A soft and moist Sicilian orange cake that you can make quickly and easily at home. A bright orange flavor that you can obtain only if you’re using fresh oranges. Ideal dessert if you have only one hour to put a cake on the table.
Let me add today a pinch of Sicilian atmosphere to your daily routine. This is a special Sicilian orange pie that you will get in love with. It is an incredibly simple and delicious cake recipe.
A light note of citrus, a crisp crust, a soft and tender dough, a pleasant and enticing aroma: this is how I can describe this orange cake.
When I first came across this recipe, one photo made my mouth water, let alone my feelings when I tried the Sicilian miracle! You and your family will fall in love with this seemingly simple recipe, just because it will delight your taste buds like no other cake.
So, why do you need to try this moist orange cake? Availability of ingredients. A small amount of time. And an unforgettable taste.
Are there any downsides to this pie?
I believe so. After you will try it, you can’t stop only on one slice. You will ask for more.
Most of all, this homemade Sicilian orange cake will appeal to children, as it has a pleasant sweetness and a fine taste of orange. In addition, they will be interested in participating in the cooking process.
Interested? Let’s get started!
What goes in the Sicilian Orange Cake
Here’s what you need to make the homemade orange cake:
Oranges. If you are ok with a bitter taste, then you will need only one whole big orange. If you want to avoid this bitter taste, but you still want to keep the rich flavor of the oranges, then you will need the orange zest from two big oranges.
All-purpose flour. 1 ¼ cup (150 grams).
Rice flour. 1 cup (125 grams) The original recipe is without rice flour, but I decided to add it to give it an extra texture to our cake. Or as an alternative, you can replace it with almond flour. These ingredients are optional ones. If you can’t find any of them, replace them with classic flour.
3 Eggs. Choose eggs that have an intense yellow yolk. This way you will get a more beautiful cake color.
Sugar. 1 ¼ cup (250 grams) I used regular sugar, but if you want, you can replace it with brown sugar. It will provide a more caramelized flavor. You can also replace the sugar with any other sweetener you prefer to use. Just read the packaging of the sweetener to use the proportions indicated on the box. If you will want to replace the sugar with honey, use ⅔ of the cup.
Yogurt. 1 ½ cup (100 ml)
Melted butter. 4 tablespoons. (60 grams)
Baking Powder. 2 ½ teaspoons.
Olive Oil. 4 tbsp (60 ml) You can replace it with another vegetable oil. You could get an interesting taste using coconut oil. Or if you don’t want to use oil, replace it with butter.
Salt. ¼ teaspoon. Salt in cakes is just as important as sugar because it helps intensify flavors and tastes. Without salt, you will never get such a delicious cake.
Recipe for the Sicilian Orange Cake
Quick Tip: Put all the ingredients on table two to three hours before you start cooking them. This will make all the ingredients have the same room temperature. Which is very important for a cake.
When all of the ingredients will have the same at room temperature, pour the eggs and sugar into the bowl and mix until you get a creamy mass.
Right after that, add also the yogurt into the composition.
In case if you are ok with the bitter taste, you will need only one orange on that step. If you want to avoid the bitter taste and to obtain a rich orange flavor, then you will need to grate the orange zest from two oranges (avoiding grating the “white layer” of the orange).
Next, peel and cut one orange into cubes and blend it.
It is necessary to blend it until you get a uniform consistency. Something similar as in the picture below:
Add the orange to the bowl.
Add salt, and baking powder and incorporate these ingredients.
After that, add the flour and mix all the ingredients at the lowest speed.
Add the melted butter.
Immediately after butter, add the oil.
Mix all the ingredients well for the last time until you get a uniform mass.
After we have finished with the dough, we need to prepare the baking tray.
Cover the bottom of the tray with baking paper, and grease both the bottom and the walls of the tray with butter.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Pour the dough into the baking tin and bake the cake for about 45-50 minutes.
In the end, you should get a similar result:
If you like Italian cakes, I also highly recommend taking a look at the Italian Torta Paradiso. It’s very easy to make, but it will surprise you with how delicious it is.
Answering Your Questions:
Can I use other types of citrus fruit instead of oranges?
Yes, you can use other types of citrus fruit, such as lemons or grapefruits, instead of oranges. Just make sure to adjust the measurements accordingly.
