One-Bowl Orange Vanilla Butter Cake

This one-bowl orange vanilla butter cake, iced with Fresh Strawberry Frosting, is the one I made last week in celebration of my sixth blogiversary. Can you see the fluffy texture? 

Don't let anyone tell you that you must use bleached cake flour for a tender cake. I don't like bleached flours for health reasons, and it simplifies my life a great deal to use just unbleached all-purpose flour for all my non-gluten-free baking. This cake couldn't be more tender and still hold together. 

My recipe is calculated to make two 6-inch layers, a large enough cake to serve 8 people. If you want to make a larger cake, here's my Best One-Bowl Yellow Cake. The 6-inch cake looks ever so much nicer on the afternoon tea table and makes 3-inch wedges that fit so prettily on smaller plates.

If you like it, please Pin it and share it!

Of course, if you've never made a wedding cake, you probably don't have 6-inch pans! Since this is such a handy size cake, I'd really recommend that you get a pair of these heavy-gauge aluminum 2-inch deep 6-inch round cake pans.

I like to point out to my UK readers from time to time that what we call large eggs in the US are just medium eggs in the UK. Large eggs UK are extra large eggs US. It can make a difference in a cake recipe.

What is your favorite size cake to make, and the most requested flavor in your family? 

One-Bowl Orange Vanilla Butter Cake 

(Makes two 6-inch layers) 

1 1/2 dip-and-sweep cups (7.5 ounces/213 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (7 ounces/198 grams) sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 ounces/113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (5.33 fluid ounces/158 ml) milk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature (medium eggs in the UK)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 orange 

1 Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas4. Grease well and lightly flour two 6-inch round layer pans. 

2 In large mixing bowl (I use a Cuisinart stand mixer or a hand mixer), combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the softened butter and about half of the milk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. With mixer on medium-high speed, beat for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape down the sides. 

3 Add the eggs, vanilla extract and remaining milk. With mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds to combine. Scrape down the sides. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 1 minute. Stir in the orange zest by hand; fresh citrus zest tends to get tangled up in beaters and whisks. 

4 Divide evenly* between the prepared pans. Bake at 350F/175C/Gas4 for 25 to 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. 

* Most people just "eyeball" it, but when I'm feeling particularly persnickety I actually use the digital kitchen scale to be precise. 

5 Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks for at least an hour, until completely cool, before frosting.

Disclosure: Some posts contain links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com. If you purchase something from Amazon through one of my links, I receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, which I use toward the expenses of running this blog. Thanks for supporting Delightful Repast when you shop at Amazon! 

Jean