Birthday Part One! (Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Icing!)

So I decided to roll out all the stops this year for my boyfriend’s birthday. We decided to take the day and just laze around the apartment, wear our jammies, and play video games. The whole affair actually started the day before, when I made the birthday cake. I’m going to post the recipes and pictures for the birthday cake, antipasto platter, and the stuffed chicken we had for supper. Here we go!

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Let me preface the birthday cake recipe by saying I have never attempted this before. I did work in a cake shop for a while, but they only let me watch and take care of the register – I never got to so much as stick on a fondant flower! I’m not the biggest fan of cake mixes (I think they taste like the stuffing out of a teddy bear), so I decided to make my own. I consulted Jeff on what sort of cake he wanted, and he said a white cake with some orange flavour, as well as cream cheese icing. After quite a bit of research, I worked out a cake recipe, and with one call to my mother, I got her great icing recipe. Fair warning that this will take quite a bit of time and elbow grease, but it’s gotten rave reviews, so I consider the effort worth it.


Cake Ingredients (Divide them into three parts, one for each layer)

1 cup whole milk
3 tbsps unsalted butter
3 tsps vanilla extract
3 tsps orange extract
3 tbsps orange zest
4 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
9 large eggs
4 cups sugar


Cake Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and butter a 12 inch wide, 2 inches high cake pan. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the pan and flour it.
2. Bring 1/3 cup milk and 1 tbsp butter to a simmer, then remove from heat. Add vanilla and orange extracts once cooled.
3. Sift together 1/3 of a cup of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/3 tsp salt and orange zest.
4. Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl until frothy (about one minute). Slowly add 1 1/3 cup sugar while continuing to beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture forms a heavy ribbon when you lift out your beaters (about four minutes).
5. Add the cooled milk mixture to the egg and sugar mixture and slowly fold together with a whisk.
6. Add the dry ingredients in stages, whisking gently.
7. Pour into your prepared pan and bake until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean (about 20 minutes for me).
8. Run a butter knife around the outside of the pan and flip out the cake onto a cooling rack. Remember to remove the parchment paper!

Repeat twice more and you have your layers! To make sure everything stayed nice and moist, I brushed the layers with orange juice, a step I recommend.


Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients

4 8-ounce packs of cream cheese
1 cup butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
2 tbsps orange juice
1 large orange, zested


Cream Cheese Icing Directions

1. Make sure the cream cheese and butter are room temperature (I just left them out on the counter for a few hours).
2. Cream the cream cheese and butter together.
3. Add the sugar, vanilla and orange.


Now you’re ready to ice your cake. I used an icing spatula. The thing to remember is to make sure your levels are even, which isn’t hard to do. Don’t press too hard or you can damage the cake. I also decorated the cake with coconut on the sides and mandarin oranges on top. To apply the coconut to the sides of the cake, just spread some on your hand and apply a very slight amount of pressure, turning the cake tray as you work your way around. For the mandarins, just get a few tins from the store (it took me just about three of the small tins from Loblaws, but it may take you less if you can refrain from eating them while you work). I started on the outside and worked my way in. Et voila, you have the tastiest birthday cake you ever did see!