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Orange-Walnut Cake

by 28 Comments

A simple yet scrumptious orange-scented cake made very easily in a food processor. Delicious plain or with coffee.

I hate this time of the year! Rain...cold....shorter days...so depressing. Adding to the misery is the produce section, no fruits whatsoever. All I see is citrus (but gorgeous ones though), apples and pears. I certainly spot berries but the inner foodie in me just doesn't incline to buying berries in the mid of dead winter. I'll wait for spring and go local. So, I stocked my basket with apples and oranges, dropped off an overdue book at the library and drove back home only to realize I had navel oranges, clementines and cuties. Really? what was I even thinking?? Lol 🙂 Anyways, we love to get our daily dose of vitamin-c, but it gets monotonous in a short while. Long story short, birth of my orange-walnut cake.

I came up this recipe about 3 weeks ago. First try- I sliced the cake while it was warm to make sure it came out right. Three of us polished off the entire cake even before it got a chance to cool completely. It was SOOOOOOOO GOOD! Hub-hub was not thrilled to find out that we didn't save a slice for him:) So, I made another one next day, just so that he could taste it. The cake was finished in about 3 hours after oven time. I baked this cake probably 11 times in just 2 ½ weeks and it never managed to make it to the second day. I did manage to share with friends and Sophia's school and all of them just went crazy for it. I already have folks waiting for this recipe.

So, what is so special about this cake, you might wonder. It's incredibly soft and tender, brimming with orange goodness, just the right amount of sweetness and SOOOOOOO YUM! All you need is your food processor to make this cake. NO stand mixer or hand blender required. And the ingredients, no complicated measurements-

½ cup walnuts/ butter/ sugar/ orange juice ;

½ teaspoon baking powder / baking soda / salt ;

2 eggs / oranges ;

1 cup flour ;

So simple right? The process is simple as well -

  • grind all dry ingredients in the food processor and transfer to a bowl

  • into same processor, process zest, butter and sugar

  • add eggs, process

  • add half flour mixture, process

  • add orange juice, process

  • add remaining flour, process

  • pour into a pan, bake and gobble it up

All dry ingredients into the food processor.....

process until finely ground......

transfer into a bowl and then add butter, sugar and zest......

process until creamy...add eggs... process.....

process flour and orange juice....

and bake....

So, if you own a food processor (I used my trusty CUISINART) then please make this cake. Your family, friends, neighbors, tastebuds will thank you! This will become your go-to-cake recipe.

Notes-

-you will 2 medium oranges for the recipe - zest of 1 ½ oranges(only the outer orange part) yields about a tablespoon (don't bother measuring) / cut the zested oranges in half and juice (measure ½ cup for the recipe)

-if you have the time then leave the eggs out at room temperature at least 30 minutes or up to a day, if you didn't then just go ahead with the recipe.

-you can use the pan that you have on hand and obviously a 8-inch cake will be taller.

Orange-Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

½ cup walnuts

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter (½ cup), room temperature

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest (only the outer orange skin and not the white part)

2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature

½ cup orange juice, freshly squeezed

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper.

In a food processor, combine flour, walnuts, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Process for about one and half minutes, until finely ground. Transfer mixture to a bowl and keep aside.

Into the same processor, add butter, sugar and orange zest. Process for about 45 seconds. Add both eggs and process for few seconds until smooth (scrape the sides of the processor to mix in any butter sticking to the sides). Add half the ground flour mixture, process for 10 seconds, then orange juice, process for 10 seconds and then finish off with remaining flour mixture and process for additional 10 seconds, until combined.

Transfer batter into the prepared pan, spread evenly and bake in the middle rack of the oven for 33 minutes (if using 8-inch pan) and 30 minutes (if using 9-inch pan) or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes clean.

Place pan on a wire rack to cool completely or eat warm (its unbelievably good when eaten warm).

Makes one 8-inch or 9-inch cake.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anindya Sundar

    The beautiful pictures do justice to this wonderful cake. Will try this out

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Thanks for stopping by Anindya and the kind words!

