Looking to make something tasty with all that citrus? This Winter Citrus Cake is full of flavor, and something everyone will love to eat. 

This Winter Citrus cake is made with almond orange cake, grapefruit curd, navel orange buttercream, and homemade candied blood oranges. 

The candied citrus around the sides of the cake is a combination of blood oranges and navel oranges. What I love most about this candied citrus is how they look like stained glass windows. The second thing is that you can actually eat them and they are freaking delicious. I mean you can totally eat a bag of them no problem. 

Below I’ll show you how to boil them in a sugar mixture and then bake them to dry them out so they are nice and crispy. They are so good and beautiful on the cake. 

Tips for Success: 

• Read through all the ingredients and instructions so you can get a better idea of how much time and what you need to make this cake.
• A single batch of this cake recipe makes three, 6-inch round cake layers or two 8-inch round cake layers. Double the cake recipe to make enough cake batter for three 8-inch cake layers.
• In this cake recipe, you need 1 cup buttermilk; if you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, you can easily use 1 cup whole milk mixed with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar to make your own. 
• To make cake flour at home, mix 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cornstarch. Sift or whisk together to get rid of any lumps. 
• Be careful not to overmix this cake batter, or else the cake will come out dense. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.
• You can bake the cake layers ahead of time. Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap and freeze up to one month. 
• You can make the buttercream and grapefruit curd filling a day ahead and refrigerate them overnight. Then take them out to come back to room temperature. Make sure the buttercream is at room temperature before re-whipping.
• Serve at room temperature and use a hot knife to get clean cake slices! 

What Tools You’ll Need to Make This Cake: 

• 5-quart, Stand Mixer with mixing bowl & paddle attachment
• 3, 6-inch cake pans or 2, 8-inch cake pans
• Offset spatula 
• 8-inch or 10-inch white cake board 
• Serrated knife or cake leveler 
• Turntable 
• Cake scraper or bench scraper
• Whisk or sifter
• Rubber Spatula
• Non-Stick Cooking Spray and Parchment Paper
• Ice Cream Scooper with Trigger Release (for dividing cake batter evenly)
• Piping Bags (I use reusable silicone bags)
• Piping Tip – Ateco Star Tip #844
• Cake Stand, optional

Here’s how to make this insanely delicious Winter Citrus Cake! 

Let’s Get Baking! 

How to Make Candied Citrus

1. Wash the citrus and dry well. Cut the citrus into the thin slices. Use a mandolin to cut consistent ⅛ inch thick slices. 
2. Prepare two baking trays lined with parchment paper and cooling racks. 
3. In a large saucepan, combine water and granulated sugar and mix with a rubber spatula. Cook on medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. 
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and carefully add the citrus slices to the simple syrup mixture. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour to remove the bitter taste. Stir occasionally to coat the citrus slices generously. Note: if you don’t want the blood orange to bleed on the navel oranges then split the simple syrup mixture into two pots and cook the different orange slices in separate pots. 
5. Remove all the citrus slices and allow them to drain on the cooling racks. 
6. Preheat the oven to 170 °F for 3 hours. Place the citrus slices on clean baking trays lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Keep the slices in a single flat layer, don’t overlap. 
7. Cook on low heat for 3 hours to dry out the citrus slices. Halfway through the cooking time, flip the slices over, so the other side dries out. 
8. After 3 hours of drying out, remove the citrus slices, and allow to cool thoroughly. Place the dried citrus into airtight containers until ready to decorate.  

How to Make Light & Fluffy Almond Cake Layers

1. Preheat the oven to 325 °F. Spray three 6-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray and line each pan’s bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a medium-size bowl, whisk and stir together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 
3. In the stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, oil, and sugar on medium-high for 5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium until well incorporated.
5. Turn the mixer on low, add the flour mixture, followed by the buttermilk.  
6. Pour in almond extract and zest. Mix on medium for another 30 seconds then scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
7. Evenly distribute the cake batter among the three cake pans and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
8. Remove cakes from the oven and let cool in pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto cooling racks to cool completely — wrap cakes in plastic wrap and place in the freezer to chill for at least 30 minutes. 

 

How to Make Grapefruit Curd

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Continue whisking over low-medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Add the cold butter cubes pieces at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula until each addition is melted and incorporated. 
3. Continue cooking the mixture for 4-5 minutes until it is thickened and coats the back of a spatula. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside to fully cool. 

Orange (or Citrus) Gel for Buttercream

1. In a small saucepan, whisk together orange juice and cornstarch. Place the pot over medium heat for 2 minutes to bring to a boil, stir with a rubber spatula constantly to prevent it from burning on the bottom. 
2. The orange should be opaque and thick. Once thick, remove from the heat and place into the freezer to cool quickly. 

How to Make Creamy Citrus Buttercream 

1. In the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2. Turn the mixer to low and add the cold orange gel and salt. 
3. Next, gradually add powdered sugar, followed by the heavy cream. Mix on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
4. Before using, turn the mixer on low and mix for 2 minutes to push out any air bubbles or use a rubber spatula to push out the air bubbles. (You may need to repeat this step when frosting the outside of the cake). 

Putting It All Together 

1. Remove the cake layers from the freezer and unwrap the cake layers. Next, use a serrated knife to cut off the cakes’ dome to make the layers flat and even. 
2. Add a small amount of buttercream onto the center of the cake board.
3. Layer a chilled cake, cut side up onto the cake board. Place a thin layer of buttercream on top of the cake then pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge. Add 1/4 cup of grapefruit curd inside the circle of buttercream. 
4. Place another cake layer cut side up over the top. Repeat the process for another layer—Crumb coat and freeze for 30 minutes. 
5. Then add a thicker layer of buttercream and smooth the sides out using an offset spatula and cake scraper. 
6. Add a thicker layer of buttercream to the cold cake. Use an offset spatula and cake scraper to make the sides and the top as smooth as possible. 
7. Start from the bottom of the cake and add the candied citrus all over the candy. 
8. Serve at room temperature and enjoy! 

You May Also Enjoy: 

• Common Baking Mistakes & How to Avoid Them (free training)
• Cake Planning Checklist (freebie)
• How to Decorate Your First Cake (free course)
• Cake Decorating for Beginners (online course) 

This Winter Citrus Cake is insanely good, but it’s also totally Instagram worthy. I’m so excited to see your winter citrus cake creations. Please feel free to email me here at xokatierosario@gmail.com with any questions you may have; I’ll be happy to help! 

Happy Baking! 

P.S. Hey, if you liked this tutorial, you really should check out Cake Decorating for Beginners, my online cake program. I coach you on everything I teach on these cake tutorials so that you can uplevel your baking and decorating skills. We 10x it so you get the results you want most. Like any new skill, it’s important to learn from the ground up to build a foundation so that you can take on any cake challenge. It is an investment your future self will thank you for. Check it out at XOKatieRosario.com/online-cake-course. I will see you there! 

Watch The How-to Video Below: 

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