Sunday, March 7, 2010

My name is Zoom.....


Once you Blog You can't Stop ??? Well That is what I am trying anyway ..  most recently I have made an Orange Buttermilk Cake "Orange Velvet" If you will .... with an Orange Cream Cheese Frosting for my Mom's Birthday .. ( which isn't technically Until Wednesday .. but we like to celebrate these things on weekends here in my house ! )

So .. here goes !

Lm's Orange Velvet



I asked my mom this year what kind of cake she wanted .. well .. no I gave her a choice .. which was clearly weighted .. I said .... chocolate or orange ....... and I had already bought oranges .... annnnnd come up with a recipe .. heh! 




For this recipe you will need to zest and juice one orange... I chose a big juicy orange ...
the best took for the job is a microplaner .. no really, I don't know how anyone zests things without a microplaner.. I recently bought one- and forget how I even did it before this little gem .. ( alright I remember how I did it, I just conveniently blocked it out of my mind) 




Rather than YOU doing the work by running the orange along the stationary microplaner  the best way to use this device is to lay the orange on the counter ( on a piece of wax paper) and run the microplaner along the orange . Trust me .. You won't be dissapointed... You might run around looking for random citrus to zest ... like.. someone... in my house.. ( not me OF COURSE....... ) 




If you then give your orange a good squeeze before juicing it , it should optimize ( is that a word ) your juice output .... 




Strain your oj into the same  measuring cup that you will soon use to measure your buttermilk into.




This orange yielded about 1/3 c of juice .. I am not TOO concerned with the amount of juice , this worked good.... a little more a little less would be fine too :)




At this point fill the measuring cup to  (2 cups) I know I only show one cup.... but you will ultimately need two cups of liquid . part oj , part buttermilk. 




The flour and the  baking soda and powder get mixed together ..




Ok, in the mixer (finally ) start with the sugar , shortnening and butter ...
Mix...




Until It looks like this ...

Then ... add your eggs...







In this recipe, I used natural Orange extract.. 2 tsp's . 




And some ammaretto .... ( This was the ingredient that made the batter smell like an orange julius! ) MMMMMM!!




Mix that all up until it's smooth and pretty . 

Then add your zest ..




The zest is what will give the cake the real pop of flavor .




Toss in all your dry ingredients...




And with the mixer on low , stream in the liquids. 




DO NOT DRINK THE BATTER .. while it smells like orange julius ... it sadly is not .... 

Prepare your pans and pour the batter into them evenly ( 2, 9 inch pans is what I used .. I wouldnt be opposed to 2 , 8 inchers either ) 




Just a note .. I overprepare my pans .. Baking Pam is my best friend and I REALLLLLLLY go at it .. Nothing is worse than baking a cake.. that won't come out of the pan. 

While you bake the cake you can take obnoxiously cute pictures of your dogs .... or not - your choice... 


Lola and Olivia like to share the chair when they take thier afternoon siesta ... I love my girls.

Okay , now that the cakes are done .. the must cool. I let them cool over night .... as I used a cream cheese frosting- and  the cakes cannot be even slightly warm as cream cheese is picky -- and will melt if you even breathe on it wrong .. ok no , but the cakes need to be cool.



You know the cakes are done when the toothpick test comes out clean and the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan .. like shown above .. 


Okay .. we've got cool cakes.. we need icing - 

If you need a basic Cream cheese icing please see my Noshings Banana cake receipe ..  On THIS particular frosting I subbed  the juice and zest of one Orange  in place of some of the cream / and all of the flavoring.-- So the following is just a picture explination , no words unless necessary ... :)









(I like to add my coloring to my liqiud, so that it incoorporates more evenly .. only do this if youre making one color ... or have  already split your frosting.)









I did need to add cream to this recipe, the oj was not enough liquid .. 
(and more coloring..)




And more coloring .. Mix mix mix .. My mom requested a "Shrimp Colored cake .. with lime green ... "

ALREADY BUILD A CAKE TIME!




What do you do when you have no 9 inch round ? I used a paper plate .. class  I tell you .. Classsssy.




I flip the top cake, so that the pan side is up ... that way you end up with a flat top .. vs a dome.




I will NEVER claim to be a good froster ... Never . 

Or decorater ...


But I really hope that some of you caught the whole ZOOM theme !!

Ever since I was a little girl the ZOOM birthday song has been a staple in my house.. so here goes .

"My name is ZOOM and I live on the moon, but I came down to earth just to sing you this tune .. hey JONI ! Its your Birthday today!" 

I don't know the rest .. But Happy Birthday Mom . I love you! :)










Recipe :

2 2/3 c Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c sugar
 1/4 butter
1/4 c shortening
2 eggs
2 tsp orange extract
2 c buttermilk
1 orange, juice and zest.

Preheat oven to 350Degrees, grease and flour 2, 9 inch cake pans
Mix together flour , Baking soda, Baking powder
In large bowl beat butter, shortening, and sugar until creamy
Beat in Eggs and Orange extract
Add Flour, and then stream in the liquids ( see above picture for explination)
Mix until fully incoorporated, pour into prepared pans.
 Bake at 350 for 30 min  or until the toothpick test comes clean and the cakes pull away from pan ( 8 inch pans will take longer , 40 min ?)

ENJOY !


1 comments:

Lisamarie on March 7, 2010 at 7:26 PM said...

By the way .. verdict!!!

No one at the table had ever had orange cake.. and it was a hit -- very fresh .. and a nice flavor .. not overpowering but definitly orange ! :)

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