Have you every bumped into someone you went to school/grew up with…
(P.S. We won’t discuss how old I must be to even be asking that question)
Maybe at the grocery store…
or Target…
or Facebook…
Because let’s get real that’s where 99% of us are catching up with people.
I love catching up with old friends.
Except on days when I run out of the house and I really needed to wash my hair.
You KNOW that’s when you are going to run into someone.
The minute you step out of the house lookin’ like a hot mess.
BAM…there they are!
I’ve had several of these encounters recently.
Luckily I’d washed my hair and looked presentable each time.
It’s nice to see where people are and what they’ve been doing.
So in honor of catching up with old friends I made us some cake.
Cake makes it clear that my waste line looks absolutely nothing like
it did in high school.
This cake uses zest and juice from fresh oranges.
It’s bright, citrus-ey, and reminds me of fall holiday flavors.
It also reminds me of that giant box of band fruit my mom used to buy around this time every year, but that’s a conversation for a different day.
I suggest you share with friends.
Orange Autumn Cake
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 C sugar
zest of 4 large oranges, reserve 1T. for frosting
4 eggs
1 C sour cream or yogurt
1/2 C orange juice
3 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
2 T orange extract
Pre-heat oven and prepare 2 8-inch round pans with cooking spray such as bakers joy.
In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and soda. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer add sugar and orange zest. Using your fingers or a pasty blender, blend the sugar and zest together. This will infuse your sugar with more of the orange flavor. Add butter to the bowl and beat until creamy. About 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time until just combined. Mix in sour cream and juice. Add flour and mix until just combined. Bake until cakes are golden or a pick inserted come out clean (About 30-40 minutes). Allow cakes to rest in pans for approximately 10 minutes. Turn out of pans and immediately wrap in double or tipple thickness of plastic wrap and place in the freezer to cool. This will lock moisture into your cake. Once cooled split each layer through the middle to create 4 layers.
**A few notes. I used sour cream, but for more orange flavor feel free to replace it with orange flavored yogurt.
I made candied oranges using this recipe with the intention of pouring the orange syrup over each layer as I was frosting the cake. I totally forgot that step. Feel free to do it and let me know how it turns out. Or leave out this step all together. The cake is wonderful without the syrup & candied oranges.
Frosting
To your favorite Cream Cheese Frosting Add:
2 T. Orange extract (replacing vanilla)
1/4 C. brown sugar (if your recipe doesn’t call for it)
1 T. Orange zest.
If you don’t have a favorite cream cheese frosting try this one.
I may or may not have eaten some of the leftover frosting directly from the bowl because it was so good.
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