This Orange sponge cake is fragrant, fluffy and extremely light made with freshly squeezed orange juice and zest. When I first baked this cake the house smelled citrusy and wonderful. I still remember my toddler impatiently waiting for the cake to be baked. Fresh out of the oven, the cake was finished in seconds. We didn’t wait for the cake to cool down. It was delicious. It reminded me of the orange cream biscuits I use to have during my childhood days.

This cake is very easy to prepare, bakes faster and can be had on a hot summer day. You can eat this cake as it is with your tea or you can frost it with buttercream. I made a simple orange buttercream frosting for this cake.

The orange zest gives a nice flavour to the cake. Use a fine grater to grate the orange zest. Another important thing is whisking the eggs till they become triple in volume. And the most important thing is not to overfold your cake batter, otherwise your cake will not get that spongy texture.

Orange Sponge Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake

• All purpose flour- 2 cups
• Baking Powder- 2 tsp
• Sugar- 1 cup
• Eggs- 4 large
• Orange juice- 1 cup, freshly squeezed
• Orange zest- 2 tsp
• oil- 1/2 cup
• orange gel food color- 2 to 3 drops (optional)

For the Buttercream frosting

• Unsalted butter- 250 gms
• Sweetened Condensed milk- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
• Orange zest-1 tsp
• Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Instructions

1. For the Cake– Preheat the oven at 170 degree celsius and grease a 9 square inch cake pan. In a bowl, sieve the flour and baking powder and keep it aside. In another bowl break 4 eggs and whisk the eggs while slowly incorporating the sugar. Whisk the eggs till they become triple in volume. Lift the whisk from the batter and make a figure 8 from the batter dripping off from the whisk. If the figure 8 remains on top of the batter for 10 seconds. Stop beating the eggs. If the figure 8 disappears before 10 secs, then you need to beat the eggs for long. Add the orange gel food color and whisk the batter for a minute.
2. Add in the flour little by little and gently fold the batter with a spatula. Do not use your whisk for this. Once the flour is fully incorporated into the batter. Add the orange juice, zest and oil and gently mix till the liquid and batter is well combined. Do not overmix the batter.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the oven for 25- 30 min. Cool the cake once baked.
4. For the buttercream– Beat in the butter till it becomes pale and fluffy. Then add in the condensed milk, vanilla extract and orange zest. Beat till everything is well combined. Divide the the cake into 2 layers. On one layer add the buttercream and spread it evenly with a spatula. Then add another cake layer on top of the buttercream. Frost the top of the cake and smoothen the buttercream with a spatula. Decorate the cake as you like. Refrigerate the cake for 30 min before slicing.