♥ Mandarin Orange Cake ♥
You know how its a good thing children are so cute at times because it keeps you from killing them in their developing years? There are times when a parent needs a little insurance as well, especially during those teen years, where it wouldn’t hurt us to endear ourselves a little more from time to time to our spawn. If you happen to have a teenager casting heated glances your way, perhaps you should make this cake as your own life insurance policy. 
Who knows, they just might decide you’re cool again!
This has always been my favorite cake, although I don’t remember Mama actually making it any time other than our yearly family reunion. She would make it three days before, set it at eye level in the fridge (not sure if that was intentional or not), and keep it there, untouched, until the reunion day. It was pure torture.
On the day of the reunion, her father would hook a huge flatbed trailer up to his tractor and pull it up alongside their farmhouse. The ladies would then appear with an assortment of tablecloths and sheets to cover the wagon before everyone started placing their dishes upon our makeshift table. I would watch for two things : my mom’s Mandarin Orange Cake and whichever little old lady had deviled eggs with red stuff (paprika) sprinkled on top.
My mother made this cake for our family reunion this year, which was actually canceled due to rain. She lives over half an hour from me, but knowing this was sitting in her fridge was just as torturous as it was when I lived at home.
The photos are a little dark. I hope you’ll pardon that in lieu of the wonderful idea of it all!
The cast of characters for the cake: Yellow Cake Mix, 11 oz Can Mandarin Oranges, 4 Eggs, 1/2 C oil(Don’t worry, recipe at bottom of page).
Dice mandarin oranges, save the juice because all of that goes in with them.
Divide batter evenly among the three prepared pans.
TIME TO MAKE FROSTING!
THE BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST PART!!!!
(I really like this frosting!)
You CAN use sugar free pudding and lite or fat free cool whip here! Don’t drain your pineapple!
Mix pudding mix and pineapple together until well blended.
Fold in Cool Whip.
(We did this tutorial earlier in our food blogging careers and that’s why it is not as thorough with the photographs as they usually are.)
Place first layer on plate, top with icing and then place other layer on top, repeat until you have all layers on.
(Go ahead and eat some of the icing, we’ll skimp later so you have enough).
Continue until your entire cake is iced!
Put it in the fridge, at eye level of the smallest people in your house, just to make the torture complete. For the next three days remind them its in there with little statements like
“Don’t you mess with my cake! Thats for the reunion!” each and every time they open the fridge, just to make sure they don’t forget.
This my all time, bar none, without question, most favorite summer cake!
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 1 box Yellow Cake Mix
- 1 (11 oz) can Mandarin oranges diced, undrained
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup oil
- Frosting:
- 1 sm. (3.4 ounce) Box instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 (13 oz) cool whip
- 1 -8 ounce Can crushed pineapple, undrained
Instructions
- Mix all cake ingredients together well. Pour into 3 greased and floured round cake pans*. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.
- For frosting, mix pudding mix and pineapple together with spoon. Fold in cool whip until well blended. Frost cake. Keep refrigerated. Best if made 2 or 3 days ahead and refrigerated before serving.
- *Note: I usually make mine in a 9x13 pan just to save the trouble of fooling with the layers. I'm just lazy that way :)
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Aug 19 2008. Filed under Cake, Dessert.
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Made this for a family reunion this weekend. Used Sugar free cake mix, sugar free pudding mix, pineapple in its own juice and oranges with splenda.
Everyone LOVED it!!!!!
Yummy!!! Glad it was a hit!!
Thanks Dawn, for this idea. I love this cake and the diabetics in my family will love a dessert they can feel good about eating.
I tried this cake at one of my friend’s place and I fell in love with it. I decided to do the adventure and wanted to bake this cake for my son’s birthday party. The challenge was I never bake anything before (Not even single cookie) I was bit nervous the whole week before I was baking it for the party.
Then I searched the same recipe online and I found this site. I was so confident with pictures of each steps and will all users comments made who followed the recipe. I finally then baked it by strict instruction provided her. The Cake turned out awesome!
I baked 2 cakes (both 3 layers) and both turned extremely well. The only minor glitch I saw was my second cake did not rise as well as the first one and did not have the fluffiness as the first one had. BUT over all I covered those things with wonderful toppings. I had frosted the cake and decorated well with colorful fruits toppings.
MY all guest loved the cake and I am still getting kudos from hem thanks for the nice detail recipe. I I will never forget this !!!
Awesome cake! Very easy and it disappeared VERY fast!
I have been making this cake for a long time and everyone loves it. The only difference is we called it a pig pickin cake. Sometimes I will add coconut, cherries, and chopped pecans.
I LOVED IT!!!! very easy to make…
[...] Mandarin Orange Cake (Cookbook p.14) [...]
I love this cake! So yummy. I actually don’t bother to chop up the oranges beforehand, though – they are so soft that simply mixing them right in the batter and blending works fine.
