Almond Orange Cream Cake

My sister ate an orange
I'm astonished that she did,
She swallowed it completely,
She's a disconcerting kid.


My sister ate an orange
First she chewed it for a while
Then digested it entierly
With a silly sort of smile.


My sister ate an orange
It's a novel thing to do,
Than she ate a yellow and a purple and a blue!

One of my favorite childhood poems... Anyway, my sister just got back from swimming at the Olympic  Trials! Naturally, that called for one thing - cake. There's something about celebrating that just means cake. Think about it... You're planning out a super fun party and what do you picture on the center of the table? Brownies? Cookies? Jello? (this is where I wish I could insert sound effects ---- Whaa whaa whaaaaaaaa). A CAKE! Cake = Party. In my book at least.

Cake:
Modified version of the Martha Stewart Orange Almond Cake


Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for pans
- 1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising), plus more for pans
- 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
- 6 large eggs, separated
- Grated zest of 2 oranges
- 2/3 cup strained, freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 1/2 cups finely ground blanched almonds
- Pinch of salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans then flour the pans; set aside.


2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together 1 cup of sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Add orange zest, juice, and almond extract; mix until well combined. Turn mixer off. Remove the whisk and add the paddle attachment. With the mixer on medium, slowly add ground almonds, followed by flour; mix cake batter until well combined.


3. In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Add salt and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar; beat until stiff but not dry. Set aside.


4. Fold melted butter into cake batter, a little at a time. Gently fold in egg white mixture, taking care not to deflate whites. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans. Transfer to oven and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cake layers to a wire rack to cool.


5. While cake is cooling make your icing of choice. Martha Stewart used a Swiss Meringue Buttercream -- I tend to be more partial to butter creams without egg whites. So I made a traditional Almond Vanilla Buttercream (see below). 


6. Place one cake on cake plateau and frost with a thin layer of the buttercream (the center of the cake should sill be slightly warm). Place second cake on top and frost entire cake with a thin layer. Then put cake in the fridge and let set until it is chilled and icing is hard. Once this layer is firm frost with another, thicker layer of buttercream. Sprinkle Orange Zest on cake.


Orange Zest:
Ingredients
- Zest from 1 whole orange 
- Sprinkle of sugar


Directions
1. Spray baking sheet with baking spray.
2. Spread orange zest on sheet in thin layer.
3. Sprinkle with sugar and bake at 350 until they turn golden and become crispy.

Almond Vanilla Buttercream:
Ingredients
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 to 2 tbsp. whipping cream
- 1 to 2 tsp Vanilla (I always use Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract)
- 1 tsp. almond extract


Directions
1. In electric mixer mix together sugar and butter. Whisk on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

2. Add cream, vanilla and almond and continue to beat on medium for 1 minute more, adding more cream, if needed, for spreading consistency. 

- Eliz -