Orange Creamsicle Cake – tender orange cake layers with an orange cream filling and an orange cream buttercream.
Childhood Memories
As a kid, there were two ice cream bars I would ALWAYS get from the ice cream truck that drove through our neighborhood in Southern California: a strawberry crunch bar and a creamsicle. I also have vivid memories of eating creamsicles while sitting on my grandparents’ porch with my brothers and cousins in Chicago during the humid summers. Don’t you just love how flavors and smells can invoke instant memories?!
Strawberry Crunch Cake
A few years ago, I took inspiration from the strawberry crunch ice cream bar to create my Strawberry Crunch Cake. With layers of strawberry cake, vanilla cake, strawberry buttercream and lots of crunchy cookie texture, the flavor of this cake was spot on! I knew that when I made a Creamsicle Cake, getting the flavor just right was crucial.
Orange Creamsicle Cake
Now that it’s been a few years since the Strawberry Crunch Cake, it’s about time for the Creamsicle Cake! (I always get asked if I ever run out of cake ideas and honestly, I never do! In fact, I have a running list of flavors and because I’m continually adding to that list, some flavors get pushed back – like this one).
But as we approach another summer, I’m not letting it go by without this cake!
As you dig in to each element of this cake, you’ll get a subtle orange flavor that tastes just like the ice cream bar. The whipped filling and buttercream provide the cream element that pairs so perfectly with the tart orange flavor.
Decorating
For decorating, I used the wide comb scraper from my new scraper set. I’ll be posting a video of this technique tomorrow and will make sure to include it here, as well, so you can see just how easy creating buttercream stripes is. In the meantime, make sure to check out this Instagram video for a quick tutorial.
Enjoy! If you like this post, make sure to follow me on Instagram @cakebycourtney for the best tips and recipes on all things cake!
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Creamsicle Cake
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 1 1/2 cups (339 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 1/4 cups (500 g) granulated sugar
- 1 oz orange Jell-O
- 3/4 cup (180 g) sour cream at room temperature
- 7 egg whites at room temperature
- 1 tsp (4 g) orange extract
- 4 1/2 cups (508 g) cake flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp (15 g) baking powder
- 3/4 tsp (8 g) salt
- 1 1/2 cups (360 g) buttermilk at room temperature
- orange food gel optional
- *This amount of cake batter makes an additional half batch compared to my normal recipes so your layers will be thicker in height.
FOR THE WHIPPED FILLING
- 1 cup (231 g) heavy whipping cream cold
- 1/2 cup (70 g) powdered sugar measured and then sifted
- 1 tsp (4 g) orange extract
- 1 tbsp E-Z Gel or other cream stabilizer like gelatin
- *If you can't find E-Z Gel, you can refer to my Strawberry Shortcake post for using gelatin.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- 2 cups (452 g) unsalted butter slightly cold
- 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar measured and then sifted
- 1/4 cup (57 g) heavy cream
- 2 tsp (8 g) orange extract
- Orange food gel optional
- *This buttercream recipe makes enough to fill and cover your cake. If you want to add additional piping (beyond what you see in my images), you’ll want to make an extra ¼ to ½ batch.
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Spray three 8-inch pans (or four 6-inch pans) with nonstick spray, line the bottoms with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and Jell-O on medium-high speed for about 3 to 5 minutes. You want the mixture to get lighter in color and texture. Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all of the mixture has combined well.
- With the mixer on medium speed, add the egg whites in three additions, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition. Once all of the egg whites are added, turn the mixer to medium-high and beat for about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the sour cream and the orange extract. Don't worry if the mixture looks a little curdled. It will come back together when you add the flour mixture and buttermilk.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until combined.
- Divide the batter between the three 8-inch pans, about 22 ounces of batter in each pan. Bake on the middle rack for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Let the cakes cool on write racks, in the pans, for about 15 minutes and then invert onto wire racks to cool completely. TIP: spray your write racks with nonstick spray.
FOR THE WHIPPED FILLING
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar and extract. Whisk on medium-high speed. While the whipping cream is mixing, gradually sprinkle in the E-Z Gel.
- Once combined and stiff peaks have formed, store in the refrigerator until you're ready to use.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy and pale in color.
- With the mixer on slow, gradually add the powdered sugar, followed by the heavy cream, and orange extract.
- Once all of the ingredients are combined, turn the mixer to medium-high and beat for about 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for a couple minutes more.
- Before using the buttercream, make sure to beat it by hand with a wooden spoon or large spatula to help push out the air pockets.
- If you want to do stripes, reserve two cups of buttercream and add a drop or two of orange food gel to the remaining bowl of buttercream.
ASSEMBLY
- Spread a small dollop of frosting on your cake board. This will act like glue to hold your cake in place.
- Place your first cake layer, top side up, on your cake board. Pipe a rim of buttercream around the edge of the cake.
- Spread about 1 cup of the whipped cream filling over the cake.
- Place the next cake layer on top of the filling and repeat steps 2 and 3.
- Set your final cake layer, top side down, on your second layer of filling. Apply a thin layer of buttercream over your entire cake. This does not need to look pretty or be even. This coat of frosting is simply to lock in the crumbs. Freeze your cake for about 10 to 15 minutes to set the crumb coat.
- After the crumb coat is set, finish frosting your cake with the buttercream
I’m not a fan of orange creamsicle so I did not personally try this cake BUT y’all, I made this cake for work and people RAVED about it. Within a few hours of me cutting into it, people from other departments heard about the cake and came to try a piece. Now, almost 2 weeks later, people (some I don’t even know) are STILL talking about this cake and asking when I’m making it again.
Love hearing that! Thank you!
I made this cake for my own birthday to share with friends and it turned out wonderful! So tasty and beautiful. I was surprised at how easy it was to create the striped frosting effect, but with your video and clear and concise recipe directions, I was able to successfully make this cake.
I’m so happy it was a hit for you!
I made this cake Sunday for my granddaughter’s 17th birthday. She had picked it out. Everyone loved it. My stripes need more practice. I’m glad I had chilled the cake well, as the cake traveled about an hour on the hottest day of the year so far this summer.
Can this cake remain a room temperature if I use water to thin out the icing instead of cream? I don’t like how buttercream hardens, and I don’t have the option of bringing slices up to room temp before serving.
It can be at room temperature for a few hours, but with the cream filling, I wouldn’t leave it out for a really long time unless the area you’re in is fairly cool with air conditioning.
Looks delicious! Could I make this into cupcakes?
Of course
Do you sell cakes?
Ive been looking online & yur Orange Creamsicle looks the best of all the cakes I am seeing so far., I ordered a strawberry crunch cake last year for my son’s birthday and he’s wanting an orange creamsicle one this year the strawberry was delicious probably the best cake I’ve ever tasted so far I’m trying to find one like yours here that can deliver…
I don’t! I’m so sorry!
Haven’t made it yet but have a question:
Is the 1 oz of Jello prepared, or the powder straight from the box??
Thanks in advance!
Just the powder.
Do you know how many grams of egg yolks are required? I have a bunch I need to use, but they’re all in a bowl.
Shoot, I’m sorry, I don’t.
*whites not yolks. Sorry