My youngest daughter just turned four, and she loves orange — the color.  So the theme for her birthday was orange.  It seemed fitting to also serve an orange cake — orange as in the flavor.  So we adapted a yellow cake recipe from Allrecipes.com and my mama’s buttercream frosting, and here’s what we ended up with.  (We made our cake with freshly-ground soft wheat flour, because that’s what we had on hand, so our cake is a bit darker — and probably duller in color — than what yours will be if you use all-purpose flour.)

Orange Cake

Rachel Ramey

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Course Dessert

Ingredients

  

• 2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 c. butter softened (2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 drops sweet orange essential oil
• 3 drops yellow + 1 drop red food coloring opt.

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 and grease & flour two 8-inch round cake pens. Set aside.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and yolks one at a time. Stir in vanilla, essential oil, and food coloring.
• Alternately add milk and flour mixture, beating until ingredients are completely incorporated, but don't overmix.
• Pour batter into prepared pans.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
• Cool for 15 minutes in the pans before turning out onto racks to cool completely.

Orange Buttercream Frosting

Rachel Ramey

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Course Dessert

Ingredients

  

• 1 lb. 3 1/2 c. powdered/confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 c. butter softened (1 stick)
• dash salt
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1 drop sweet orange essential oil
• 3-4 Tbsp. milk

Instructions

 

• Cream about one-third of the sugar (I usually just do 1 cup because that's simple) with the butter and salt.
• Blend in the vanilla, essential oil, remaining sugar, and 2 tablespoons of milk.
• Add additional milk as needed to reach spreading consistency.