Sunshine Citrus Cake with Orange Mascarpone Frosting #Recipe by @LibbyKlein

 Libby Klein Sometimes I just get in the mood to be fancy. Plus I love anything lemon. And I didn't know what the heck to do with these kumquats I bought because I wanted to try them. In case you're wondering - the peel outside is sweet and the inside is tart. They're really good on the cake because the frosting is sweet. I filled the layers with lemon curd so I knew there was danger of sweet overload. That's why I cut the sugar in my frosting. I love my sweets, but I tend to have a low threshold for just how sweet they can be. Let me know if you make this and what you think about the combination.

Disclaimer - Read all your labels to make sure your ingredients are gluten-free. Gluten can be sneaky.

Gluten-Free Sunshine Citrus Cake with Orange Mascarpone Frosting

Serves: 12 

Ingredients

Lemon Curd
2 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp Lemon zest 
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2–3 lemons)
¼ cup unsalted butter

 

Cake

1 and 3/4 cups one-to-one gluten-free flour blend* 
*1 tsp xanthan gum if not already in your flour
- - - Or just use 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour if you aren’t gluten-free
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons citrus zest combination of lemon, orange, and lime 
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1/3 cup freshly squeezed citrus juice combination of lemon, orange, and lime

Try not to notice the sour cream in the picture. I decided not to use it.

Instructions

Make the lemon curd: Whisk all the ingredients together in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir continuously over low to medium heat until the curd is thick enough to cling to a spoon. This will take about 6-8 minutes.

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease three 6-inch round cake pans or two 8-inch cake pans or line them with parchment paper. 

Whisk the flour, xanthan gum if you’re using it, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the citrus zest. Beat on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined.

Add half of the flour mixture, followed by half of the milk, and then half of the citrus juice. Beat on low speed until mostly combined, and then add the remaining flour mixture, milk, and citrus juice. Beat on low speed until combined.

Divide and pour batter evenly into cake pans. Bake cakes for 18-21 minutes or until browned and springy. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

Allow cakes to cool for ten minutes. Remove cakes from the pans and set them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Mascarpone Frosting. Recipe Follows.

Top the first cake layer with a thick layer of lemon curd. Add the second cake. Repeat the process with that layer. Frost the top and sides of the cake with Orange Mascarpone Frosting.

Store the cake in the refrigerator.

Orange Mascarpone Frosting

Ingredients

16 oz Mascarpone Cheese
Zest of 1 orange
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon orange juice or orange liqueur like Grand Marnier 

Whip the cheese and orange zest with your mixer until combined and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix on low until combined. Taste your frosting after the third cup. If you think it’s sweet enough and still thick and fluffy, stop there. If not, add the rest of the powdered sugar. Add the orange juice or liqueur and mix well. 

I finished the cake with lemon and lime slices and kumquats. It would be perfect for cold winter days or any event where you want a sure winner.

Recipe inspiration from Sally’s Baking Addiction

 

“Haunted houses, bickering spouses, and murder mix in this Halloween treat… Suspects and motives abound in this laugh-out-loud mystery.” Kirkus Reviews

Poppy is none too pleased when her B&B is coerced into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour during Halloween season. Though her knack for finding dead bodies has given the place a spooky reputation, the Murder House is a completely undeserved nickname. At least it used to be . . .

While Poppy wrangles with some guests who can’t stop squabbling with each other—including a paranormal researcher, a very quirky pet psychic who freaks out her portly Persian, and an undercover tabloid reporter eager to catch her staff in a lie—one of them winds up facedown in a plate of tiramisu. And now she has bigger worries than getting her house TP’d . . .

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Orange Cake with Orange Glaze @LucyBurdette #recipe

LUCY BURDETTE: This recipe came right out of the New York Times cooking app, by Samantha Seneviratne. I did tweak the instructions to make it even easier to prepare. I love cakes with an orange flavor, even more than lemon, and possibly more than lime. So I was intrigued by the idea of using the entire orange, rind and all, in the cake. Oh my tasters loved it!

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

One organic navel orange

1/4 cup whole milk

One and a half cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Two large eggs

For the glaze

One organic navel orange

Up to three-quarter cup confectioner sugar

Since you are using the entire orange including the rind, I recommend the slight extra expense of going organic. I was lucky that the two oranges I chose were absolutely delicious. I’m certain that made a difference in the flavor of the cake. Also, I made the whole thing in my food processor which made for fewer dishes to watch. And it did a splendid job. 

Preheat the oven to 350 and butter an 8 inch square pan. Next line the pan with parchment paper that extends out of two sides. This will help you remove the cake without leaving anything stuck to the pan.

Cut the first orange into chunks and drop this into the food processor along with the milk. Grind this up until it’s mostly smooth--it will look a bit like a milkshake.

In a small bowl, stir the dry ingredients together.

Add the butter to the orange/milk mixture and blend thoroughly. Add the eggs one at a time, ditto.

Pulse in the dry ingredients. Scrape the bowl down well, and transfer it to the prepared pan. Bake this for about 35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. Juice the second orange and mix this with confectioners sugar until it is the thickness you prefer. 

Once the cake has cooled, paint it with the glaze.

We liked this so much that now I'm wondering how it would taste using whole lemons, or limes, or even grapefruit?

