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orange lemon cake with cream cheese frosting.

Citrus Orange Lemon Cake with Boxed Cake Mix

If you're looking for an easy way to make the best orange lemon cake, this is the recipe for you! I use lemon cake mix along with orange gelatin to ensure that you get the perfect cake with only a few ingredients.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Cooling Time 20 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 1 9x11 cake

Ingredients
  

  • 1 package lemon cake mix
  • 1 3.4 oz. orange jello mix
  • ⅔ cup milk
  • ½ cup oil
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • 2.5 tablespoon orange juice
  • 2.5 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 350F and grease a 9x11 cake pan.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your cake mix and jello mix.
  • Mix in the milk, oil, lemon zest, orange zest, orange juice, lemon juice, eggs, vanilla, and salt.
  • Pour into the prepared cake pan and let it bake for 15 - 17 minutes.
  • Let it cool in the pan for about 5 minutes,
  • Let the cake cool for an additional 15 minutes outside of the cake pan.
  • Top with cream cheese frosting, or vanilla frosting, lemon and orange slices and enjoy!

Notes

Substitutions and variations

You know I love good hacks for box mixes for baking! Just check out my boxed brownies hacks to make them taste like bakery brownies. 
Add layers. If you want to make this into a lemon layer cake recipe, you can bake this recipe in small round cake pans. Be sure to let your cake layers cool completely before stacking! If you're feeling like a really fancy home baker, add a layer of lemon curd or orange curd along with the frosting between layers.
Powdered sugar. If you don't like frosting, you can simply top this with powdered sugar for a simple, yet gorgeous topping. 

Tips for making the best orange lemon cake

Room temperature. To ensure everything bakes evenly, I recommend bringing your milk and eggs to room temperature by allowing them to sit out on the counter for 15-20 minutes. 
Keyword lemon orange cake, orange lemon cake