Ahh – wow. That’s what I literally hear every time I set out this citrus-scented vegan Big Orange Bundt Cake for serving. But we all know the proof is in the tasting! Well, this cake goes to the head of its class. It’s unusal to see a deep vegan cake. If you don’t know why, you can find the reason in my cookbooks Vegan Chocolate and More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally, and certainly in the Rouxbe Essential Vegan Desserts course. As this is a big cake, a pan with a center tube is necessary to ensure that the large amount of batter bakes through. Here a Bundt pan with a hollow center core, similar to an angel food cake pan but with fluted sides, is used. Serve this cake with vegan orange cream, or any other dairy-free cream, or with a simple dusting of organic cane sugar, but do make it and serve it. And for those of you who crave chocolate candies for Easter, how about these Chocolate Orange Sesame Truffles?
Big Orange Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup light natural cane sugar
- 1/4 cup dark whole cane sugar
- 2/3 cup canola oil
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 cup soymilk or rice milk
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- 3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest
Instructions
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Oil a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan thoroughly.
- Place a wire mesh strainer over a medium bowl. Add the pastry flour, white flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, sugar, and dark whole cane sugar to the strainer. Tap the strainer against the palm of your hand to sift the ingredients into the bowl. Stir with a wire whisk to distribute the ingredients.
- Combine the oil, orange juice, soymilk, vinegar, vanilla and orange extracts, and zest in a separate bowl, and whisk until well combined. Pour into the dry mixture and stir with a whisk until the batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared Bundt pan. The pan will be two-thirds full. (If you have more batter than that, perhaps a cup or so, bake it in one or two 1-cup baking ramekins or custard cups.) Smooth the top of the batter with a small spatula. Rotate the Bundt pan to level the batter, and tap it lightly on the counter to eliminate air bubbles.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the cake is golden and springs back near firm at the center when touched lightly. A tester inserted in a few spots near the center of the cake should come out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Place another wire rack on top of the cake and turn the pan upside down. Shake the pan gently to release the cake. Cool the cake completely before serving.
Recipe Notes
Tip: If the cake sticks to the pan when it is inverted on the rack, wet a kitchen towel in very warm water, wring it out, and place it over the inverted pan for few minutes. Shake the pan gently and the cake should release. Recipe from More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally, © 2006 by Fran Costigan. Photo by Linda Long
This sounds so good. I can’t get the recipe to print. When I press print the page opens up to a blank page.
Sandy I’ll let my web developer lknow. Thank you for the feedback. Sorry for inconvenience.
Sandy, it worked for me and for my web developer on all browsers. Here’s what she said: “I have tested the yummly print button in Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Android and the pdf opens normal and readable in its own window. A second window opens up which is the print window from a computer. If the second window is blank it is a local computer problem of the visitor.” Let me know how it goes.
Hi
Which whole wheat pastry flour do you use?
Same about light and dark cane sugat
Thanks
Hi Ashita
Any whole wheat pastry flour and AP flour will work. I use Bobs Red Mill most often and buy from
Bulk bins too. My go to sweeteners are from Wholesome Sweets but again, there is plenty of choice. I hope this helps.
Thank you so much
You are most welcome. Enjoy!
I’ve seen before you can use a 9X13″ pan, if so, how long to bake?
This is a phenomenal recipe, by the way.
I’m glad you like the recipe Maria. I’m assuming you made it as a bundt. There is no one answer to your question.
6 to 7 cups batter is what you will see on charts for a 9×13 inch pan so this recipe should convert. When I make 9×13 inch version of my Chocolate Torte to Live (Double recipe), I have 5-51/2 cups batter and 5 1/2 cups is too much. Make the recipe, measure the batter, and fill the prepared pan not more than scant half full. If you have leftover batter, bake off a small cake or some cupcakes or ramekins. As to baking time, a thinner layer will take less time. Since n every oven is different and I have not used this for a 9x13inch pan, I can’t tell you definitely, but I’d check at 25 minutes. Let us know how it goes!
This is an amazingly simple but delicious vegan cake. I first made this for my birthday a few months ago and am making it again today for a family member. I omitted the orange zest as I had none (and put in about 1/2 tsp additional orange extract to compensate), and used vegan light granulated cane sugar for the entire amount. Everyone loved it. Thank you for sharing this.
Hi SJ,
I am so delighted to hear that you made the Big Orange Bundt Cake for your birthday– happy belated! And that you are making it again for a family member. I too have used all organic cane sugar _ it works very well. Good thinking on the extract for zest.
Do you have photos to share?
All best
Fran
This was a delicious cake, great orange flavor. In place of orange juice, I blended whole organic oranges to have 1 cup of “smoothie”.
I am wondering if this recipe will work for a 9 inch round layer cake?
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I love the idea of blending a whole orange to make the cake. This surely takes care of zesting.
The batter can be used to make two 8 or 9inch layers. It’s a good idea to get in the habit of measuring your batter so that you can go from one pan size to another.
Happy holidays.
Fran
Hello Fran,
First time commenter, long time follower! I sing the praises of Vegan Chocolate to whoever will care to listen! The chocolate cake to live for is our default family cake. Thanks!
My family is a big fan of pistachios. If I were to replace the almonds with pistachios, any thoughts on what I could replace the orange juice with? I’m thinking coconut yogurt to replace the acid of the orange juice, but would love to know your thoughts. I’m also thinking of adding cardamom, saffron, and rosewater to give it an Indian flavor since I’ll be making it for Diwali. Would love your thoughts and any other suggestions! Nidhi
OH Nidhi
Please accept my apology for the very delayed reply. I’m not sure what happened that had me miss seeing it until now. And you wanted an answer for Diwali.
Thank you for your support of Vegan Chocolate. That cake- it’s my default too.
Now, the question you are asking is really a rewrite of a recipe. Changing that many ingredients really does mean creating a new recipe. For the most part, switchin out nuts is not a problem and your flavoring idea are very nice. I have not made the cake wit coconut yogurt so I can’t say. I don’t think at first glance I’d do that. What I would do is divide the recipe by 4 and dry.
Please let me know if you do.
All best
Fran