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Creamsicle Cake
4.8 from 69 votes

Creamsicle Cake

Creamsicle Cake combines classic cake ingredients with fresh orange zest and juice, creating a moist, flavorful cake with a delicate orange aroma and subtle citrus brightness. The batter incorporates egg whites and orange juice, which lighten the texture, while the buttercream frosting enhanced with vanilla bean gives a rich, creamy finish. The optional orange and green food coloring gels add a decorative element that reflects the cake’s citrus inspiration. This cake can be baked in layered pans or an 8x8-inch pan, making it suitable for a small gathering or family dessert.

Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
22 mins
Chilling Time + Decorating
1 hr 30 mins
Total Time
2 hrs 12 mins
Servings: 8
Calories: 231 kcal
Course: Cake
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Creamsicle Cake:
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 165g, plus 2 tablespoons
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (250g)
  • 3 tablespoons orange zest (from about 3 oranges)
  • 1/2 cup butter 113g), at room temperature, unsalted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract pure
  • 4-5 drops food coloring gel optional, orange
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 3 large egg white
  • 1/4 cup orange juice (from about 3 oranges), strained to remove pulp and seeds
Buttercream Frosting:
  • 1 cup butter 226g), at room temperature, unsalted
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 vanilla bean scraped OR 2 teaspoons vanilla paste
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (plus more for the decoration)
  • 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Orange Decoration:
  • food coloring gel orange
  • food coloring gel green

Instructions

To Make the Creamsicle Cake:
    Cup of Yum
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line two 6-inch baking pans OR a 8x8-inch cake pan.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (alternatively you can do this in a large bowl with an electric mixer), add the sugar and orange zest. Beat the two together. This will release all of the fragrant oils in the orange zest and infuse them in the sugar. We want this, we need this. Add the butter and vanilla extract; beat until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. If you want the cake to be orange in color, add 2 drops of food coloring gel. This is of course optional.
  4. In a measuring cup, pour in the milk, egg whites, and add the strained orange juice.
  5. Turn the mixer to low speed and, alternating between the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients, add them to the butter/sugar mixture, until the batter is relatively smooth.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pans (or pan) and smooth it out until it reaches the sides. Transfer to the oven to bake for 25 to 32 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
  7. Allow the cake layers to cool in their pans for about 10 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. It’ll probably take a good hour.
To Make the Buttercream Frosting:
  1. In the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (or a medium bowl using an electric hand mixer), add the the butter and beat it until smooth, about 15 seconds.
  2. Add the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and heavy cream. Beat for a full 2 minutes to ensure fluffy, delicious frosting.
To Make the Orange for Decoration:
  1. To two bowls, add about 1/4 cup of frosting to each. You can eyeball this. One will be our orange and another will be our stems (green). Add a drop or two of orange food coloring to one frosting bowl. And add a drop or two of green food coloring gel to the second frosting bowl. Mix until smooth. Transfer the orange frosting to a piping bag fitted with a #3 round piping tip.
  2. Transfer the green frosting to a piping bag fitted with a #1 round piping tip.
To Decorate the Cake:
  1. Add the frosting to the top of the cake and smooth it out into an even layer. Make it cute with some swoops.
  2. If you didn’t do the oranges above, no biggie. Top it with some sprinkles OR leave it as is. It’s cute.
  3. To add the oranges, pipe on rounds of frosting; they’ll end up looking like oranges once we add the tops. Add as many as you like. Make them any size you like, too. Dip your finger in a bit of water and tap the tops of the oranges to make them appear smoother.
  4. Pipe on a “leaf" shape at the top of each of the oranges. This will make it appear like they have a stem.
To Store Cake:
  1. I keep this cake at room temperature on my counter. I don’t own a glass cake cover so I use a colander. This cake is delicious for about 2 to 3 days. If my way leaves you unsettled, you can always place the cake back into the 8x8-inch baking dish and cover it with plastic wrap. You can also place them in containers with lids and just store them at room temp.

Notes

  • Use fresh oranges for zest and juice to ensure bright, natural citrus flavor in the cake.
  • Beat sugar and orange zest together first to effectively release the oils before adding butter.
  • Add food coloring gel sparingly; it is optional and intended to enhance visual appeal only.
  • Ensure to strain the orange juice to remove pulp and seeds for a smooth batter.
  • Use an 8-inch pan or two 6-inch pans according to desired cake shape and serving size.

Nutrition Information

Serving 12g Calories 231kcal (12%) Carbohydrates 32g (11%) Protein 32g (64%) Fat 3g (5%) Saturated Fat 4g (20%) Trans Fat 11g (550%) Cholesterol 32mg (11%) Sodium 5mg (0%) Potassium 53mg (1%) Fiber 2g (8%) Sugar 12g (24%) Vitamin A 32IU (1%) Vitamin C 5mg (6%) Calcium 32mg (3%) Iron 1mg (6%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 8 Serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 231

% Daily Value*

Serving 12g
Calories 231kcal 12%
Carbohydrates 32g 11%
Protein 32g 64%
Fat 3g 5%
Saturated Fat 4g 20%
Trans Fat 11g 550%
Cholesterol 32mg 11%
Sodium 5mg 0%
Potassium 53mg 1%
Fiber 2g 8%
Sugar 12g 24%
Vitamin A 32IU 1%
Vitamin C 5mg 6%
Calcium 32mg 3%
Iron 1mg 6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.