Gluten-Free Orange Crunch Cake (dairy-free option)

Gluten-Free Orange Crunch Cake (dairy-free option)

by Sabrina

A few years ago, when my family took a trip to Sanibel Island (Florida), we drove pretty far just to go to a restaurant called the Bubble Room for their famous Orange Crunch Cake. The Bubble Room is a unique, vintage style restaurant that is known for their amazing, huge slices, of homemade cake. There was a large variety of flavors but my absolute favorite was the Orange Crunch Cake. It is composed of orange cake layers, brown sugar almond crunch layers, and frosting (I’m not exactly sure what kind). If you’ve never tried it, it may be hard to imagine… but trust me, it is SO GOOD!! My mom tried making it for my sister’s birthday a few years ago… but it was made from a box. I tried making it from scratch for my birthday last year and it was good but different. Finally I tried making it gluten-free and in my opinion, it tastes the most like the Bubble Room’s compared to all our past, non-gluten-free attempts. If you make this recipe, you can experience the unique taste of Orange Crunch Cake without traveling to Florida and it’s gluten-free! It’s the perfect summer cake, very unique, absolutely delicious, and you just HAVE to try it!

This post contains affiliate links to some of my very favorite ingredients. This way it is easy for you to find the ingredients I used at the best price I’ve found. If you click one and purchase anything from Amazon, I will receive a very small percentage of the sale, to support what I do here. Thank you!

Link to my favorite gluten-free flour blend is here. 

Link to my favorite organic, flavorless coconut oil is here.

The 8 inch cake pans I use are linked here!

The brand of gluten-free graham crackers I used is linked here but I purchased mine from my local Kroger store.

Americolor gel food coloring is here.

Print Pin

Gluten-Free Orange Crunch Cake (dairy-free option)

Course Dessert, Snack
Author Sabrina

Ingredients

Crunch Layer:

  • 1 cup crushed gluten-free graham cracker crumbs
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar firmly packed
  • ½ cup sliced almonds

Cake:

  • The zest from 2 ½ navel oranges grate them well and get as much of the orange skin grated off, but avoid the white part underneath
  • The fresh squeezed juice from 1 navel orange
  • 3 cups (405 grams) Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour spooned and leveled, not scooped
  • 1 tbsp plus ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 ¾ cups sugar
  • 1 cup flavorless liquid oil or melted coconut oil
  • 4 large eggs room temperature if using coconut oil
  • 2 tsps vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk of choice room temperature if using coconut oil

Frosting:

  • 4 ounces cream cheese or vegan cream cheese doesn't have to be room temperature
  • 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) soft unsalted butter or vegan butter
  • ½ tsp fine-grain salt
  • The grated zest from ½ navel orange
  • 4 ½ cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Food coloring (optional) I love Americolor gel food coloring because it is gluten and nut free (linked above recipe card)

Instructions

  • Grease three 8 inch cake pans with oil or butter and line the bottoms of each with a circle of parchment paper. Grate the orange zest into a small bowl, juice the orange, pour the juice over the orange zest, and set aside for later.

Crunch Layer:

  • Crush or blend several GF graham crackers (I left mine pretty chunky) and measure out 1 cup of the crumbs. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and almonds together until well mixed. Evenly distribute the mixture between only 2 of the cake pans and spread it out into a flat, even layer. Set the pans aside.

Cake:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 C). In a large bowl, mix the GF flour, baking powder, and salt together.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl and use a hand mixer), mix the sugar and oil together. Add all the eggs and mix on high for 3-4 minutes or until fluffy and lightened in color. Add roughly half of the dry mixture and mix until combined. Pour in the vanilla and orange juice+zest (get every last bit of zest with a spatula. The zest is the only thing that makes this cake orange flavor) and mix well. Add the rest of the dry mixture and mix until smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Pour in the milk and give the batter one last good mix.
  • Evenly distribute the batter between the cake pans, pouring it on top of all the layers. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (the crunch layers took a little longer than the non-crunch layer). Let the cake layers cool completely at room temperature.

Frosting:

  • Grate the orange zest directly into the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl and use a hand mixer). Add the cream cheese, butter, and salt and whip on high for 3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar little by little and mix until combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Add the vanilla extract and food coloring (optional) and mix on high for about at least 3 minutes.

Assembly:

  • Carefully remove the completely cooled cake layers from their pans. If necessary, trim the domed tops off of the layers using a serrated knife. Place one crunch cake layer, cake-y side down, onto a plate and peel the parchment circle off of the crunch part. Carefully spread a layer of frosting on top. Place the second crunch cake layer on top, cake-y side down, and peel the parchment circle off. Spread a layer of frosting on top. Place the final, non-crunch, cake layer on top placing the domed/trimmed side down. Spread frosting all over the top and sides of the cake. Decorate however you wish. I transferred the remaining frosting to a piping bag, piped some little blobs on one side of the cake, and added some orange slices and sliced almonds on top. Slice, serve, and enjoy!