Gourmet with Dana: Orange Sunshine State Cake

Orange Sunshine State Cake

Welcome back to my series, Gourmet with Dana. My sister-in-law Dana prepared many of the delicious dishes in this series as a feast for my mother's birthday earlier this month, and I asked her to share her wealth of culinary expertise. 

• Shrimp Bisque {and} Salt Crusted Roast Beef with Mushrooms
• Fall Harvest Quinoa with Butternut Squash {Vegan Recipe}

Orange "Sunshine State" Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks salted butter, softened
• Zest of two large oranges
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees; grease and flour 2 8″ cake pans.  Sift together cake flour and baking powder; set aside.
2. Mix butter, sugar, and zest in a mixer with a paddle attachment ; mix on medium high until the mixture gets fluffy. 
3. Add eggs, one at a time, to the butter/sugar mixture. Add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined; then add 1/2 of the orange juice and 1/2 of the sour cream and mix until combined.  Add 1/2 of remaining dry ingredients to batter and mix, then add remaining sour cream and orange juice, finishing with dry ingredients.  Mix until combined.  Pour evenly into cake pans.
4. Bake for approximately 60 minutes, or until edges of cake are pulling away from pan and a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
5. Cool in pans for 10 minutes; then flip out onto cooling rack and let cool completely.  Fill with orange curd and frost with cream cheese orange frosting.  Garnish with orange slices for decoration.

Orange Curd 

Ingredients:

• Finely grated zest of 4 oranges
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 pound salted butter, at room temperature
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

• Instructions:

1. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the sugar/orange zest mixture and mix until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the orange juice. Mix until combined.
2. Pour the mixture into a 2-quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. The orange curd will be ready when it coats a spoon, and it will register about 175 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Be careful not to overcook, or it will curdle. Remove from the heat and pass curd through a strainer to strain out any curdled egg; refrigerate.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 2 blocks cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks salted butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp orange extract (or more if desired)

Instructions:

Beat together all ingredients until well incorporated.

If you are looking for an easier version using boxed cake mix, pudding, and whipped topping, check out this one at All Recipes: Orange Sunshine State Cake.

Again, the other posts in this series are:

• Shrimp Bisque {and} Salt Crusted Roast Beef with Mushrooms
• Fall Harvest Quinoa with Butternut Squash {Vegan Recipe}

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

This post will be linked at...

Ann Kroeker's Food on Fridays

and these blog link-ups...

• Domestically Divine on Tuesday 
• Raising Homemakers on Wednesday
• Whole-Hearted Home on Wednesday
• Ann Kroeker's Food on Fridays
• Funki Planet