Easy Orange Cake Recipe With Glaze

This quick and easy orange cake recipe with glaze is the perfect summer cake! Every bite is moist, flavorful, and fruity.

Fork breaking off a piece of orange cake.

This orange cake recipe is one of my Grandmother Lucy’s favorite cakes so she often has it sitting under a dome on her counter whenever folks come to visit. It is very moist with an irresistible orange flavor; just the right thing for a hot summer’s day or a picnic.

I love that this orange bundt cake is incredibly easy to make. All you need is an orange cake mix, as well as fruit nectar, oil, sugar, and eggs. Mix the ingredients together, pour them in a bundt pan, and then it’s time to bake. That’s it! I love pairing my orange cake with an easy glaze. However, you could also simply sprinkle on some icing sugar before serving or serve with some fresh whipped cream.

If you’ve never had orange cake before, you’re in for a treat. If you have had it before, you’re probably making out your grocery list now 😉. You won’t be disappointed!

Labeled ingredients for easy orange cake recipe.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Orange supreme cake mix
  • Apricot nectar
  • Oil (I like olive oil)
  • Sugar
  • Eggs

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix up with an electric mixer until well combined and smooth.

Grease bundt pan with cooking spray.

Using cooking spray, grease a bundt cake pan. If you have a bundt pan that tends to stick, you might want to grease and flour it instead.

Pour cake batter into bundt pan.

Pour the cake batter into the bundt cake pan.

Of course, this is called a “fluted mold” because the term “bundt pan” is trademarked but I’m just gonna call it a bundt pan because I feel like walking on the wild side today.

Baked orange cake.

Bake at 325 for one hour. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the cake pan before turning out to cool completely.

Now, if you want we can make a glaze for it.

Glazes are super simple to make so let’s just whip up a confectioner’s sugar glaze real quick because it will make our final picture prettier.

How to make an easy glaze for this orange cake recipe

Add sugar and butter to mixing bowl.

Place about a cup of confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl. Add in two tablespoons of softened butter (or margarine).

Add milk to glaze ingredients in mixing bowl.

Add in a tablespoon of milk.

Mix glaze ingredients together with fork.

Cut all of that together with a fork and add a wee bit more milk.

Add the milk just a tablespoon or so at a time because we want this to be the consistency of glue and it can get too thin really fast.

No worries though! If it gets too thin, just add more confectioner’s sugar.

You should also add a teaspoon of vanilla extract or butter flavoring too.

Perfect cake glaze.

This is the consistency I want. It is like school glue and will go over the cake really well.

Drizzle glaze over orange cake.

Drizzle that over your cooled orange pound cake and serve with decorative orange slices or a sprinkling of fresh orange zest.

Slice of orange cake.

And serve to those you love, who love cakes bursting with orange flavor. Enjoy!

Storage

  • Store leftover cake in an airtight container either at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
  • You can also freeze the cake (without glaze) for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight and bring to room temperature before serving and glazing, if desired.

Recipe Notes

  • Wondering where to find this particular cake mix? Duncan Hines has an entire line of supreme cake mixes but not all grocery stores carry them. You can look at Walmart, Kroger’s, or your local grocery. I would check online first to see if they have it in stock.
  • Speaking of… Duncan Hines has changed the size of their cake mix packages considerably and unfortunately, this has affected many old-fashioned recipes that relied on them. I have heard of more than one of these cakes sinking in the middle as a result. I tested several remedies to this and found that if I purchased an extra box of cake mix and added an additional 1/2 cup of mix to this recipe, it works as it did before. I save the rest of that cake mix in a zipper seal bag, put it back down in the box, and store it in my closet for the next time I want to make one of these cakes. 
  • If you’re also wondering where to find fruit nectars in the grocery store, they’re commonly found in the fruit juice aisle.
  • Once I couldn’t find apricot nectar so I used mango nectar. If you see strawberry banana nectar, try getting the strawberry supreme cake mix for another twist!
  • For an orange-flavored glaze, substitute the milk for a tablespoon of fresh orange juice. You could also add orange extract instead of vanilla extract.
  • My top cake-baking tips: bake it in the middle of your oven, use room temperature ingredients, and insert a toothpick in the center to check if it’s cooked (it will come out clean).

Slices of orange cake.

