Creamsicle Cake

I was pretty happy to see the challenge this month was cake, and that it was so open to interpretation. I love baking cake, and I thought of a bunch of different things I could (and still may!) try, but in the end I went with a vanilla cake with orange curd filling, and vanilla buttercream. The last time I tried a true buttercream frosting (Yule Log) was a disaster, so I decided to keep that part simple, and hopefully successful. I was going for a creamsicle flavor, and in the end I think I nailed it.

Starting with the orange curd … I’d had a recipe for white cake with orange curd filling from Simply Recipes bookmarked for a while, this seemed like a great opportunity to try the orange curd. And best of all, the recipe called for 9 egg yolks, while the cake/frosting would use 8 egg whites. A match made in heaven? After much juicing of oranges, stirring, and some scary moments concerning gelatin, I ended up with a thick, delicious, very orange flavored and colored filling. Many spoonfuls were eaten along the way.

On to the cake. I actually bought cake flour, and even sifted it! I left out the lemon zest and extract, added in a teaspoon of vanilla, and let my mixer do the work. I am horrible when it comes to splitting cakes into layers, so instead of two pans I baked mine in three, leaving me with three layers in the end instead of four. It was hard to tell when my cakes were done; although they rose nicely, the tops never got browned at all. When I took them out of the oven they were pure white, with a tiny bit of gold around the edge, but I think at that point they were even a little bit overdone (the end result was a bit dry, in my opinion).

And then, the buttercream. Somehow it just all came together perfectly, although I had doubts as I added all that butter. After six minutes of beating I had the fluffiest, smoothest frosting ever. It tasted really good too! I put the whole thing together, and then into the refrigerator it went, to await a St. Patrick’s Day party the next day. The verdict: two big thumbs up! I received the highest praise from the partygoer who couldn’t even wait to swallow before declaring it “Unbelievable!” (Try to imagine that coming from a person with a big mouthful of cake!) The flavor was great, loved the frosting, although it could have probably sat out at room temperature longer before we started cutting it. The cake itself was a little dry, but I think it could have baked for a few minutes less.

Unfortunately, due to a camera malfunction, the pictures of the cut cake didn’t come out very well, but it really made a beautiful slice of cake! So, to Morven, thanks for a great recipe! I am looking forward to trying some other variations, including the original recipe. And I’m sure I will get a ton of inspiration from all of the other Daring Bakers!

- Brooke