This delicious Orange Cake recipe made in a bundt or tube pan is a traditional, classic Portuguese cake known as Bolo de Laranja.

sliced orange cake

I hosted a Portuguese dinner party several years ago, and I used David Leite’s The New Portuguese Table cookbook for most of my recipes. This Orange Cake was one of them. The whole dinner was fabulous, but this Orange Cake (Bolo de Laranja) was the star. Everyone loved it and asked for more.

ingredients displayed for making orange cake

Ingredients needed:

oranges
all purpose flour
baking powder
kosher salt
eggs
white sugar
extra virgin olive oil
powdered sugar

four photos showing how to make orange cake

How to make

The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven, remove any racks above, and crank up the heat to 350°F. Coat a 12-cup bundt or tube pan with baking spray and set aside.

Finely grate the zest of 3 of the oranges, then squeeze 4 of them. You should have 1½ cups of juice; if not, squeeze the 5th orange, then set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a handheld mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs on medium-high speed until well-combined, about 1 minute. Slowly pour in the granulated sugar and continue beating until thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. On low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and oil, starting and ending with the flour, and beat until just a few wisps of flour remain. Pour in the orange juice and zest and whirl for a few seconds to bring the batter together. Pour the batter into the prepared pan

orange bundt cake dusted with powdered sugar

Bake until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, about 1¼ hours. If the top is browning too much as the cake bakes, cover lightly with foil. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes.

Turn the cake out onto the rack and cool completely, then place it in a covered cake stand and let it sit overnight. Just before serving, dust cake with powdered sugar.

slicing orange cake from bundt

You can see from the photos that this cake has a tender crumb. It’s a little more dense than a layer cake- more like a bundt cake/pound cake consistency. The orange flavor comes through nicely. It’s so good!

orange bundt cake cut into slices

The oil used in this recipe is olive oil, which isn’t typical for a cake recipe. Many have asked if the olive oil lends a weird flavor to the cake. The answer is “no.” Use a lighter flavored olive oil when you make this cake. If you use an olive oil with big, bold, earthy flavors then you might pick up those “weird” flavors.

My Mom’s side of the family is Portuguese, but we had never tried this Orange Cake (Bolo de Laranja). Now it’s one of my favorites to make and serve as a dessert for company. I hope you’ll try it too. Enjoy!

orange cake cut into slices

The best bundt cake recipes:

4.75 from 4 votes

Orange Cake (Bolo de Laranja)

By Lori Lange

From David Leite's Portuguese Table cookbook comes this wonderful recipe for Orange Cake, otherwise known as Bolo de Laranja.

Prep: 25

Cook: 1 15

Total: 1 40

Servings: 12 servings

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Ingredients

▢ nonstick baking spray with flour
▢ 4 to 5 large naval oranges
▢ 3½ cups all-purpose flour
▢ 1½ teaspoons baking powder
▢ 1¾ teaspoons kosher salt
▢ 5 large eggs
▢ 3 cups granulated white sugar
▢ 1½ cups mild extra-virgin olive oil
▢ powdered sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

Position a rack in the middle of the oven, remove any racks above, and preheat to 350°F. Coat a 12-cup bundt or tube pan with baking spray and set aside.
Finely grate the zest of 3 of the oranges, then squeeze 4 of them. You should have 1½ cups of juice; if not, squeeze the 5th orange, then set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a handheld mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs on medium-high speed until well-combined, about 1 minute. Slowly pour in the granulated sugar and continue beating until thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. On low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and oil, starting and ending with the flour, and beat until just a few wisps of flour remain. Pour in the orange juice and zest and whirl for a few seconds to bring the batter together.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, about 1¼ hours. If the top is browning too much as the cake bakes, cover lightly with foil. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes.
Turn the cake out onto the rack and cool completely, then place it in a covered cake stand and let it sit overnight. Just before serving, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Notes

Make sure to use a lightly-colored bundt pan. A dark one will turn out a cake that sticks and is unpleasantly brown.
Since this cake only gets better with age, don't even think about taking a bite until the day after you make it, or even the day after that.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 625kcal, Carbohydrates: 86g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 30g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 21g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 78mg, Sodium: 423mg, Potassium: 180mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 56g, Vitamin A: 251IU, Vitamin C: 33mg, Calcium: 72mg, Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

slice of orange cake

4.75 from 4 votes (2 ratings without comment)

15 Comments

Ginette Dinis says:

March 13, 2025 at 9:26 AM

I have made this cake twice and my husband who was born in Terceira, Acores loves it very much and it’s our favourite recipe. Thank you.

Nicole says:

December 7, 2023 at 3:38 PM

If I don’t have mild olive oil could I use melted coconut oil?

1. Lori Lange says:
  
  December 8, 2023 at 11:15 AM
  
  I have not tried it using coconut oil, so not sure!
Samantha says:

July 13, 2022 at 4:56 AM

Thank you! What is the size of the bundt pan that you used? If I had to use a 10×4 inches plum cake form, what would be the proportions?

1. Lori Lange says:
  
  July 15, 2022 at 4:34 AM
  
  12 cup bundt. I’m not familiar with the pan you mentioned, so I’m not sure.
Anjo-de-Mel says:

July 12, 2022 at 5:20 AM

Wow! First time I’m writing! I’m Portuguese (born in the USA) and I had to write some words about this cake 🙂 I’ve cooked some orange cakes and yes, it’s quite typical here in Portugal 🙂 Thanks for mentioning Portugal 🙂

Mari says:

September 7, 2020 at 5:05 PM

Oh wow! Just made this. It’s lovely.

Jen says:

January 22, 2015 at 4:12 PM

Made this and my house smelled heavenly! I cut the sugar to 2.5 c and the oil to 1.25 c. 🙂

1. Lori Lange says:
  
  January 22, 2015 at 7:28 PM
  
  great to know that works- thanks!
Beachside Baker says:

January 7, 2015 at 8:25 AM

I have never tasted a cake made with olive oil. How does the olive oil come through?

1. Lori Lange says:
  
  January 7, 2015 at 10:03 AM
  
  works great- I’ve used it in a lot of cakes! You won’t taste any funky flavors (unless you are using a very strong-flavored olive oil).
Barb says:

June 2, 2012 at 5:52 PM

The cake was great. Made the mojito marinated chicken
and this orange pound cake. My husband said they were
both keepers. Love the recipe box and zip list!

1. Lori Lange says:
  
  June 3, 2012 at 4:11 PM
  
  Glad to hear your feedback- thank you! We love this cake too!
Mary Ann says:

September 24, 2009 at 6:29 AM

I am going to have to try this version of the orange cake. The version my sister taught me to make has slightly less ingredients, but soo delicious.
I love your entire menu. What a fun party!

1. Lee says:
  
  May 17, 2010 at 11:21 AM
  
  @Mary Ann,
  
  My husband’s mother’s housekeeper used to make this for him all the time in Portugal. It was his favorite. Unfortunately everyone has passed that knew the recipe. Any chance you could share your sister’s recipe? Thank you.