Submitted by nicole on Tue, 03/15/2016 - 05:49

This orange bundt cake is absolutely magical! It's full of so much fresh orange flavor, so moist, and so delicious, that you'll never look for another orange cake recipe again.

Orange bundt cake surrounded by oranges, orange tree branches, and orange blossoms.

Have you even printed out a recipe, held on to it for years, and yet never got around to making it, and then wondered what in heaven's name you'd been waiting for all that time? Yeah, that's exactly what this Orange Bundt Cake recipe is.

I printed out the recipe from a ChowHound recipes message board years ago. Back when ChowHound was usable, and had boards that I could find. I remember that people in the thread just raved about the recipe. I remember that it was called Grandmamma's Orange Cake. I do not know whose grandmamma's recipe this is. If anyone knows, please let me know so I can give proper credit and accolades, because it really is as magnificent as all the reviews claimed.

UPDATE: Meredith, the person who originally posted her Grandmamama's orange bundt cake recipe on ChowHound, found this post and contacted me! I'm delighted to share with you that the recipe came from her beloved grandmother, Lucy. Meredith says, "She was was absolutely extraordinary and thank you so much for posting her recipe and the beautiful photos. Below is her obit; I think you will like it. She was one of a kind, and an amazing cook. She did some many desserts and dishes so well, but the Orange Cake was, I think, her very favorite. Where she got the original recipe, I do not know, but she constantly tinkered with recipes, so there is no telling what her version is like compared to whatever the original was!"

Fresh oranges and a lemon on a wooden cutting board.

We have an orange and a lemon tree in our yard, so I'm always looking for new ways to use our backyard bounty. This cake is so good that it's almost criminal that I haven't made it until now.

Ingredients for the BEST orange bundt cake on a wooden cutting board.

Grandmama's Amazing Orange Bundt Cake Recipe:

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 eggs, divided into yolks and whites
1 cup sour cream
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of one orange

Cream butter and sugar together, then add egg yolks, sour cream, and orange zest, and beat until fluffy.

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the mixture and mix until just combined.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff, and then fold them into the batter.

Place combined batter in a well greased or nonstick bundt pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for one hour.

Freshly squeezed orange juice in a pyrex measuring cup.

In the meantime, make the warm orange sauce that gets poured over the the cake, and soaks in such wonderful citrus flavor.

Hot Orange Sauce for Grandmama's Orange Bundt Cake:

1 cup of orange juice
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

I needed four of my kind of dinky oranges to make a cup of juice, but my lemons are HUGE, so one lemon made way more juice than 2 Tablespoons (the original recipe estimated 2T, or the juice of one lemon).

Combine all the ingredients in a small sauce pan, and bring to a boil for 3-4 minutes.

When the cake comes out of the oven, let it sit in the pan for 15 minutes. Poke the bottom of the cake with a wooden skewer, and pour about 1/4 of the hot orange sauce on the bottom of the cake while it's still in the pan.

After 15 minutes, turn the orange cake out on a plate, and poke the top side of the cake with the wooden skewer. Don't be shy--make lots and lots of holes. Pour the remaining orange sauce slowly over the top of the cake. Some will pool on the cake plate, but if you go slowly and have made plenty of perforations, most of it will soak into the cake.

Orange bundt cake with orange glaze on a clear cake stand, surrounded by fresh oranges on the branch.

See? Not too much of that magnificent orange sauce lost on the cake plate.

Slice of orange bundt cake topped with fresh orange blossoms.

The cake is delicious still warm out of the oven, but if possible, it's even better the next day. And because of that fabulous orange sauce soak, the cake stays incredibly moist for days and days.

If you love citrus desserts like this cake, try making clementine polenta cake, too!

Amazingly flavorful orange bundt cake slice on a white plate surrounded by oranges, orange tree branches, and orange blossoms.

Good luck keeping it around for that long, though. I'm definitely going to have to make this again for Easter dessert. What an absolutely perfect spring cake!