What type of yogurt should I use?
You can use plain, whole-milk yogurt for this recipe. Greek yogurt can also be used, but it may make the cake slightly drier.
Can I substitute the rice flour with other types of flour?
Yes, you can substitute rice flour with all-purpose flour or other types of gluten-free flour, such as almond flour or coconut flour. However, the texture and flavor of the cake may be slightly different.
Can I add nuts or other ingredients to the cake?
Yes, you can add nuts, such as chopped almonds or pistachios, or other ingredients, such as dried fruit or chocolate chips, to the cake. Just make sure to adjust the measurements accordingly and mix them in gently.
Recipe Card:
Homemade Sicilian Whole Orange Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Orange Peeled. After you will blend the Orange You should get about 1 1/2 fl. Oz. Orange purea.
- Orange Zest from two oranges.
- 1 ¼ cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Rice Flour
- 3 Eggs
- 1 ¼ cup Sugar
- 1 ½ cup Yogurt
- 4 tablespoons Melted Butter
- 4 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 2 ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Pour all the eggs and sugar in the bowl and mix until you get a creamy mass.
- Add into the bowl orange zest from two oranges.
- Peel and cut one orange into cubes and blend it until you get a uniform consistency. Add the orange to the bowl with our previous ingredients. Right after it, add the yogurt into the composition.
- Add salt, baking powder and incorporate these ingredients.
- Add the flour (all-purpose and rice flour) and mix all the ingredients at the lowest speed.
- Add the melted butter and olive oil. Mix all the ingredients well until you get a uniform mass.
- Prepare the baking tray. Cover the bottom of the tray with baking paper, and grease both the bottom and the walls of the tray with butter.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Pour the dough into the baking tin and bake the cake for about 45-50 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Quick Note
I highly recommend reading the entire recipe to find more tips and notes about this recipe. Read Full Recipe ⇑
Dannii
I love any kind of orange dessert and this cake looks so light and fluffy.
Danielle Wolter
This sounds so incredible! I love citrus in desserts and this cake looks so yummy! Can’t wait to try it.
Gina
I love the texture from the rice flour in this cake and the orange zest aroma and flavor is just absolutely delicious. Tastes so fresh and bright!
Sharmila Kingsly
It is bursting with flavors… Totaly yumm!!
Rosemary
Love this cake. It reminds me of one I had in Greece. Nothing like fresh flavorful oranges. Yum!!
Jenny
Very tasty cake! Great use of my orange tree surplus! I used almond flour because I couldn’t find rice flour, glad you suggested the choice. the yogurt is missing from the instructions. I used only half added at the end and it was fine. I also added 1/4 tsp of vanilla because I had plain Greek yogurt and didn’t want the sharpness to come through.
Beetle
This recipe is great! Made it and my family and I loved it! (also didn’t have yogurt so substituted with sour cream and still worked out great 🙂
Jordan
5 stars but seeking a little advice. When I put this together it ended up kind of custardy instead of cakey (still tasted great, I just clearly messed something up). It was sort of like a British pudding. I was making a common mistake (for myself anyway) of treating baking like cooking and measuring a few of the ingredients by sight. I wonder if I a) Didn’t use enough baking powder or b) used to small of a tin so that the dough weighed itself down? Happy to hear any suggestions.
Victoria
Thanks for the review, Jordan.
I’m glad that you were satisfied with the taste of this delicios Orange cake, but I’m sorry that the end result wasn’t as expected, but let’s try to find the cause of failure.
One of the possible reasons why the texture of your cake did not come out is the fact that the amount of liquid ingredients was different than the ones indicated in the original recipe.
I will recommend to double-check the size of the orange and the amount of orange purea that you obtained from the orange. It may be the cause of the texture. In my case, I got about 1.5 fl. Oz from a blended orange.
Responding to your questions: If the problem was that you didn’t used the enough baking powder, then the cake will get a more compact texture with a slightly sticky core. If the problem was in a small baking tray, then, as a result, you would get a drier cake on the outside, and it bake longer because the cake will be higher.
Jordan
Thank you! I tried again. I was more careful about liquid and kept the amount of pureed orange to 1.5 fl oz this time. I was also careful to measure the baking powder correctly. It turned out very good!