Recipe Variations

  • If you don’t want to bake this orange cake recipe in a bundt pan, here are some other options:
    • Two 8×4 loaf pans. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes instead.
    • 24 muffins. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
    • Two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans for a layered orange cake. Bake each cake layer for 25 to 30 minutes.
  • Here are some other variations to add to your orange cake recipe:
    • A cup of dried cranberries to make a cranberry orange cake. You could also decorate with our sugared cranberries.
    • A teaspoon of cinnamon
    • A cup of finely chopped walnuts or almonds.
    • Mini chocolate chips or a tablespoon of cocoa powder to make a marble chocolate orange cake.

You may also enjoy these other cake recipes:

Grandmama’s Coconut Cake With No-Fail Seven Minute Frosting

Phenomenal Red Velvet Cupcakes

Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake

S’mores Poke Cake

Yellow Cake with Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Icing

Pumpkin Praline Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Easy Orange Cake Recipe

Easy Orange Cake Recipe

This quick and easy orange cake recipe with glaze is the perfect summer cake! Every bite is moist, flavorful, and fruity.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
5 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cake, orange
Servings: 4
Calories: 567kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 box orange supreme cake mix see note
  • 1 cup apricot nectar
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs

Instructions

  • Place all ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined and smooth. Pour into a greased bundt pan and bake at 325 for one hour.
    1 box orange supreme cake mix, 1 cup apricot nectar, 1/4 cup oil, 1/2 cup sugar, 4 eggs
  • Allow to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes and then turn out. Let cool completely before serving.
  • Glaze, if desired.

Notes

  • Duncan Hines has changed the size of their cake mix packages considerably and unfortunately, this has affected many old-fashioned recipes that relied on them. I have heard of more than one of these cakes sinking in the middle as a result. I tested several remedies to this and found that if I purchased an extra box of cake mix and added an additional 1/2 cup of mix to this recipe, it works as it did before. I save the rest of that cake mix in a zipper seal bag, put it back down in the box, and store it in my closet for the next time I want to make one of these cakes. 
  • I couldn't find apricot nectar so I used mango nectar. If you see strawberry banana nectar, try getting the strawberry supreme cake mix for another twist!

Nutrition

Calories: 567kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

 

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108 Comments

  1. I was wondering if the strawberry cake mix would work? I want to say I’ve seen the nectar in the Mexican foods section at Kroger….any thoughts? My husband loves strawberry cake.

  2. My Mom has made this cake for years calling it Apricot Nectar cake. It is delicious. Thanks for reminding me of it. Haven’t had it in a long time

  3. Christy…Love orange flavor in baked goodies!!! Currently making Dish Pan Cookies for friends this evening. It’s my first try…..they are awesome.

    1. Hi Christy. My Mom and I made a similar cake a few years ago. We made an orange sugar glaze. Yum! Thanks for posting so I could take a walk down memory lane. And, on another note, I can’t find any colorful canning jars for my tomatoes.

      Janet

  4. Mmm looks good! I’ve never had an orange cake before. I’d try it tonight but I made black bottom cupcakes last night 😀 Also that cake pan is adorable, do the little flower designs show up on the finished cake? Hard to tell with the glaze on top. Also, silly question, but does the cake need to be refrigerated because the glaze has milk in it? I’ve always wondered that!

    1. Yes they do! they are really pretty! I should have put up a photo of the cake without the glaze! ~facepalm~
      I just leave my cake out on the counter but it is usually eaten within two days or so. You can certainly refrigerate it to be on the safe side if you like 🙂

  5. Oops that should have read to fill the pan with the batter – not the tin can with the beans – brain works faster than the fingers sometimes and don’t type what I am thinking!

      1. I used to say I was from Regina but no one knows where that is
        Now Saskatchewan doesn’t cause as many questions – I think lots of folks know that is Canada – especially if they fish or hunt – great opportunities up here – snowed last weekend and some more in the forecast before the weekend

  6. Easy bundt pan / tube pan – use a springform pan if you have one and
    empty – well washed and sprayed or greased – tin can (weighted with some white beans) – put it in the middle of the springform and fill with the batter Works great. For a difference – make 2 layers and “frost” together – cook both in the spring forms with tin cans. It is the shape you want for that extra fancy look when the drizzle is put on it. Makes for lots of tasty frosting
    If you don’t want to use the cake mix I’m sure you can locate a rec ipe for an orange cake – just make sure it is of a consistency that will cook in a bundt pan – angel food pan – circular pan of sorts
    No matter how it gets baked, it sounds very delicious and looks great too !

  7. As a kid with a June birthday this was the cake I requested every year. I grew up north of Atlanta and the Orange Supreme mix was only in stores for a limited time in the summer. I love this cake and had lost the recipe (I was on the side of the box when I was growing up but it isn’t any longer). Thanks for posting this. I have a graduation party coming up for my older son and this will be on the table!

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