The best vegan orange cake with heaps of orange flavor and a gorgeous color. Light and fluffy and topped with a gorgeous orange buttercream frosting.
This vegan orange cake really surprised me. I didn’t expect the color to be orange at all. I was thinking it would be vanilla cake in color but orange cake in flavor.
Well….shockingly the orange extract colored the batter a gorgeous orange and when baked it hadn’t completely dissipated as I expected. The cake had this pretty orange tinge. It’s subtle, but there.
And when combined with a delicious orange frosting, the flavor and color of this cake are fabulously orange.
If you don’t get orange color in your baked cake – I imagine maybe some extracts won’t be as powerful with the color as mine was – then don’t worry you’ll still get all the flavor.
And if you love citrusy cakes, then you’ll also love our vegan lemon cake.
How to Make Vegan Orange Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add sugar, baking soda and salt and mix together.
- Add soy milk, oil, vinegar, vanilla extract, orange extract and orange zest and mix into a batter. Don’t overmix.
TIP: Weigh your flour for the most accurate results. If you don’t have a food scale (recommended!) then use the spoon and level method.
- Divide the batter between two 8-inch prepared cake pans (lined with parchment paper at the bottom and sprayed with non-stick spray).
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- When cooled, frost the cake layers.
- Decorate with orange zest.
The Orange Frosting
The frosting is a delicious orange buttercream. The recipe is adapted from our vegan buttercream frosting recipe and uses powdered sugar, vegan butter, a little salt and orange extract to create creamy silken frosting perfection.
TIP: If you’re not a fan of sweet frostings, then you might prefer to top this cake with something like vegan whipped cream instead.
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Soy milk – can be replaced with almond milk or another non-dairy milk that works well in baking if you prefer.
Distilled white vinegar – we used white vinegar but apple cider vinegar is also totally fine to use. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda in this recipe giving it a perfect rise.
Egg replacement – there is no need for an egg replacement in this recipe, the baking soda/vinegar combination creates all the magic that you need.
Orange extract and orange zest – create all the orange flavor in this cake. If you can’t get orange extract you can just use orange juice instead but the flavor will be much more subtle. Orange extract is concentrated and really brings the flavor in this cake.
Recipe FAQ
If you want to make this cake gluten-free then you can try a gluten free all purpose flour blend. We have not tested it with this recipe so can’t guarantee results.
Yes! This cake can be made in 8-inch cake pans (as pictured) or 9-inch. It will be a slightly thinner cake if made in 9-inch cake pans so the baking time can reduce to 25 minutes.
This cake can also be made as a 9×13 or 10×15 sheet cake. Bake for 20 minutes for a 10×15 and for 25-30 minutes for a 9×13 sheet cake.
Yes, this will make 18-24 cupcakes. Bake for 20 minutes.
Storing and Freezing
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for a few days OR keep it covered in the fridge where it will stay fresh for up to a week.
This cake is also freezer friendly (frosted or unfrosted) for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Oreo Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Orange Cake
Ingredients
Orange Cake:
- 2 ⅔ cups All Purpose Flour (330g)
- 1 ½ cups White Granulated Sugar (300g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ cups Soy Milk (360ml) or other non-dairy milk
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 3 teaspoons Orange Extract
- 2 Tablespoons Orange Zest
Orange Buttercream Frosting:
- 3 ½ cups Powdered Sugar (420g)
- 1 cup Vegan Butter (225g)
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoons Orange Extract
Decoration (Optional):
- Orange Zest
- Orange Slices
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Prepare two 8-inch* (see notes) cake pans by spraying with non-stick spray and lining the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.
- Sift the all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda and salt and mix in.
- Add soy milk, oil, vinegar, vanilla extract, orange extract and orange zest and mix it into a batter. Don't overmix.
- Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool for a few minutes in the pans before removing them from the cake pans and placing on a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter, salt and orange extract to the bowl of a stand mixer and starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until the frosting is thick and smooth.
- When the cakes are cooled frost the cake and decorate with orange zest and orange slices around the sides (optional).
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly. For best results weigh your flour or use the Spoon and Level Method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife.
- Orange extract. If you can’t get orange extract then you can use orange juice instead, but orange extract is highly recommended as it’s concentrated which provides the perfect flavor for this cake. Using orange juice would reduce the orange flavor.
- Orange zest. Around two small oranges will provide 2 Tablespoons of orange zest for the cake. If your oranges are large you might get enough zest from one orange.
- Frosting. If orange frosting on top of orange cake seems like too much orange flavor to you then you might prefer to frost this cake with a simple vegan buttercream frosting or just serve it with some vegan whipped cream.
- Baking pans. This cake can also be made in 9-inch cake pans. The baking time can reduce to 25 minutes.
- Storing. Keep the cake covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for a few days or covered in the fridge where it will last for up to a week. The cake is also freezer friendly.
