Orange Buttermilk Bundt Cake (2024)

Author: Maryanne CabreraPublished: Apr 6, 2017Updated: Sep 25, 2023

This moist and flavorful orange buttermilk bundt cake is suitable for breakfast and even better as an afternoon pick-me-up with an iced coffee.

The slightly sweet, slightly bitter orange zest pairs wonderfully with the sour, tangy buttermilk. And when you eat this with a cold brew coffee, it is truly heavenly and magical!

Reasons to Try This Recipe

• This orange buttermilk bundt cake is an easy, straightforward recipe that uses staple kitchen ingredients. You likely have all the ingredients needed!
• Easily adjust and customize this recipe to your liking. Orange zest can be swapped out for lemon zest, lime zest, grapefruit zest, or a combination of different citrus zests.
• Citrus is a great flavor that can be enjoyed year round.

Buttermilk Cake Ingredients

This simple straightforward bundt cake recipe uses kitchen staple ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, butter, and eggs.

The flavor comes from orange zest and buttermilk.

• Orange Zest : Wash and scrub your oranges well to remove any commercial wax. Use a microplane zest or similar grater to extract the flavorful rind of the orange. Any orange variety will do. Or, use your choice of citrus. Lemon, lime, or a combination of lemon-lime-orange are delicious options!
• Buttermilk : Low-fat or reduced-fat buttermilk are most commonly available. Buttermilk has a slightly sweet, tangy flavor. It adds moisture and depth of flavor to baked goods. Make “homemade buttermilk” buy combining one cup cow’s milk with one tablespoon acid (such as vinegar or lemon juice).

How to Prep Bundt Cake Pan for Baking

Use these recommended bundt pan practices to ensure perfectly unmolded bundt cakes. It is important to butter and flour the pan. Yes, even if you use a non-stick bundt pan!

You may use non-stick baking spray for ease. However, I suggest and prefer the classic method listed below:

1. Begin with room temperature, softened butter. Ideally, the butter should have the consistency of mayonnaise.
2. Use your fingers (or gloved fingers) or a pastry brush to coat the bundt pan with a generous layer of butter. Make sure to get into all the cracks and crevices of the pan!
3. Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of flour into the greased pan. Evenly distribute the flour by shaking and tilting the pan. Tap and swirl pan to move flour all over the greased areas.
4. Invert pan. Tap and discard any excess flour. The prepared buttered and floured pan should look like the image above.

This is my favorite bundt cake pan to use.I love its clean shape, but most of all, I love how easy it is to unmold the cake from the pan.

Options for Other Baking Pans

This orange buttermilk cake is baked in a 10-cup capacity bundt pan. It’s the same pan used for banana bundt cake, orange blossom bundt cake, and eggnog bundt cake.

However, there are several options if you don’t have a similar sized pan! This recipe can make:

• Angel food cake tube pan like the one used in this banana crumb cake.
• Two 9×5-inch loaf cakes. Adjust baking time to about 45-50 minutes to bake two loaf pans.
• Two 9-inch square pans. Adjust baking time, about 40 minutes.

More Orange Cake Recipes

• Orange Almond Cake
• Orange Marmalade Cake
• Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake