We don’t bake sweets too much in our house.  I don’t enjoy making them much and my kids like eating them too much so the combination makes me give pause whenever I think about baking.  Plus, you have to be so exact with baking or it doesn’t rise or set.  I like cooking where you can just dump a bunch of stuff together, make it taste good and that’s all there is.  You don’t need to worry about the science behind it.

But, this next six weeks has 3 birthdays with 2 parties for friends, an anniversary, an 8th grade farewell, Mother’s Day and a graduation party.  My kids LOVE parties.  My 10-year-old wanted to have his first try at making a cake from scratch all by himself.  I did help with certain terms such as “creaming the shortening and butter.”   He learned how to use a fork to mix them together until they are smooth and well mixed.

As it was Mama’s 50th and one of her favorite cakes from childhood was an orange cake her mother used to make her we found a recipe for Fresh California Orange Cake from Your Homebased Mom.com.   This was a tough birthday as her mom just died a week and a half ago so we wanted to make it as special as possible.

Verdict:

This was a delicious orange cake and frosting.  Everyone’s favorite part was the frosting.  The cake was good but it was definitely the frosting that made it for us.

My son did a very good job for his first cake from scratch.  He learned that you definitely have to sift the flour before you measure it and when it says beat for 5 minutes you need to beat the batter for 5 minutes to make it light and fluffy.

This is a cake we will be making again.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1/3 C butter
• 1/3 C shortening
• 2 tsp grated orange rind
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 C sifted flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 C fresh orange juice less 2 Tbsp
• 2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate

Orange Frosting:

• 1/2 C butter
• 1 3 oz. pkg cream cheese
• 1 pound powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 C fresh orange juice
• 3 tsp grated orange rind
• dash salt

Directions:

1. Cream together butter, shortening and orange rind in a large bowl.
2. Very gradually add sugar, creaming until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for 1-2 minutes after you add each egg.
4. Continue beating for an additional 5 minutes.  Yes, 5 minutes to make the cake light and fluffy.
5. Sift together the dry ingredients and add alternately with the orange juice to creamed mixture.  Beat in between each addition to ensure it is well mixed.
6. Add in orange juice concentrate.  Beat until mixture is smooth and creamy.
7. Bake in 13 x 9 pan for 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

1. Cream in medium bowl butter and cream cheese.
2. Gradually beat in sugar alternating with orange juice.   Mix well in between each addition.
3. Stir in orange rind and salt to frosting mix.
4. Beat for an additional 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy.
5. Frost cake when it has completely cooled.