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This creamsicle cake tastes like all of our childhood ice cream dreams but in cake form. A strong orange, cream and vanilla flavor are found throughout. And the texture of the cake is fluffy and delicious. Pair it with a fluffy cream cheese frosting for the most beautiful cake.
When I think of creamsicle, I’m taken back to those often times sketchy ice cream trucks that sold those popsicles that were orange on the outside with vanilla ice cream in the center. They were divine. This is essentially that but in cake form.
This cake is adapted from my other fruit cakes like my Mini Strawberry Sheet Cake and my Lemon Cake. All cute. And all delicious.
Ingredients You’ll Need for this Creamsicle Cake
- Oranges – I used sumo oranges for this cake and it was INCREDIBLE. But they’re only in season for a short window (January-March) so feel free to use naval oranges, cara cara oranges or even tangerines would be amazing.
- Vanilla extract – This cake uses a lot of vanilla extract. This is what contributes to the very creamsicle flavor.
- Butter and Oil – I love making cakes with both butter and oil. Butter gives the cake great flavor, while the oil ensures that it stays moist.
- Cream cheese – This adds such a great texture and added tartness to the frosting that is just unmatched!
For the full list of ingredients and ratios, please see the recipe card below!
How to Make This Creamsicle Cake
- Mix zest with sugar. The first step of all of my cakes with citrus is to aggravate the zest to release all of its fragrance and flavor. To do this, I like to mix the zest with the sugar. The sharp edges of the sugar crystals will help with aiding this process.
- Beat the sugar, butter and vanilla. Then, add in the butter and vanilla and beat away. Remember, fat carries flavor. All of this being beaten together will ensure a super flavorful, orange-tasting cake.
- Then you whisk together the milk, egg whites and orange juice. In goes in the dry ingredients and you alternate with adding the liquid ingredients until you get a cohesive cake batter.
- Divide the batter between two or three 8-inch prepared cake pans.
- Bake it until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
- You can just beat all of the frosting ingredients together for a super simple vanilla American buttercream.
- The decoration of little oranges is up to you. But I include more detailed instructions below.
Tips and Tricks
- To Make Ahead – If you want to make this a day ahead, you can bake the cake layers and then wrap them in plastic wrap. Stick them in the fridge and decorate them the next day.
- To Store – I always suggest storing cake at room temperature. Cold cake is terrible. And it dries the cake out when not wrapped properly.
More Cozy Desserts Recipes
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Creamsicle Cake
This creamsicle cake tastes like all of our childhood ice cream dreams but in cake form. A strong orange and cream and vanilla flavor are found throughout. And the texture of the cake is fluffy and delicious.
Video
Ingredients
Creamsicle Cake:
- 3 (390g) cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 1/2 (500g) cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup orange zest, (from about 4 oranges)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 drops orange food coloring gel, (optional)
- 1/3 cup milk
- 6 large egg whites
- 1/2 cup orange juice, (from about 4 oranges), strained to remove pulp and seeds
Buttercream Frosting:
- 12 (336g) ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 (170g) cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 pod vanilla bean, scraped OR 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 5 cups powdered sugar, (plus more for the decoration)
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Orange Decoration:
- Orange food coloring gel
- Green food coloring gel
Instructions
To Make the Creamsicle Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two or three 8-inch cake pans.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- 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. Pour in the oil and beat once more.
- In a measuring cup, pour in the milk, egg whites, and add the strained orange juice; whisk together.
- 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.
- Divide the batter amongst the two or three prepared baking pans and smooth it out until it reaches the sides. Transfer to the oven to bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
- 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:
- In the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (or a medium bowl using an electric hand mixer), add the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Then add the butter and beat for about 10 seconds. This will just smooth everything out.
- 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:
- 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.
- Transfer the green frosting to a piping bag fitted with a #1 round piping tip.
To Decorate the Cake:
- Add the frosting to the top of the cake and smooth it out into an even layer. Make it cute with some swoops.
- If you didn’t do the oranges above, no biggie. Top it with some sprinkles OR leave it as is. It’s cute.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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 on a large plate or baking dish and cover it with plastic wrap. You can also place slices in containers with lids and just store them at room temperature.
Notes
Equipment:
(2) 8-inch round cake pans | KitchenAid Stand Mixer | Oxo Measuring Cups | OXO Measuring Spoons | Digital Food Scale | Piping Tip Kit |
Nutrition
Serving: 12g | Calories: 231kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 5mg | Potassium: 53mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 32IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this Recipe? Please Rate & comment below!
WOW. Impeccable recipe. The cake was perfectly moist and had the perfect flavor. I was worried maybe it’d be a little bitter, but nope – not at all. And the cream cheese buttercream….amazing. I added a tinge orange food coloring like you and it was the cutest peachy color. I will be making this again. Maybe even next week, ha. Well done.
Hi Ashley, YAY! I love to hear it! I love this cake so much and am always shocked at how much it tastes like creamsicle haha. So glad you loved it. xoxo
This was delicious! I added extra orange zest to mine since the oranges I picked were so large. Turned out wonderfully. The cake layers were perfectly level, but still moist. The flavor bleeds into the frosting, but honestly that made it even better.
Can this be made with gluten-free flour? Has anyone tried with success? What GF flour is recommended? Thank you!
Hi Kristen, I haven’t tried it with a gluten-free allpurpose mix. But a lot of people bake cakes with it. I hear Bob’s Red Mill makes a good one but I don’t have a lot of experience with it. 🙂 Hope that helps a little!
You note in the nutrition that a serving is 12 grams, how many slices did you cut the cake into to calculate the nutrition?
It tastes just like a creamsicle! The first time I made this cake the layers were higher. This time (my second time) the layers are about 1/2″ lower. The first time I used a handheld mixer when incorporating the wet and dry ingredients. This time I mixed it mostly with a spatula and used the handheld for 10 seconds. I thought that would make the cake lighter and more tender, but I guess whipping the egg whites is part of what gives the cake lift?
That’s fascinating! Yeah I think it’s really hard to say. I could even have been your oven was super hot the first time and it had the cake layers a bit fluffier. Baking can be like that!
This was a pretty good cake, texture and flavor! It smelled amazing. I found the frosting to be too thick and too sweet so I added more cream and some sour cream. I was surprised because the frosting from your other recipes has been on point.
Question – I got 1/4 cup orange juice from just 1 regular navel orange. Should I be using the 1/4 cup, or all the juice from the 3 oranges? I feel like the orange flavor could have been turned up more.
I want to make this a 3 layer cake in 8 inch pans. So triple the recipe? And have some cupcakes left over?
This was truly amazing. I made it for my brothers birthday (he requested an orange cake) after searching several recipes I chose this one and I’m so glad i did. It was a huge hit, never heard my brother rave over something so much before. He said he even had some slices for breakfast! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
This recipe (and your other recipes) look amazing! Really awesome how you have a cake recipe that you can repurpose. How did you come up with your cake recipe? Also, can I use carton egg whites instead of fresh ones? Thank you!
Hi there! This sounds so great– is this able to be made in an 8 inch round pan, and if so, how would you suggest changing the recipe/bake time? Thanks!
it might be too much batter for an 8-inch round!