Easy Clementine Cake Recipe (with Step by Step Pictures) (2024)

Boy oh boy am I excited to share this Clementine Cake recipe! The beauty of this recipe is that it uses whole clementines - peel, pith, and seeds. The end result is a deliciously sweet cake that boasts tons of clementine flavor through and through. SO good!

Of all our dessert recipes, we borrowed inspiration from our own Orange Loaf Cake and Moist Lemon Loaf for this one. Don’t fix it if ain’t broke, right?

🏅 Why this recipe is great

• Tons of flavor since it uses the whole fruit. It's like using clementine zest on steroids.
• The cake isn’t bitter from the peel because we use a secret tip - microwave them first!No boiling, no soaking in cold water, no hassel.
• Super soft, tender, and moist cake.
• Made completely in the food processor, which means limited dishes and clean up.
• Ready to bake in under 20 minutes. Simple!
• No ground almonds, almond flour or candied fruit (just not our thing…)
• Stores well and actually gets better with time!
• You can really feel like you're a part of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 😉

❓ What are clementines?

Clementines are the smallest variety of mandarin oranges and have a very smooth, thin peel and juicy flesh. They have a vibrant orange color and are often seedless.

Clementines are similar to tangerines, but are smaller and have a thinner peel - perfect for this recipe! In the store, clementines are also called Cuties or Sweeties.

🍊Cake ingredients

🍊 Glaze ingredients

• Butter: Just a tiny bit of butter cuts the sugary taste of a basic icing. Make sure it is super soft.
• Powdered sugar: Just like flour, measure icing sugar with a light hand to avoid packing in too much.
• Heavy cream: I find that cream is best, but you could use half-n-half if needed. You may need slightly less in that case.
• Clementine juice: This adds that pop of clementine flavor.
• Vanilla: This is my favorite way to round out the flavor of a glaze.

🔑 Secret to making clementine cake not bitter

Many a clementine cake recipe calls for you to boil the clementines to soften them and remove the bitter taste in the peel, sometimes even having you switch out the boiling water once or twice during cooking.

Uhhh, no way! That is too much work. Instead we microwave our clementines in a covered bowl for 3 minutes until they’re softened slightly and all sweet. Works like a charm!

🔪 How to make clementine cake

The first step is to microwave the clementines in a covered, microwave-safe bowl for 3 minutes. They will sizzle and pop a lot. This is the key to keeping the cake from being bitter.

While the clementines cool slightly, preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9-inch circle cake pan (affiliate) or springform pan with a layer of parchment paper on the bottom and non-stick baking spray (affiliate). Make sure your spray has flour as an ingredient.

In a 10 cup food processor (affiliate), zoom the microwaved clementines for 1 minute until the clementine puree is as smooth as possible.

Now we'll start adding wet ingredients. Add the oil and yogurt and zoom for 1 more minute. Scrape the bowl of your food processor.

Add the sugar and pulse for 10 seconds. Scrape again.

Add eggs and vanilla. Pulse for another 10 seconds. Scrape again.

Add the dry ingredients. Pulse until just combined. Scrape one final time.

The final cake batter should be smooth, slightly thick, and deliciously fragrant.

Allow the baked cake to cool for 10 minutes. Then use a skewer to poke holes about ⅔ way through the cake.

Slowly pour the syrup across the cake, allowing it to evenly soak in. Cool completely in pan.

🍰 How to make clementine glaze

Combine the glaze ingredients in a bowl.It should be thick and creamy.

Invert the cooled cake on a serving plate or wire rack, then pour the glaze on top of the cake, gently pushing it to the edges with an offset spatula.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 For a crowd

This cake yields 8-10 slices. If you’re serving a larger crowd, you can make multiple batches. However, I recommend only one batch at a time in a standard 10-cup food processor.

🙋 Questions and answers

👨🏼‍🍳 Tips & tricks

• To avoid a tough cake, be very careful not to overmix once you add the flour.
• Pour the syrup over the cake very slowly to help it soak in evenly.
• If you plan on decorating the cake with clementine slices, add them right before serving. The juices will leak and ruin the icing eventually.

📖 Other great recipes

• Creamy Lemon Pie
• Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
• Blackberry Cheesecake
• Easy Raspberry Glaze
• Frozen Lemonade Recipe
• Triple Berry Sauce or Dessert Filling