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.
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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.
DJ says
So easy to make – SO VERY DELICIOUS!
Jessica Holmes says
Yay!
Jacqui says
I made this cake for Fathers Day, and we all loved it. Was so delicious. Thankyou!
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that Jacqui!
Fiona says
Beautiful moist cake full of orange flavour the frosting is delicious especially with the orange zest on top
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Fiona! Thank you for the lovely feedback!
Aimee says
Hi Jess, I just made this cake and it tastes incredible, but I was just curious as to how many days it will last for? Thank you for the beautiful recipe!! 🙂
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Aimee! The cake keeps well for a few days or it also freezes well (without frosting).
Neb says
I made this cake just 1 hour ago and it tastes amazing (I used tangelo in place of orange since they are in season now). Very light with a flavourful golden outside and very very easy to make. I didn’t make the frosting part so I can’t comment on that but the cake itself is beautiful. I would highly recommend this recipe!!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the kind review!
Jane says
Made this cake tonight…very moist and rose well. Icing was good but maybe a little sweet for my taste. Would bake it again
Jessica Holmes says
Glad you enjoyed it Jane!
Lara C says
This cake was so delicious.
Probably one of the best cakes I’ve made. Beautiful and moist, super easy and the kids loved it too.
I didn’t make the frosting as I had no cream cheese so I made a sticky orange reduction instead and poured it over so it was nice and glossy.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Lara! And an orange glaze sounds just lovely!
Natalie says
Yum this looks so good – would this recipe work for a double layered cake? Obviously I would need to double batter and also frosting 🙂 but would it hold the weight being softer?
xx
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Natalie, I haven’t tried myself but I would say so.
Jennie says
I made this and it’s yum , cake was perfect although the icing…. well it’s about as opposite as you can get to the photo – still tastes great but any idea what went so wrong I used correct ingredients !
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jennie, so glad you enjoyed the cake! What was wrong with your icing? I have heard that it can be hard to find regular cream cheese in the UK (rather than the spreadable kind).
Jennie says
I never realised that cream cheese in the USA is so different so that explains a lot and why my red velvet cream cheese frosting never looks like the pics ! Oh well I have enough icing to make another cake ! I’ll have to seek out an alternative version with uk ingredients next time – thanks for replying and I’ve learnt something new !
Jennie
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jennie, yes I’ve gotten a few comments about it. Here in Australia and the USA, cream cheese is sold in a block and is much more firm in consistency than spreadable cream cheese. I’m sure you can find something similar in the UK, maybe it’s under a different name?
Petrina says
I used chia seeds instead of poppy seeds… I didn’t change anything else 🙁
Jessica Holmes says
Hmm well if it didn’t rise, it might be that your baking powder is expired.
Krystal says
The chia seeds is why the recipe failed for you. Chia reacts differently to liquids and would have affected the cake chemistry. Try it with poppy seeds next time
Petrina says
Hi there, I tried this recipe and my cake didn’t rise very well, it became very dense…
On the second attempt I used cake flour, it was a little better but it isn’t fluffy either..
May I know what might be wrong?
Thank you
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Petrina, I’m sorry to hear that. The cake should be lovely and soft thanks to the oil and the yogurt. Did you change anything in the recipe?
Charlotte says
Hi, this looks amazing! Just wondering what changes you’d recommend to make this into cupcakes instead?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Charlotte, you could definitely make this cake into cupcakes. The only change would be the cooking time!
Sophie says
So easy to make and super delicious!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Sophie!
Elena says
Wow this turned out great! I even cut back the sugar by half and put chia instead of poppy seeds (I didn’t have any) and it was still amazing 🙂 Thank you Jess!
Jessica Holmes says
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it Elena!
Sharini says
Hi can I add more orange juice?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Sharini, you could add a little more but I’d stick to the recipe if you can! It has plenty of orange flavour.
Kimi San Bhopal says
This looks absolutely delicious
Jessica Holmes says
Thank you!