Mandarin Orange Cake
Mandarin orange cake is a surprising way to use this sweet fruit! This citrus fruit cake recipe uses the entire mandarin, peel and all, for a unique texture and delicious result.
This mandarin orange cake is the baby sister to my Sicilian whole orange cake that many of you are already familiar with.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I’ve made so many different versions of this super popular orange cake, starting with a whole lemon cake, apple cake, peach cake and more. In fact, when I first published my Sicilian orange cake, it was the only whole orange cake on the internet in English.
It’s rough seeing how many others are online now, with zero credit to anyone, not even the original Italian blogger where my mother had found the original recipe. Since there’s nothing I can do, I choose not to focus on these things, but instead, I’m sharing another citrus version of this wonderful recipe with this mandarin orange cake which also uses the whole fruit (except the seeds.)
You can see its luscious texture and can imagine the sweet flavor! It’s really a showstopper of a cake when it comes to tasting it!
Which Mandarin Oranges Should I Use?
When choosing your mandarin oranges, be sure to use organic because you’ll be ingesting the rind. You also don’t want a rind that is very hard or thick. It should be soft, fragrant, and full of moisture (dry fruit doesn’t work in this recipe.) Ojai pixie tangerines are very sweet, but sometimes their skin can be tough. Choose the right citrus, for the best results.
According to Robert Schueller from Melissa’s Produce, all tangerines are mandarin oranges. The difference is where the species of fruit originated.
“Mandarins and Tangerines are interchangeable words. Technically, mandarins are a tangerine from Asia and a tangerine is a mandarin from North Africa (Tangiers). However, over time the terms have been muddled for merchandising distinctions more than country of origin.” – Melissa’s Produce
I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do!
Check out this recipe for blood orange ricotta cookies, too!
It’s perfect for pot lucks, picnics, special occasions and even for an afternoon snack.
Mandarin Orange Cake
adapted by Christina Conte serves 12
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Ingredients
- eggs
- sugar
- flour
- baking powder/Pane Degli Angeli powder
- butter
- Greek yogurt
- mandarin oranges
- vanilla (optional)
Glaze
- mandarin orange juice
- sugar
Special equipment: springform pan, or bundt pan or loaf tin
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C)
Make the Mandarin Cake Batter
Butter and flour an 8″ springform pan
Beat the sugar and eggs until thick and creamy.
Sift the flour with the baking powder or Paneangeli, then add to the mixture in the bowl a little at a time along with the softened butter.
Continue to mix until completely blended, then stir in the yogurt.
Blend the mandarin oranges in a food processor until finely chopped into a purée, then add to the batter. Mix well.
Pour into prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes until a cake tester or skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then run a thin knife around the perimeter and remove the side of the springform pan.
Glaze the cake if desired.
This is truly one of the easiest cakes you’ll ever make!
Just look at that crumb!
Sign up for my free weekly subscription and never miss another post!
Mandarin Orange Cake
Special Equipment
- 1 8" springform pan
Ingredients
- 3 eggs free range, organic, if possible
- 1 ⅛ c sugar
- 1 ¾ c all purpose flour or plain flour in the UK
- 1 pkg Pane Degli Angeli vanilla baking powder or 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- ⅓ c butter salted, softened
- ⅓ c Greek yogurt (sour cream or labne also works)
- 4 mandarin oranges organic, sweet (3 or 4), washed, cut into pieces and seeds removed - weigh for best results
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ONLY USE IF USING BAKING POWDER
Glaze
- ¼ c mandarin orange juice from fresh mandarins
- ¼ c sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C)
- Butter and flour an 8″ springform pan
- Beat the sugar and eggs until thick and creamy.
- Sift the flour with the baking powder or Paneangeli, then add to the mixture in the bowl a little at a time along with the softened butter.
- Continue to mix until completely blended, then stir in the yogurt.
- Blend the mandarin oranges in a food processor until finely chopped into a purée, then add to the batter. Mix well.
- Pour into prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes until a cake tester or skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then run a thin knife around the perimeter and remove the side of the springform pan. Remove the bottom of the pan and place on a cooling rack.
Glaze
- Put the mandarin orange juice and sugar in a small pot and simmer for about 3 minutes until sugar is melted.
- Brush the glaze over the cake.
- Serve when cool on its own, or with some ice cream, custard or whipped cream.
Notes
- Using a scale will give the best results.
- It's difficult to say how many mandarin oranges are needed because they are never uniform in size and weight.
Nutrition
Christina’s Cucina is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
I tried this out yesterday. We all loved it and its gone by today. Can you help me with replacing the sugar with stevia? My husband is diabetic so he couldn’t really indulge despite loving the tiny slice he had.
I have tried substituting with stevia in the past with other recipes but never could get rid of the wierd aftertaste. Have you tried some sugar substitute that works?
Hi Kavita, I’m so sorry, but I’m just out of touch with all sugar-substitutes. I don’t use any for health reasons and the aftertaste you talk about. I understand the need for replacements for diabetic needs, but maybe this will help?
Love it – and so does my family. Used whole meal flour instead of white and it worked very well. Moist and full of flavour.
I noticed the recipe called for a weighting of the orange, but not the weight required . I used 4 mandarins weighting on average 50 gm each approximately 200gm for the batter.
just the recipe I’ve been looking for. I have a real glut of mandies this year. You said 3 to 4 mandies needed then you said best to weigh for better results, so how many grams or kilos/ ounzes or pounds of mandarin is that please. you haven’t stated the weight. my mandies are quite small of my tree… Thanks in advance.
Hi Lindi, in the recipe card, just below the ingredients, you’ll click on METRIC and will see the measurements needed. I’m in the process of changing all of my recipes to this format so everyone can choose their preferred method (which I always hope will be METRIC) :)
This looks like a wonderful recipe to enjoy with the Moka coffee set!
Delicious! I’ve enjoyed this in the hot summer with my afternoon tea. The cake is so moist.
Wonderful!