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mysteries. A SCONE OF CONTENTION will be out on August 10! The trade paperback edition of THE KEY LIME CRIME will be published on July 13. The Key Lime Crime has been chosen as the book club selection for June by the WLRN Sundial Book Club! Click here to join the Facebook discussion.

The Particular Happiness of Orange Cake by Cleo Coyle

When I was a little girl, my pop, who grew up during the Depression, told me the story of how he received an orange one Christmas. His two brothers and sister each received one, too. A single orange. They were thrilled.

After my father told me that story, I never looked at an orange the same way again.

Truly, an orange is a beautiful thing—round and bright and vibrant as the sun. As the holidays recede and winter settles in with its frozen snow and black ice, daylight feels scarce and sunshine precious. In January, in New York City, I think an orange just may be a miracle.

Certainly at this time of year in most grocery store produce aisles, citrus fruits are mounded high. Nothing that plentiful can be a miracle, can it? I know I've taken such bounty for granted, made it an afterthought.

Well, today the abundance of oranges is my primary thought. Like Krista and Terry with their citrus-inspired recipes on Sunday and Monday, I’d like to celebrate the season of citrus with a recipe, too. And so I bring you...



Cleo Coyle, who dearly
misses daylight, is author of
The Coffeehouse Mysteries

SUNSHINE IN WINTER

OR 

THE PARTICULAR
HAPPINESS
OF ORANGE CAKE

If you like Creamsicles, you’ll love this deliciously simple orange-vanilla coffee cake. It’s moist and rich like a pound cake, yet bakes up quickly in a single-layer pan. It requires no special skill to bake or glaze, and only dirties one bowl! Huzzah!

Serve it as is or with a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of ice cream, or orange sherbet. For a sweeter and fancier finish, drizzle it liberally with my simple Orange-Vanilla Glaze.

Finally, should you make and eat this cake, I hope you’ll pause and smile with your first bite, remembering all those children of yesteryear whose eyes went wide with delight at the sight of a single orange.

Cleo's One-Bowl Orange-Vanilla
"Creamsicle" Coffee Cake


 

To get a free PDF of this recipe that you can print, save, or share, click here.

Makes one 9-inch cake
 



Ingredients:

½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
¼ cup whole milk
½ cup orange juice (with pulp or not, your call)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon orange zest (grated peel from 1 medium orange)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

 For dusting pan:
1-2 Tablespoons butter
2-3 Tablespoons “sugar in the raw” (turbinado sugar)


(Optional to finish)
Cleo's Orange-Vanilla "Creamsicle" Glaze - see recipe below

Step 1 – Make batter with one bowl mixing method: First pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stop the mixer. Add in eggs, milk, orange juice, vanilla, salt, and orange zest. Continue mixing until well blended. Now add the flour and baking powder. Continue mixing only enough to blend ingredients. The batter will be somewhat thick (although not as thick as cookie dough). Just be sure not to over mix or you will produce gluten in the flour and your cake will be tough instead of tender.

Step 2 – Prepare pan: Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch cake pan. Place 2 tablespoons of raw sugar into the pan and roll it around, dusting bottom and sides. Pour batter into pan and shake to even out. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the top a bit. When I’m not glazing this cake, I sprinkle an additional tablespoon of raw sugar on the uncooked batter.

Step 3 – Bake: In the pre-heated 350 degree F. oven, bake for about 25 to 35 minutes, depending on your oven. To check for doneness, insert a toothpick into the cake’s center. When it comes out clean (with no batter on it), the cake is done. Cool the cake in the pan but on a rack so air can circulate under the bottom of the hot pan. Don’t try to remove until the top of your cake is cool to the touch.

Serving tips: You can certainly serve the cake slices directly from the pan. To remove the cake from the pan for a prettier presentation run a knife around the pan’s edge. Place a flat plate over the top of the pan and carefully flip it. The cake’s bottom may stick a bit to the pan. Gently tap to loosen. (If the cake is still sticking, simply run your knife around the pan’s edge one more time.) When you’ve removed the cake this way, it’s (obviously) upside down. Flip it once more so that it’s upright on your serving plate. Slice and serve.

For a sweeter and fancier finish, drizzle the entire cake with my simple Orange-Vanilla Glaze below.

Cleo’s
Orange-Vanilla
“Creamsicle” Glaze

Yields: 1 cup of glaze, enough to liberally cover one 9-inch cake

2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons whole milk
2 cups confectioners’ (powdered or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons orange juice (Be sure to add separately)

Step 1 – Warning: First of all, I must warn you not to dump everything into your saucepan at once. Follow these steps as written or your glaze will curdle when your milk and orange juice meet!

Step 2 – Create sugar paste: Place butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat. When butter has melted, stir in the confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, until dissolved. The mixture will be thick and pasty. 

Step 3 – Add vanilla and OJ: Remove the pan from heat. Add vanilla and orange juice. Stir well to blend. Return pan to low heat, tilt pan, and whisk until smooth. This may take a minute. (Note: This mixture should never boil or you’ll get a scorched taste in your glaze.) While glaze is still warm, drizzle over cooled cake. I pour the warm glaze into a glass measuring cup and pour a thin stream in a zigzag motion across the cake until it’s completely iced.

 
 

Eat with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle, author of
The Coffeehouse Mysteries

To get more of my recipes, win free coffee,

or find out more about my books, visit me
 at my *virtual* coffeehouse:

CoffeehouseMystery.com



 

Click on the book covers above
to learn more about Cleo's culinary mysteries.