Seriously! I made this yesterday for my friend’s birthday party. Nobody except me are Vegan. They can’t believe there’s no eggs, etc. I’m becoming a famous baker thanks to your recipes! Hope that’s ok!
Everyone absolutely love it. All gone!
That’s more than okay, I love it! Thanks for sharing and the awesome review Bonnie!
Hi if I wanted to make this in a 10inch cake tin how much would I have to add to the ingredients would I double the ingredients and how long would it have to be baked for? I’m making a numbered cake and the tins are bigger xx
If you want to make a two layer 10-inch cake then I think you would need to double the recipe. Baking time would likely be the same though.
I am on a roll baking delicious vegan treats. Can’t wait to try this! Question ~ is it 312g of flour PLUS 2 tbs, or 312g in total? I’m trying to weigh my ingredients as much as possible. Thanks in advance!
Ps I’ll come back and update with a rating.
Hi Michelle it’s 312g + 2 Tbsp so the total weight is 330g. 🙂
Having accidentally purchased marmalade oranges rather than satsumas and not wanting to make marmalade, despite being in the depths of lockdown 3 I decided to make an orange cake.
With our household now including a son’s vegan girlfriend I searched for a suitable recipe online in the interests of inclusivity.
The resulting cake is absolutely delicious, the bitterness of the oranges cuts through the sweetness of the icing and the cake itself is as good as any non-vegan cake ( a great relief to the rest of the household!).
The recipe is easy to follow, I used oat milk, cider vinegar and didn’t have the orange essence so added more juice. One question; why the two extra tablespoons of flour?
I look forward to trying more of your recipes..Thank you xx
So happy it was a success! The flour quantity is for perfect balance of ingredients. 🙂
Hi, tried the buttercream but found it a bit sweet. Any tips to make it less sweet? Loved the cake though!! ????
Hi Shan, buttercream is usually a sweet frosting. Some people do weird things like put cornstarch into frosting to make it less sweet but I’m really not a fan of doing stuff like that. So for me, it makes more sense to just serve the cake with vegan whipped cream if a less sweet option is preferred. 🙂
Hi I want to make this recipe into a 3 layer 8in pan. I’m wondering would it be enough or would I have to double the recipe.
I think it would work as is, the layers would just be thinner. Baking time may be shorter (~25 minutes).
This looks lovely. Do you think I could try it with 50/50 plain flour / almond flour?
You could try it, but I don’t generally find almond flour to work well.
Thank you
Hi, can I somehow make this into a chocolate orange cake? If so how much cocoa powder should I add and how much flour should I remove? Thx
Hi Preya, I haven’t tried that but it might be easier to adapt a vegan chocolate cake by adding in some orange extract and zest.
Can I replace soy milk with orange juice bc I don’t have orange extract?
Hi Oriana, it might be better to just replace the orange extract with orange juice and between that and the orange zest it will just be more subtle in flavor.
Made this cake, was very easy and delicious. I found it tasted even better the next day, 24 hours seemed to give time for taste to settle. Going to do again, but busy trying a lot of your other recipes:)
So glad you enjoyed it Bernadette! Thanks for sharing!
Hi,
I tried your vegan carrot cake recipe as a tray bake, it was a huge success! I would like to try using your orange cake recipe as a tray bake too. What size baking tray should I use and how long would it need to be in the oven?
Thanks !
Hi Ruta, check out our vanilla sheet cake which has similar proportions to this. A half sheet baking pan should work and baking time would be 20 minutes.
I made 12 large cupcakes with this delicious recipe and they turned out absolutely wonderful. I made them using the juice of 2 oranges and the zest, they were so full of delicious orange flavour. It’s such a lovely recipe, you’re a very talented baker, creating such lovely recipes, thank you so much for sharing.
Oh that’s wonderful news! Thanks for the great review Cassandra!
Can you use fresh squeezed orange juice instead of soy milk for the vegan orange cake?
Honestly I find it comes out better the way it is. I did try using orange juice in creating this recipe and I didn’t find it worked out as well.
Still my favourite non-fail vegan cake recipe!
My non-vegan fellows are crazy for it too. Also realised that this whole time I used baking powder instead of soda but it works too.
Also a tip for making buttercream frosting (vegan or non-vegan):
Use a stand mixer and mix it for atleast 10 minutes. That way the frosting gets light and fluffy!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Anna-Marie!
I did 2/3 of the recipe to make 12 cupcakes and they turned out perfect! Your recipes never fail me! I piped vanilla buttercream on them to make creamsicle cupcakes 🙂
I have a question for you: what is the difference between a cupcake and a muffin? I had thought cakes use the creaming method and muffins use the muffin method, but in vegan baking that line seems to be blurred. Are they essentially the same thing?
Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it! Cupcakes and muffins are very similar yes!
Hi, is it possible to substitute the orange extract with orange juice?
Yes it is, though of course the flavor won’t be as strong.