I made this beautiful Orange Blueberry Cake with orange buttercream frosting and promptly went out of town. My new neighbors were the lucky recipients of what I could not eat. It pays to live by me. 
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Orange Blueberry Cake with Orange Buttercream Frosting topped with kumquats, blueberries and purple flowers

The Orange Blueberry Cake and Orange Buttercream Frosting: 

Perfect texture, exquisite flavor, and lovely to look at, this cake is made with only the best ingredients: real butter from grass fed cows, organic cane sugar, pastured eggs, buttermilk, Madagascar vanilla paste (or extract) and real orange zest. The frosting is a traditional buttercream, again flavored with fresh, fragrant orange zest. See the orange flecks? So pretty!

Orange Blueberry Cake with Orange Buttercream Frosting decorated with fruit and flowers on a white cake plate set on a table

HOW TO ZEST AN ORANGE:

I use a microplane to zest citrus, scraping just until the white is exposed and then moving onto a new area. There is nothing like the aroma of freshly grated citrus, and it adds so much flavor to baked goods.

An orange and microplane full of orange zest for use in Orange Blueberry Cake

How to Frost and Decorate:

This is a ‘semi naked cake’ meaning the frosting is light on the sides leaving the cake somewhat exposed. To get this look I frost the first layer lightly, adding a little more frosting around the edges. Then I repeat with the second layer. Last I frost the top somewhat generously and use what is left to lightly frost the sides, scraping off extra frosting. When it comes to decorating cakes, I really appreciate simple, simple, simple. For this cake I used kumquats, some halved, some whole, blueberries, and flowers from my garden. But I also love using succulents and hydrangeas (click to see example). I also think tarragon makes a lovely, simple cake topping!

A close up of the toppings on an Orange Blueberry Cake: kumquats, blueberries, and flowers

MAKE THIS CAKE GLUTEN FREE AND JUST AS GOOD!

If you are fine eating gluten, have at it! But if you are one of my gluten free followers, I have two wonderful suggestions to make this cake gluten free but just as good: King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour is fabulous and found in most grocery stores. Jovial Gluten Free Pastry Flour is also wonderful and the grains in this flour are soaked for easy digestion!

A slice of Orange Blueberry Cake on a white plate set next to a cake plate with the rest of the cake

 

The Recipe: Orange Blueberry Cake

Tips and what you need: all ingredients should be room temperature. You will need a microplane to zest the oranges, two 9″ inch non stick cake pans or three 8″ non stick cake tins depending on how many layers you want. You will also need a stand mixer or hand mixer. I love my Kitchen Aid Mixer! When it comes to vanilla I always prefer using vanilla paste. If you want to make this cake gluten free I recommend Jovial Gluten Free Pastry Flour.

Print
Orange Blueberry Cake
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
25 mins
Total Time
45 mins
 

Just a heads up, this Orange Blueberry Cake with Buttercream Frosting is even better the second day!

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Orange Blueberry Cake
Servings: 10 servings
Ingredients
The Cake:
  • 2½  cups  all purpose flour (or your favorite gluten free flour)
  • 3 teaspoons  baking powder
  • 1  teaspoon  sea salt or kosher salt
  • 1 cup butter , room temp (that's 2 sticks) plus 1 tablespoon for preparing pans
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil, or baking oil of your choice
  • 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons  vanilla paste or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 6 eggs room temp
  • 1⅓  cup cultured buttermilk, room temp
  • 1 1/4  cups  fresh blueberries, rinsed, dried and stems removed (plus more for decorating if desired)
  • zest of one large orange (or two small)
The Frosting:
  • 1/2 cup butter, room temp
  • 4-5 cups powdered sugar
  • zest of one small orange
  • tiny pinch of sea salt
  • 4 tablespoons buttermilk
Instructions
The Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place oven rack in center position

  2. To prevent the cake from sticking you can use non stick pans, if your pans are not non stick use paper towel to wipe sides and bottom of pans with soft butter. Dust each pan lightly with flour.

  3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt, set aside

  4. Place butter, coconut oil, sugar and vanilla in mixer and mix until well combined

  5. Add eggs one at a time

  6. Alternate adding flour mixture with buttermilk until well combined, mix for one more minute

  7. Add orange zest and mix until incorporated

  8. Add blueberries and gently mix in by hand

  9. Pour equal amounts of batter into prepared pans, tap pans firmly on counter to take out any bubbles

  10. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean

  11. Allow cakes to cool, gently remove from pans, then frost

For frosting:

  1. Place softened butter, 4 tablespoons buttermilk, orange zest, sea salt and 4 cups powdered sugar into a bowl and mix well. If frosting is not quite thick enough add more powdered sugar (up to a cup, I usually end up using almost 5 cups). If it's too thick add just a little more buttermilk, one tablespoon at a time. When frosting is desired consistency, frost cooled cake

  2. Place one layer on cake plate, frost the top generously. Add more layers, repeat. Then frost the sides sparingly, allowing parts of the cake show through.

  3. Top with your choice of decoration and serve

 

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