I love the bright taste of citrus in desserts and I can still remember the first time I had a piece of this cake. I don’t know the origins of this recipe but my friend Ray, who is an excellent cook and baker made it and shared the recipe with me. I was in love at first bite, so much so, it has become a tradition of mine to make this cake every year around Christmas, when oranges and lemons are in season and at their peak freshness. Although, you don’t have to wait until Christmas to make this cake, as you can find lemons oranges all year round.
Recently, my neighbor brought me some Meyer lemons, grapefruits and oranges from a nearby property he manages here in Palm Springs, which inspired me to make this cake…one of the perks of living in Southern California!
This cake is part bundt, part fruit cake, bursting with citrus flavor and bedazzled with a medley of other textural flavors including orange rind, raisins and walnuts. It’s definitely a flavor/texture sensation!
It’s easy to make and you don’t need a fancy bundt pan like I have used either, however, this molded pan adds another level of drama to this already amazing-tasting cake. Serve it with fresh vanilla whipped cream.
I hope you love it as much as I do!
Thank you Ray for this wonderful recipe!





Ingredients
- Cake
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp of salt
- 1 1/2 oranges quartered, cut in half and seeds removed
- 1 1/2 cups raisins (I combine dark and golden raisins)
- 3/4 cup walnut pieces lightly toasted
- 12 tbs unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks) at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups of sugar
- 1 tbs lemon zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
Glaze
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 5 tbs sugar
Directions
- Adjust oven rack to the center position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10″ bundt pan with butter or vegetable oil.
- In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and set aside.
- In a food processor pulse oranges and raisins about 30-40 times until roughly chopped. Scrape off sides of bowl and add nuts to the mix and pulse 6 more times. Mixture should be a slightly chunky salsa consistency but not pureed.
- In a mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and shiny. Gradually add sugar, lemon zest, vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy, stopping once or twice to scrape bowl with a rubber spatula. Add eggs one at a time, beating about 1 minute after each addition, stopping each time to scrape the bowl.
- Fold in orange mixture with a rubber spatula until blended. Batter will appear curdled.
- Fold in flour mixture in thirds, alternating with buttermilk. as follows: one-third of the dry ingredients, half the buttermilk , one-third dry ingredients remaining half of buttermilk and ending with the rest of of dry ingredients. You can continue using a rubber spatula or a paddle attachment on low speed until just blended. Do not over mix.
- Pour batter in prepared pan and bake cake in the center of the oven for about about 60-70 minutes or until cake is golden brown and or a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center emerges clean.
- Cool that cake in the pan on a wire rack for about 30-45 minutes.
- For the orange glaze, in a small bowl whisk together both juices and sugar until blended.
- Remove cake from pan by running the tip of a small knife around the sides and invert onto a serving plate.
- With a fork, or toothpick, poke holes all over surface of cake and with a pastry brush glaze all over the surface until cake has absorbed all the glaze. Glaze can also be poured onto cake and spooned on cake when served.
- Serve cake with fresh whipped vanilla cream.