Orange sponge cake

Name: Orange sponge cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 225 g (1 + 2 tbsp) caster sugar; 225 g (1 ¾ cups) self-raising flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 225 g (1 cup) baking spread or butter; 4 eggs; The zest of 1 large orange; 200 g (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened; 400 g (2 ¾ cups) icing sugar / confectioners sugar, sifted; 3 tablespoons orange juice (about ½ an orange)

This orange sponge cake is light, fluffy with a delicious, burst of orange flavour. Best of all, it’s a really easy recipe to make so its perfect for kids and beginner bakers alike to try.

This orange sponge cake is everything a good sponge cake should be. It’s light, fluffy and moist but has a little twist with a subtle orangey flavour in the orange sponge and orange buttercream.

This is a lovely simple cake, great for an Afternoon tea, and a little more interesting than a plain Victoria sponge. It’s no harder to make than a classic sponge, but the subtle orange flavour takes it to the next level and makes it feel a bit more special.

How can kids help to make an orange sponge cake?

This orange layer cake recipe is so simple and uses the ‘all in one’ method which makes it a great, easy bake for kids to try. As with most bakes, your children can help to measure out all the ingredients and mix them all together. But with this recipe they do it in one bowl which means there’s not too much washing up to do!

This recipe contains 4 eggs which means there are lots of chances for your kids to practice cracking eggs which is an important skill to master for any young baker.
We’ve made this sponge cake really simple without too much decoration. You could make it as plain or as fancy as you like – spread on the orange buttercream for some simple décor, or practice your piping skills and pipe on the buttercream for a ‘fancier’ decoration. Your kids can help to assemble everything, adding the lemon buttercream between cake layers as well as piping some on top.

What is the ‘all in one method’?

In some cake recipes you have to cream the butter and sugar together first, but there’s no need to do that with this type of easy orange Victoria sponge. The all in one method is the easiest way of making a cake so it’s perfect if you’re baking with kids. It just means that all the ingredients are added to a bowl at the same time before being mixed together into a smooth batter.

Why isn’t my sponge light and fluffy?

If your sponge isn’t light and fluffy and hasn’t risen properly there’s a chance you may have over mixed it. When you’re mixing the batter together, just do it until the it all comes together becomes smooth with no more visible flour or lumps of butter. It’ll just take a minute or so, don’t over do it.

You should also check that you’ve used the correct and in date raising agents. If you use old self raising flour or baking powder your cake might not rise properly.

What can I use if I don’t have self raising flour?

If you don’t have self raising flour, which is easy to find in the UK but not always elsewhere in the world, swap it for an equal amount of plain or all purpose flour and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt.

What is baking spread?

Baking spread, (things like Stork), is just a non dairy margarine which is perfect for baking. I think it makes sponges lighter and fluffier than when you use butter. It’s also a lot cheaper to buy at the moment, so it’s a great alternative.

I still like the taste of butter in buttercream icing so I wouldn’t swap the butter for baking spread in that but it’s great for the sponge.

Other cake recipes

If you liked this orange Victoria sponge recipe you’ll love some of our other easy cakes and cupcakes:

Lemon sponge cake
Chocolate fudge cake
Butterfly cakes
Rainbow cake
Swiss roll
Easy chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache
Chocolate Victoria sponge
Victoria sponge
Raspberry sponge cake
Madeira cake
Blackberry cupcakes

And if you have any leftover oranges, why not try one of these tasty orange based bakes:

No bake orange cheesecake
Orange biscuits
Orange cupcakes
Orange drizzle cake

Useful equipment

You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make this orange sponge cake:

Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Cake tins
Serving plate
Wire rack

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Difficulty: Easy
Time: 20 minutes + 25 minutes baking
Serves: 12

Ingredients

For the orange sponges

225g (1 + 2 tbsp) caster sugar
225g (1 3/4 cups) self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
225g (1 cup) baking spread or butter
4 eggs
The zest of 1 large orange

For the orange buttercream

200g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
400g (2 3/4 cups) icing sugar / confectioners sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons orange juice (from about ½ an orange)

*If you don’t have any self raising flour, swap it for an equal amount of plain or all purpose flour and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

How to make an Orange sponge cake

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan and prepare your tins

Get your kids to grease the base and sides of 2 x 20cm/8in cake tins (loose bottomed or spring form) with butter. Line the bottom of each tin with a circle of baking or parchment paper.

Add all the cake ingredients to a mixing bowl

Get your kids to measure out all the sponge ingredients then add them to a large mixing bowl or a free-standing mixer if you have one.

