This Portuguese Orange Cake recipe is authentic.
It was shared with my by my friend Cherie who is married to a Portuguese man with a major penchant for the orange cake of his country. I realize it hasn’t even been a week since I posted a Lemon Pound Cake recipe, but I don’t often hear anyone complain about too much cake.
Cherie bakes it regularly and it’s a treat I look forward to when I pop by for play dates – our sons were born on the same day in the same hospital!
Portuguese Orange Cake is moist and fragrant, with the most alluring bright flavour.
It leans slightly more toward bitterness than the tartness you might expect from citrus desserts – this is owing to the lashings of zest beaten into the batter. Don’t worry, it’s not bitter-bitter, just enough to be intriguing.
It’s a sponge cake of sorts, with egg whites folded in at the last minute to lighten the batter, but with more moisture than the airy sponge cakes you may have had. Both the zest and juice of three oranges are involved, so it is wonderfully orange-y.
Make sure to bring all of your ingredients to room temperature before you bake – cold eggs or oranges will cause the butter to seize up.
Serve with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, a fluffy dollop of whipped cream, or a scoop of softened vanilla ice cream. Leftovers freeze well!
Portuguese Orange Cake
Ingredients
- â…” cup 150 grams butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cups 250 grams granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs separated, room temperature
- 3 large oranges room temperature
- 2 cups 9 oz/250 grams all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease an 8×8″ baking dish or line with parchment paper.
- Beat butter and sugar on medium speed of electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each. With mixer on low speed, add the zest and juice from all three oranges. The mixture will appear curdled at first – that’s ok. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until it comes together, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk flour and baking powder. With mixer speed on low, gradually beat into the butter mixture until just incorporated.
- In another bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the cake batter to lighten it up, then gently fold in the rest. (Use a light hand so you don’t deflate the whites.) Scrape batter into prepared baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, until top feels springy when gently pressed and tester inserted in centre comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 382kcalCarbohydrates: 55gProtein: 6gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 109mgSodium: 185mgPotassium: 141mgFiber: 2gSugar: 32gVitamin A: 631IUVitamin C: 23mgCalcium: 63mgIron: 2mg
Last Updated on April 27, 2023 by Jennifer Pallian BSc, RD
Excellent recipe – we made it exactly as posted here. A keeper!
Next time you make it, could you measure how much orange juice your oranges provide? My tree has big oranges, and I’d also like to try out making this as a pink grapefruit cake if the orange version works.
This is so so blummin’ tasty!! However, I put it in the oven for the full 45minutes and the top was coloured nicely but when I cut into it, it was under baked. I feel that if I’d left it in much longer, the top would have started to burn 🤔 Any ideas or tips?
The portuguese usually use olive oil for this, not butter. Also, they tend to use a ring cake tin and not a square baking disk.
This is very similar to the Portuguese Orange Cake in the UNICEF Childrens’ Cookbook which I cannot find, so I was looking for the same recipe online. The difference is, that rather than putting the orange juice & half the sugar into the batter, they are made into a syrup…& after the cake which only contains the zest, is baked, it is pricked all over, & the syrup slowly poured on in small increments…with long pauses. All of it will be absorbed eventually, & the cake will be amazing. Now I’m going to do it.
Everyone LOVED the cake. It felt so Christmassy and light at the same time.