This Blood Orange Layer Cake has soft vanilla bean cake layers filled with pink blood orange buttercream and covered in tall, skinny homemade sprinkles.
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This is my favorite vanilla cake recipe because it is so moist, even days later. It is adapted from Recipe Tin Eats. The cake is filled with blood orange buttercream. This is an invention all my own. I start with my basic ermine buttercream recipe, which is also called a “boiled milk frosting”, and swap milk for fresh-squeezed blood orange juice.
This cake was inspired by my excitement to finally participate in the bucket list bake club’s January 2023 challenge: sprinkles! The sprinkles are definitely the star of this cake, but the blood orange frosting and vanilla cake don’t fall short. This vanilla cake recipe is also the base for my Blueberry Layer Cake, as well as my Chamomile Strawberry Layer Cake.
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Ingredients
Blood orange lends its flavor and hue to this pink layer cake.
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- eggs
- granulated sugar
- unsalted butter
- whole milk
- vanilla bean paste or extract
- vegetable oil
- blood orange juice
- blood orange zest
- If making sprinkles (not pictured)
- powdered sugar
- corn syrup
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Here’s how to assemble the cake:
Place the first layer on the cake board. Fill with some of the blood orange frosting. Place the second layer of cake on top.
Cover the cake with the remaining frosting.
Place sprinkles around the outside of the cake, vertically.
Continue until the entire outside of the cake is covered.
Good to know: Be mindful of keeping the sprinkles straight up and down as you place them. It is easy to start going sideways, especially if some of your sprinkles are not perfectly straight.
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Substitutions and Variations
Here’s how to customize this cake to your liking:
- Less dairy — swap the butter in the frosting for dairy-free butter. I have not tried swapping the butter in the cake for dairy-free, so I cannot advise it. Let me know if you do end up trying it!
- Smoother frosting — add the zest to the cake instead of the frosting if you don’t want to see it in the frosting.
- Different filling — pipe a ring of the buttercream around the outside of the middle of the cake and then fill it with something else like blood orange curd or a ganache.
- More blood orange in cake — add blood orange zest to the cake and/or swap ¼ cup of the milk for ¼ cup of a blood orange juice reduction
- Cut sprinkles — chop up the sprinkles smaller and gently smash them on the outside of the cake
Do you have any other variation suggestions? Let me know in the comments!
Equipment
I used 8-inch round cake pans with bake-even strips to get perfectly round and flat cake layers.
For piping my homemade sprinkles, I used a small round tip and piping bags.
Storage
Store the cake at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the fridge for 5-6 days.
Top tip
The buttercream’s flour, sugar and juice mixture can be made ahead of time as it needs to cool, but do not combine it with the butter until the day of. It spreads and pipes better fresh.
Lastly, if you make this Blood Orange Layer Cake be sure to leave a comment or give this recipe a rating. I love to see when people make my recipes, so please tag me @youthsweets on Instagram if you post!
📖 Recipe
Blood Orange Layer Cake
Ingredients
Homemade tall sprinkles
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoon corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- orange and pink food coloring
Vanilla bean cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (240g)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300g)
- ½ cup unsalted butter (115g)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 3 teaspoon vegetable oil
Blood orange buttercream
- 10.5 oz granulated sugar (300g)
- 2.25 oz all-purpose flour (65g)
- 12 oz blood orange juice fresh squeezed
- 1 tablespoon blood orange zest
- 12 oz unsalted butter (3 sticks) softened
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Do ahead
- If making your own sprinkles, these need to be made at least 1 day ahead. The sprinkles must dry out overnight before using.
- The flour, sugar and blood orange juice mixture for the buttercream can be made ahead of time as it needs to cool completely before being added to the butter.
Make the sprinkles
- Thoroughly whisk together all of the sprinkle ingredients, minus the food coloring.
- If you want to make different colors, separate the sprinkle batter into separate bowls. Color each bowl with a different food coloring.
- Fill piping bags fitted with small, round piping tips with the different color sprinkle batters.
- Pipe long lines on parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Let dry at room temperature overnight before peeling the sprinkles up.
- If you are trying to keep the sprinkles long, handle very carefully. They will break easily. Cut the sprinkles to your desired size. For this cake, I cut mine to around 7-8 inches.
Make the cake layers
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with a circle of parchment.
- Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Crack eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat the eggs on medium speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly stream the sugar in.
- When the sugar is completely in, turn the speed to high and beat for about 7 minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy.
- Combine the milk and butter in a saucepan and gently heat until completely melted. Do not let it overheat or simmer. Set aside but do not let it cool off too much (do not do this ahead of time).
- Add the flour mixture in three parts to the egg mixture just mixing until almost combined. If you still see flour, finish mixing by hand by folding the batter with a rubber spatula.
- Add vanilla and oil to the milk-butter mixture and whisk to combine.
- Remove two large spoonfuls of batter and add it to the milk-butter mixture and whisk to completely combine. This tempers your milk mixture so that it does not cook your egg mixture.
- Pour the milk mixture into the rest of the egg mixture with the beaters running on low. Continue beating just 10-15 seconds more until combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool completely. Level baked layers with a serrated knife, if necessary.
Make the frosting
- Combine flour and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk and cook for about 2 minutes to toast the flour.
- Slowly add the blood orange juice, whisking to combine, and turn heat to medium-high. Add the blood orange zest. Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking continuously until it is thick and pudding-like. Once simmering, cook for an additional minute.
- Transfer to a heat-proof bowl. Cover with plastic wrap so that it is touching the surface without any air bubbles in between to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. Alternatively, Spread the mixture onto a sheet pan (covered with plastic) and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes to cool it down faster. Ensure the mixture is completely cool, otherwise it will melt the butter.
- Add the room temperature butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on high until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the cooled flour mixture gradually, by the spoonful, while still beating. Incorporating the mixture slowly ensures a smoother consistency.
- Add vanilla and salt, and mix until fully incorporated. Set aside.
Assemble the cake
- Put a small dollop of buttercream on a serving plate or board (this will help the cake stick and not slide around). Place the first layer of cake on top.
- Cover the top of the first layer with a ¼- to ½-inch thick layer of buttercream with an offset spatula.
- Place the second layer of cake on top.
- Cover the cake in the remaining frosting.
- Cover the outside of the cake in the homemade, tall sprinkles vertically, if using.