One of the things I love the most about using the ‘all in one method’ to make a cake is that it doesn’t matter what order you add the ingredients. Having said that, we always do it in the order the ingredients are listed as it means we’re less likely to accidentally miss anything out.

Add the dry ingredients

Start by getting your kids measure out the sugar and flour and add them to your mixing bowl.

Now add the baking powder. If your kids are very young you can do this while they’re measuring the flour. Or, if your kids measure it out themselves make sure they level the top of the teaspoon with their finger, so you add just the right amount.

Add the wet ingredients

Add the baking spread/margarine or butter. If you’re using butter it needs to be soft. So, if yours isn’t (we always forget to take it out of the fridge beforehand), pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it, but not long enough to melt it.

Next, get your kids to crack the eggs into a small bowl, then add them to your mixing bowl/free-standing mixer. We always break them into a small bowl first before adding them to our mixing bowl just in case any shell goes in (as it often does.) If a little bit does go in use a larger piece of shell to fish it out. Small pieces of shell can be slippery and hard to get out with your finger, but should stick better or can be scooped out by other, larger pieces of shell.

Prepare the orange

Finally, get your kids to help zest and juice the orange. Use a zester if you have one or the small side of a grater if you don’t. Just watch out for small fingers and try not to get too much pith in as it can make the cake a bit bitter.

Before you juice the orange, pop it into the microwave for 10 seconds or so and roll it around on your worktop. If you do that, you should get more juice out of it.
Add the zest to your mixing bowl but save the orange juice for later.

Mix everything together

Using a hand held mixer, the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer, (or even wooden spoons), beat all the sponge ingredients together until the batter is nice and smooth and there are no big lumps of flour or butter showing. You might need to get your kids to scrape down the sides and bottom of your mixing bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is mixed in.

Stop once everything is well mixed, it shouldn’t take long (less than a minute) so ensure you don’t over mix it or it won’t end up light and fluffy.

Bake your orange sponges

Get your kids to divide the orange cake batter equally between each of your prepared cake tins. You can judge it by eye and try to add the same number of spoons, but if you want to be really accurate, if you have digital scales, pop your cake tins on them and weigh them as you add the batter.

Use a spatula or the back of a spoon, to gently spread the cake batter to the edges of the cake tins and smooth down the surface of the cakes.

Bake each cake on the middle shelf of your oven for 20-25 minutes. They’re ready when they have risen, the edges are coming away from the tins and if you press gently down in the middle it should spring back.

You can double check the middle is baked properly by inserting a skewer or cocktail stick into the centre. If it comes out clean your cake it ready. If a little cake batter is on your skewer/stick, pop it back in the oven for a few more minutes.

Remove your orange sponges from the oven and leave them to cool for a few minutes in the tin before taking the cakes out the tins to cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the orange buttercream

Get your child to measure out the butter and icing sugar and put it in your free-standing mixer or a large mixing bowl. Again, you need your butter to be soft enough to mix, so if it isn’t soft pop it in your microwave for a few seconds to soften it but not long enough to melt it.

Using the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer or a hand held mixer, slowly beat them together. Start really slowly and pop a clean tea towel over the top of your bowl until the icing sugar has mixed in to try to minimise some of the mess. Add 2-3 tablespoons of the orange juice you squeezed earlier then beat it until the mixture is smooth and creamy. The longer you whip it for, the lighter and fluffier it will end up.

Assemble your orange Victoria sponge

Put one of your cakes onto your serving plate top side down, (save the better looking one to go on top).

Get your kids to help you spread half of the orange buttercream on top of the upturned sponge using a palette knife or spatula. If you want, you could be a bit fancier and pipe it on, but it’s simpler just to spread it.

Place the other sponge on top. To decorate you can swirl on more orange buttercream to the top, or dust it with icing sugar. If you like you can add some orange slices or segments as a finishing touch.

Serve and enjoy.

Orange sponge cake

cookingwithmykids

This orange sponge cake is light, fluffy with a delicious, burst of orange flavour. Best of all, it's a really easy recipe to make so its perfect for kids and beginner bakers alike to try.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Course Afternoon tea, Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 12

Equipment

Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
measuring spoons
Cake tins
Serving plate
Wire rack

Ingredients

For the orange sponges

225 g (1 + 2 tbsp) caster sugar
225 g (1 ¾ cups) self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
225 g (1 cup) baking spread or butter
4 eggs
The zest of 1 large orange

For the orange buttercream

200 g (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened
400 g (2 ¾ cups) icing sugar / confectioners sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons orange juice about ½ an orange