Come celebrate the season with my Orange Spice Winter Solstice Cake, a beautiful mix of cozy and warm flavors with a little bit of sunshine too. This orange spice cake is a perfect blend of the seasons in one bite. The sturdy but soft cake is topped with a cream cheese frosting that adds a touch of sweetness to the magical flavors and the magical season. Save this recipe now so you can always find it.
Happy Winter Solstice, friends. I have been waiting for this day since Autumn equinox. The darkest days of the year are always the biggest struggle for me. Living in the northern half of the United States, and then even the northern half of the northern half, we see a big difference in light from season to season. This time of year I always crave it and it impacts my mood and motivation – greatly. I always look forward to the light slowly creeping back into my day and I enjoy celebrating that with treats like my Orange Spice Winter Solstice cake.
My orange spice cake is a blend of the fall seasonal spices and the winter citrus flavors that are at their peak right now. It makes it a beautiful way to celebrate Winter Solstice.
What is Winter Solstice?
If you are not familiar with Winter Solstice, it is the shortest, darkest day of the year in each hemisphere. Here in the US, the Winter Solstice occurs in December while in the Southern Hemisphere it occurs in June. (Gosh that would really mess with my mind if I ever moved to the Southern Hemisphere.) The sun is now at its lowest point in the sky for us, which results in the short, dark days. After the Winter Solstice the days begin to lengthen again as the sun returns and many cultures throughout all of human history celebrated the sun returning with festivals, rituals and ideas of rebirth and hope.
How to make my Orange Spice Winter Solstice Cake
My orange spice cake is something that can really be used all throughout the winter months while citrus is in season. The first step in making it is to sift or whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and the warm spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. Then you want to cream together the butter and the sugars. My Winter Solstice Cake combines granulated sugar and brown sugar to give the cake a warmer taste profile and then eggs, fresh orange juice, orange zest, whole milk, sour cream, vanilla extract and orange extract are mixed in.
The difference in flour
My recipe for my Orange Spice Winter Solstice Cake uses 3 cups of cake flour in the recipe. Cake flour produces a softer cake with a more delicate structure. I find the cakes made with cake flour to be more moist as well. However, you can use 2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour and then 1/4 cup of corn starch. This will produce a sturdier cake. I tend to think this makes for a bit of a drier cake but some people prefer their bundt cakes to be a little crumbier in structure.
The cream cheese frosting
The cream cheese frosting is a spoof of the Nothing but Bundt Cakes frosting. If you live in the US then you probably have heard of that store. It combines cream cheese, butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract and heavy cream to give you a smooth, rich frosting that goes perfectly with the bright orange flavor of the cake. I piped this cake simply by just snipping off the end of a piping bag. However, you can use a tip if you want to and get fancy.
Greasing and flouring the cake pan
With bundt cakes, greasing and flouring the cake pan is important, even if you have a non-stick pan. To do this, you want to use Crisco or vegetable shortening. Rub it in all the crevices of the cake. Then you want to take about 1/4 cup of flour and dust the pan with it, again making sure to get it into all the crevices of the cake so the orange spice cake comes out nicely. Some people will use butter to grease the pan and then flour it but vegetable shortening or Crisco will work the best.
Garnishes for the cake
I like to garnish the cake with more orange zest and dried oranges. You can find my instructions for how to dry oranges {HERE}. These will not be edible but they will make the cake look beautiful. I also like to have some greenery in there so I circles the bottom of my cake (which will puff a bit) with fresh rosemary and fresh thyme.
Saving the orange spice cake
To save your orange spice winter solstice cake, let it cool completely (Maybe 2 hours) and place it in an air tight contain on the counter. If you have cut into it, I would also wrap that end of the cake with plastic wrap. Putting it in the refrigerator sometimes ads to the drying out of the cake but you can try that if you prefer.
Looking for more winter desserts?
If you love a beautiful, rich dessert when the nights are long, try these recipes too.
- Italian Ricotta Cookies {HERE}
- One Bowl Chocolate Cake {HERE}
- Gingerbread House Cake {HERE}
- Homemade French Silk Pie {HERE}
- Blackberry Slab Pie recipe {HERE}
- Maple baked Pears with Candied Pecans {HERE}
- Cranberry Upside Down Cake {HERE}
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Thank you so much for stopping by, friends. I hope you come back again. You can find the full instructions for my Orange Spice Winter Solstice Cake recipe below. Happy eating.
Equipment
- Stand or hand mixer
- Bundt cake pan
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Orange Spice Winter Solstice Cake
- 3 cups cake flour See note 1
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup) At room temperature
- 4 eggs At room temperature
- zest of 1 naval orange
- 1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice From an orange and not an orange juice bottle.
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup full fat sour cream You can also use full fat Greek Yogurt.
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 - 1/4 tsp orange extract If you want a lighter ornage flavor use 1/8 vs the 1/4 tsp.
- Crisco/vegetable shortening and 1/4 cup flour for dusting the pan. Alternatively you can grease it with butter and then flour it.
- Garnish options: Zested orange, dried orange slices, rosemary and thyme.
Ingredients for the frosting
- 6 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 4 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then sift or whisk together the cake flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. If you are instead using all purpose flour and cornstarch per my note below then also add the cornstarch to this mix.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (whisk attachment) or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Then add the eggs one by one and mix until it is well combined.
- Next add in the orange zest, orange juice, whole milk, sour cream, vanilla extract and orange extract. Mix until everything is well combined.
- Little by little add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Scrape dow the bowl as necessary to make sure you are getting everything combined well.
- Use the Crisco/vegetable shortening, grease the bundt pan. Make sure to get into all the crevices, including the center column. Then dust the pan with the 1/4 cup flour and make sure ir spreads over the whole pan.
- Pour the cake batter into the pan and then place the pan on the middle oven rack for 40-50 minutes. Check it at 40 first with a toothpick or bamboo skewer. At 50 minutes if the toothpick is still coming out a littel too moist give it another 2-3 minutes. Ideally you want a few moist crumbs to stick to the toothpick but there should be no wet better.
- When the cake is done, place it on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. Then carefully place a plate over the top of the cake and invert it. If you have any of it clinging to the sides of the pan, try to slide a thin knife around the edges. As long as you greased and dusted the pan it should release nicely. Let the cake cool for another 30 minutes.
- While the cake finishes cooling, make the frosting by combining the cream cheese, butter and confectioners sugar with a hand mixer. Then add in the heavy cream and the vanilla extract and mix again until the frosting is smooth.
- Frost the cake after its one hour cooling time. Then garnish as you desire and serve.
Notes
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