cheese frosting. Perfection!
I’m currently on a poppy seed bender! First, came my Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Cake and now this orange-flavoured wonder.
I’ve recently been baking more and more with oranges and I’ve fallen madly in LOVE with my buttery Orange Cookies and Chocolate Orange Brownies. But now this Orange Cake has jumped to the top of my favourite list.
It’s the perfect cake to whip out for guests. It looks like a masterpiece but honestly, it’s not hard to make. And just look at that cake to frosting ratio 😍
HOW TO MAKE ORANGE AND POPPY SEED CAKE
- This cake is incredibly easy to make. Just like my favourite Pistachio Cake, you only need a bowl and spoon – no electric mixer.
- Start by measuring out your dry ingredients, in this case, plain flour, baking powder and caster sugar. If you don’t have caster sugar, you can use granulated sugar instead.
- Then add your poppy seeds and fresh orange zest.
- Next, we add together our orange juice, eggs, oil and vanilla. I recommend using a neutral oil for this recipe. I usually use vegetable oil, but I’ve also used a light olive oil or you could use grape seed oil.
- I recommend using fresh orange juice and zest as suggested in the recipe for maximum flavour.
- The final ingredients are milk and Greek yogurt. The addition of Greek yogurt ensures your cake has a soft, light and tender crumb. You can also use sour cream instead of Greek yogurt.
- Mix until just combined and then pour into a round baking tin lined with baking or parchment paper.
- Try not to over bake this cake. Every oven is different, so start checking the loaf from about 35 minutes onwards. Insert a knife or skewer into the centre of the cake, if it comes out clean, you know the cake is ready.
TIPS FOR MAKING ORANGE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- You will need a hand mixer or stand mixer to make this frosting. Make sure you use a full fat block of cream cheese – not a light version or the spreadable kind.
- For seriously creamy frosting, make sure both your butter and your cream cheese are at room temperature.
- Once you beat together the butter and cream cheese, you need to add 3 cups of icing sugar.
- Instead of adding milk or cream, we add a tablespoon or two of fresh orange juice – just to make that orange flavour over-the-top.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more amazing recipe ideas.
Let’s Bake
Orange and Poppy Seed Cake
Easy one layer Orange and Poppy Seed Cake made from scratch.
Ingredients
Orange and poppy seed cake
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 200 grams (1 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- Zest of one orange
- 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) Greek yogurt*
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) milk
Orange cream cheese frosting
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) butter, softened
- 250 grams (1 and 1/4 cup) full fat cream cheese, room temperature, roughly chopped
- 375 grams (3 cups) icing sugar or powdered sugar
- 1–2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- Orange zest to decorate, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Grease and line an 8-inch round cake pan with baking or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, poppy seeds and orange zest. Stir briefly to combine.
- In a separate bowl, add orange juice, oil, eggs and vanilla. Whisk briefly just to break up the egg yolks.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, along with the yogurt and milk, and gently mix until combined – but be careful not to over mix. Spoon batter into prepared tin.
- Bake cake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the cream cheese frosting, add butter and cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and continue to beat until smooth.
- Add orange juice and mix until frosting is creamy. Taste and add extra orange juice if needed. Generously frost the top of the cake. Scatter over fresh orange zest.
Notes
*Greek yogurt: You can use sour cream instead of Greek yogurt. This ingredient ensures a soft and tender cake.
Note for UK readers: I’ve been told that it’s hard to find blocks of cream cheese in the UK. If you use spreadable cream cheese, your frosting will be quite runny. You might want to use a buttercream frosting instead and add a squeeze of fresh orange juice.
Kallia says
Can I replace cream cheese with mascarpone?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Kallia, you can but the mixture will be much more slack. So I’d potentially omit the orange juice and only add orange zest.
Susan says
Served this to company……it was THE BEST!!!
Jessica Holmes says
Fabulous!
Jennifer Ryder says
Just making this now and hope that using a bunt tin does not impact the outcome !
Jessica Holmes says
How did it go Jennifer?
Loren says
So good! Moist and delicious. Probably the best cake I’ve ever made!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hooray! Love that Loren!
Maryanne says
Yummy!!! Birthday cake for the hubby. Super easy and great taste/texture/moist… absolute winner (with cream cheese icing 😋)
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hooray! So please you enjoyed it!
Marian Fleming says
Fabulously easy mix with no creaming the butter & sugar 😁 always love that.
However I found the cake with better texture when I soaked the poppyseeds in boiling water also found the rind folded through mix easier if included in the WET ingredients not the dry.
ITS A WINNER AT MY TABLE THANKS
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Thank you for the feedback Marian! So pleased you enjoyed it!
Candace says
Love this recipe! It was a big hit in my household and it’s a great way to use the oranges from our tree.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it!
Rose says
I made this recipe to go into the local show cooking section and it won first place!
Have since made it a tonne of times and get rave reviews each time.
Very light cake.
Thank you!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
How amazing is that! So exciting Rose!
dg says
Hi Jessica, Can I use chia seeds instead of poppyseeds 🙈?
Jessica Holmes says
Yes you can!
Cathy says
Would this cake hold up well as two layers stacked if I double the recipe? Thanks!
Jessica Holmes says
Yes Cathy!
LMD says
Best orange cake ever! This is best of both worlds for us orange lover and cream cheese lover. You can even omit the icing and the cake itself is good enough. I lessen the powder sugar of the icing to my liking but everything else I followed the baking instructions. I had to make this twice in one week. That’s how big of a hit this cake recipe was for my family
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Yes! I’m so happy to hear that!
ineke says
Hi there, the cake looks yummy. could you please let me know how tall the cake is?
thanks
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Ineke, I would say it is roughly 1.5 inches or 4cm in height.
Raven says
These were amazing as cupcakes.. even with melted butter instead of oil. I only had 1 egg to spare, but the texture still turned out beautifully too. Thank you for sharing this recipe, its a keeper
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Oh so happy to hear that!
Raven says
Is it ok to swap the oil for melted butter?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Raven, it should work but it won’t be quite as light or moist.