The Best Whole Wheat Mandarin Orange Cake

Whole Wheat Mandarin Orange Cake with Olive Oil | Easy Orange Cake Recipe | Nagpur Mandarin Orange Cake | Whole Wheat Orange Cake

The starting point of most of my cakes these days is the son prodding me to bake one. And the inspiration comes either from the mood or seasonal ingredients or something leftover that needs using up.

Last week, we had a party at home and we bought these expensive bottles of cold pressed juices. A whole bottle was leftover and I had no heart of throwing it away. And I am not a big drinker of juice. This absolutely flavour blasting pulpy orange juice was my inspiration for this Mandarin orange cake. Plus, the fact that Nagpur oranges are one of the best Mandarin oranges and they are absolutely in season right now. If you have a whole basket of Nagpur oranges at home, juice them, zest them, segment them and get all set to make this cake that is sure to drive away any blues!

I looked up Pinterest for some recipe ideas and I came across a simple orange cake. I modified it to use more of the Mandarin orange juice, made it 100% whole wheat and added some garnishes of fresh Nagpur Mandarin oranges that are in season.

And lo, my whole wheat Mandarin orange cake was born.

How to add more orangey flavour to your orange cakes:

1. Add a lot of orange zest, take care to avoid the white pith
2. A spoonful of good orange marmalade to the cake batter
3. Orange oil, a few drops of orange oil adds a strong orange flavour to your baked goodies
4. Good quality pulpy orange juice

I have used whole wheat flour here, but you can substitute with all purpose flour or even a gluten free baking mix to prepare a gluten free orange cake. This cake uses 3 eggs, so I am not quite sure you will be able to substitute with flax eggs without a substantial change in flavour.

Extra virgin olive oil complements the citrus flavours beautifully, which is why this is my choice of oil for the cake. You can also use any other neutral flavoured oil like rice bran / grapeseed or sunflower.

More Orange Recipes for you

Cranberry Orange Loaf with chocolate chips

Orange and thyme pancakes (this one is our favourite!)

The Best Whole Wheat Mandarin Orange Cake

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Servings: 1 9" round cake

Course: Dessert

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 2 tsp butter
• 2 tsp all purpose flour

Dry ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients

• 3/4 cup castor sugar
• 3/4 cup pulpy orange juice Mandarin oranges
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp yogurt
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil I used extra virgin

Garnish

• 1 Mandarin orange segmented
• 1-2 tsp granulated sugar

Method

 

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl with a whisk.
2. In a large owl, whisk together all the wet ingredients until well combined.
3. Add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined, do not over mix.
4. Rub the sides and bottom of a 9” round baking tin with butter. Sprinkle flour and tap all around such that the whole tin is covered with a thin layer of flour.
5. Scrape out the batter into the prepared tin and smoothen out the top.
6. Preheat the oven at 180°C.
7. Divide the orange into segments, carefully slicing each segment into halves. Decorate the top of the cake with the prepared orange segments. Sprinkle a spoon or two of granulated sugar over this.
8. Keep the tin in the preheated oven and bake at 180°C for 40 minutes, rotating the tin once at the 20 minute mark for even browning.
9. If needed cover the cake with a layer of aluminium foil after 30 minutes to ensure that the centre of the cake doesn’t remain wet.
10. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Carefully unmould and allow to cool on a rack for 20 minutes or so before proceeding to slice.

Like what you see here? Stay connected with me on Instagram, Facebook, BlogLovin’ and Pinterest.