Orange Cream Cheese Cake

I was recently in the mood to bake a different flavor of cake. Instead of going to the store and buying a box mix, I decided to look online for the best recipe. I found an orange cake recipe that ended up being the perfect flavor and not difficult to make.

This recipe is not my own but I modified it slightly, due to the fact that I didn't use the ingredients listed for the frosting and found that the baking time would have been too long. Here is the recipe, called "Beat and Bake Orange Cake Recipe" from allrecipes.com:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 beaten eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. orange zest
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups superfine sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.
2. In a measuring cup, combine milk, orange juice, oil, beaten eggs, and orange zest. Set aside.
3.  Sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Mix in sugar. Pour in the milk mixture, and mix until completely combined.
4. Divide the batter between the two pans, and bake for 25-35 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean).
5. Let cakes cool for 10-15 minutes in their pans, then flip the cakes onto cooling racks.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/beat-and-bake-orange-cake/

I'm glad that when I first read the original recipe, I thought 35 minutes sounded pretty long and ended up checking them at 25 minutes (at which time they were perfectly done).

For frosting, I used our cream cheese frosting recipe:

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 3 T milk
• 3-6 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter

1. Soften the cream cheese and butter, then place them in a mixing bowl with 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 T milk. Mix until thoroughly combined.
2. Gradually add the remaining powdered sugar and milk, and beat until combined.

I doubled this cream cheese frosting recipe, which allowed me to fill between the two cake layers, do a crumb coat, and do a final coat of frosting. For the final coat of frosting, I actually added about one teaspoon of orange extract before frosting it. This was because I tried a couple crumbs of the cake and decided I wanted the whole cake to be bursting with orange flavor. If you prefer only a slight orange flavor, you could leave out that teaspoon of orange extract.



The final result- an orange cream cheese cake with fondant ruffles and flowers!