I’ve made this cake many times and everyone loves it. The only thing I do differently is when the cake is cooling I use a wooden spoon handle and put a few holes midway into the cake and put pinapple juice in. The cake then has the orange/pineapple taste.
Oh Yummy! Great idea Carol!!!
“Put it in the fridge, at eye level of the smallest people in your house, just to make the torture complete.”
I was laughing so hard at that someone came in to make sure I was alright, lol.
Have made this cake more times than I can count. We call it Pig Lickin Cake, people that have never eaten it have asked why, Pig Lickin, I tell them after they have tasted it they will know why, they always do too! I, like you, bake in a 9×13 pan sprayed with a little cooking spray. I don’t cut up the mandarin oranges, just beat up with the mixer. Also use French Vanilla Instant Pudding, just a little richer taste. The deliciousness of the cake is also attributed to all the oil in the cake that keeps it so moist and stays that way for several days. It is so refreshingly good!
How long do you bake the cake if using a 9 x 13 pan?
It takes about the same amount of time, maybe 5 minutes more. You can use the toothpick test to check it. I hope you enjoy the cake, it is one of my favorites!!
[...] THAT got me excited! So the next day I posted Mama’s mandarin orange cake. They featured THAT on their homepage, too! The third day (I was on a roll) I posted how to make [...]
You dice your mandarin oranges? I have been making this cake since I got it from a much older co-worker about 25 years ago (even won a desert contest with it during my husband’s company picnic-he put a LOT of pressure on me telling everyone that I would be the winner). I never have bothered cutting up the oranges. They break apart in the mixer.
This put me in the mood to make this cake. It is already too hot here in Texas, and this is the best cake for the summer.
cannot wait to make this!!
I hope you enjoy it Susan!!
I’m going to be making this cake today and I came across this site while looking for different cool whip frosting recipes. I made this with a friend 4 years ago for a surprise birthday party and I fell in love with it. I haven’t had it since then and I can’t wait to make it now. My friend calls it the Pig Eating Cake and I know exactly why, it’s just so yummy. I called her the other day to find out how to make this cake. She drains the oranges and just mixes them up with the cake batter, tearing them up then. She only puts drained crushed pineapple and chopped pecans in the cool whip to make the frosting. I don’t like the texture myself, so I’m doing pudding mixed with cool whip. I’m going to reserve the orange juice and use it in place of the water for the cake, like your recipe calls for.
I made this last night and it came out great and so far everyone that has tried it, loves it. I was wondering though, why does your recipe call for 4 eggs instead of 3 like the cake box says? What kind of differnce does this make in the outcome of the cake? I was wrong in my last comment, my friend’s recipe calls for a small box of dry pudding for the frosting along witht the pineapple and pecans.
Love your recipes…just thought you might like to try my take on the Mandarin Orange Cake.
Million Dollar Cake aka Mandarin Orange Cake
Ingredients
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained, save juice
2 (8 ounce) cans mandarin oranges, drained
1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
Directions
1. Mix and bake cake mix as per package instruction for two 8 or 9 inch round layers. Let layers cool, and then split each layer in half so as to have 4 layers.
2. In a large bowl, whip cream cheese until soft, and then gradually mix in confectioners’ sugar. Stir in the drained pineapple and the drained mandarin oranges, reserving about 5 mandarin orange slices to decorate the top of cake. Mix in the dry pudding mix, adding in some of the saved pineapple juice, until it is of a thickened consistency. Fold in the whipped topping.
3. Place one cake layer on a cake plate cut side up; spread with frosting. Place another layer cut side down on the first one, and top with more frosting. Repeat until all layers are used, spreading last bit of frosting on top and sides of cake. Decorate with reserved mandarin orange slices. Refrigerate overnight before serving.
Thank you so much for sharing Glenda!!
My family makes a very similar cake to this. We call it “Pig Cake”!
‘Cuz it tastes so good, you’ll make a pig of yourself eating it!
First saw this recipe in 1977 in a Baldwin Co. REA magazine ,and it was called Mandarin Orange Cake.Then saw it as Orange Pineapple Cake. Then the next time I saw it was in a local newspaper called Pea Picking Cake and was told renamed because it was easy to make during pea picking season and was a cool cake. Then Lo and Behold, I saw a lady send it to another rural electric magazine—Wiregrass Elec. and called it a Pig Picking cake. I wrote the lady and ask how did you pick a pig. (no ans.) Then what topped the cake Southern Living put it in their magazine and their book as Pig Picking Cake. I called the food editor and ask who and why was name changed from Mandarin Orange Cake or Orange Pineapple Cake to a Pig Cake. I am from Baldwin Co. and liked their name the best. Just saying——-.
It seems to be the cake of many names!!
Christy,
This cake, by whatever name you wish to call it, really is best when put in fridge overnight. Your Mama let it sit three days, I’m lucky if its there in the morning.!