      Reply

  2. Dixita mour

    Can.I replace egg in the recipe, any Suggestions please ?
    I loved the entire recipe and want to try making this one.

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Though I haven't experimented with eggless baking, I found a proven method online - stir one tablespoon ground flax seeds with 3 tablepoons water together until it's mixed well. You can try this in place of one egg in any recipe. Hope this helps Dixita and appreciate you stopping by.

      Reply

  3. Karen

    I was thinking about an orange cake this morning. Your recipe was right on time. I bet it would be good with toasted almonds. I had better make one of each.

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      That's a great idea and would certainly be delish. Thanks for stopping by Karen and happy baking!

      Reply

  4. cakespy

    This is so beautiful, and sounds like it tastes just as good as it looks!

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Thank you Jessie for stopping by and the kind words

      Reply

  5. Kim @ The Baking ChocolaTess

    Ok, first of all that cake is gorgeous Maria! Second of all, I have some Cara Cara Oranges that I have been wanting to make something with. This looks perfect for that. The orange and walnut together is different...yum!!! <3

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Awww...Thank you Kim. It's one of my favorite combo!

      Reply

  6. Jenny | The Baking Skillet

    I love these flavors and please give me anything with walnuts and I will polish it off 🙂 This cake sounds truly tasty and a nice break from traditional coffee cakes!

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Yes Jenny, orange and walnuts make a great combo. Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

  7. welile vilane

    This looks sooo good!!! I need to get over my fear of baking and try this recipe!

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Thank you:)

      Reply

  8. Miss Kim @ behgopa

    It looks gorgeous. I love orange flavored baked goods. It would hit the spot with a cup of coffee!

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      It sure will:)

      Reply

  9. Emily

    Love it, and looks simple enough that even someone like me can even do it xx thanks will try this out x

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Thank you Emily:)

      Reply

  10. Stephanie

    Yess! I need this recipe in my life. I love orange-flavored desserts. I will definitely be giving this one a try.

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Thank you Stephanie 🙂

      Reply

  11. Veena

    This is the first recipe I have tried from your blog.... AND I LOVED IT.
    I was researching various recipes for the rasmalai cake, and found your blog. And I am glad I did!!! So many interesting recipes... not sure which I will try next.
    thank you Maria - and more power to your kitchen.

    Love from DubaiX0X0
    Veena

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Aww... thank you so much and glad that you liked it. Love..

      Reply

  12. Neetika

    Looks delicious.. Great texture.. Was wondering, if grinding the walnuts to flour consistency allows more flavour or lesser, than when they are finely chopped!!

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Hi Neetika, grinding walnuts along with the flour helps it to become part of the flour, reducing the gluten which in turn helps the softer texture. In my opinion, that is hard to achieve when chopped. Hope it helps:)

      Reply

  13. Rosee

    Thank you so much for this recipe!! Absolutely amazing 🤩 my family love it soooo much and today I doubled the recipe! Definitely a favourite 💓

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      Hi Rosee, Glad that you loved the cake, Maria

      Reply

  14. Vini

    Hi I love this recipe. Would love to try this out however I don't have a food processor. Can I use a grinder or hand whisk this?

    Reply

    • Maria Doss

      1. Add all dry ingredients into a dry grinder and process until finely ground (make sure to stop and stir twice in between). Transfer to a bowl and save the grinder (do not wash, we will be using later for topping).
      2. Add butter and sugar into a medium bowl and beat with a hand held electric beater, until smooth and creamy (3-4 minutes). Beat in eggs and orange zest, until smooth (about 1 minute).
      3.Add the ground dry ingredients and continue beating, just until it comes together. DO NOT OVER MIX, you can do the final mixing with a rubber spatula.
      4. Transfer batter to the prepared pan and make the topping.
      5. Make orange sugar topping. Add all ingredients into the same dry grinder and process. Sprinkle on top of the cake.
      6. Bake according to instructions.

      Hope it helps - Maria

      Reply

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