A wacky cake variation with orange enhanced cake, tart cranberry orange sauce filling, and sweet orange buttercream frosting
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| Cake shown w/3 layers and orange zest decoration |
This is my
second favorite holiday dessert after pumpkin pie. It smells so good while it’s
baking that I find myself rushing thru the frosting-making to hurry up and put
it all together. My oldest son is not a big fan of cranberries (yet! a mom can
be an optimist) but he really likes the orange cake by itself. This recipe is
flexible – if you’re not that into cranberries or if you don’t have any sauce
leftover, you can simplify the cake by adding dried cranberries into the batter
and/or just go pure orange with the cake & frosting. But if you’d like to
be a bit fancy and if you like the orange/cranberry combo as much as I do, try
out the full recipe and let me know what you think. I’m still a beginning
baker…. so I’m still figuring out the finer points of layering and frosting
cakes and my results are a bit different every time I make it. My cranberry
orange sauce is on the tart side, so my orange frosting is quite sweet. My final results still don’t look anything
like a bakery style cake, but it tastes quite good anyway.
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| Cake shown with 2 layers and cranberry decoration |
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| PHOTO CREDIT: Charles van Schaick, WI Historical Society, Title: "Ho-Chunk and European American Group Cranberry Harvesting," Black River Falls, WI. All rights reserved. |
Given that
November is Native American Heritage
Month, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank our Native Nations for
sharing their food, culture and history. I have a deep appreciation for the native traditions
and customs that I have learned about so far, especially in regards to shamans,
healing rituals, dances, and reverence for the earth.
For a blend of
the past and the present, check out this historical cookbook - Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking by Martin Jacobs & Beverly Cox.
It features 150 recipes “…from across the United States, incorporating many
indigenous ingredients and traditional dishes from the Cherokee, Chippewa,
Navajo, Sioux, Mohegan, Iroquois, Comanche, Hopi, and many other North American
tribes. Each chapter is introduced by an expert on the region and discusses the
cultures of major tribal groups, their diets, their ceremonial use of food, and
the historic dishes they developed.” (I don’t own this book yet; it’s on my
wish list.)
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| PHOTO CREDIT: Amazon via Native-American-Online.org Trading Post |
For current news
and issues of importance, check out Indian Country Today Media Network .
This news website features articles and commentary on a wide variety of topics
from breaking stories to debunking historical inaccuracies, to politics, the environment,
and entertainment stories. I recommend this article “Talking to Young Children About Thanksgiving,” which not only
breaks down the stereotypes of the typical “first” thanksgiving story, but
offers resources with suggestions for teaching culture.
And now to
baking…
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| Orange, zest, microplaner, cake batter |
Orange
Cranberry Layer Cake
A variation on an
egg-free, dairy-free wacky cake – orange juice serves in place of vinegar and
fizzy water flavored with orange essence adds a burst of natural flavor with no
added sugar or calories
ORANGE CAKE
Ingredients:
1½ cups whole wheat
pastry flour
¾ cup
confectioners (powdered) sugar
½ tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cardamom
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp baking
powder
¾ tsp baking
soda
5 Tbsp vegetable
oil
1 Tbsp orange
juice
1 tsp cherry
extract
1 cup fizzy
water with orange essence*
Zest from ½ orange
*NOTE:
sparkling water; you can make your own using a Soda Stream carbonator, or
similar device, or you can buy a bottle of orange flavored carbonated water from
any grocery store.
Directions:
Preheat the oven
to 350°. This is an important first step as you want to get the batter into the
oven as quickly after mixing as possible for maximum rising.
Grease a round,
glass baking dish (I use butter. Or you could also use a round, metal nonstick
pan).
In a mixing
bowl, measure out and dump in all your dry ingredients in this order: flour,
sugar, spices, salt, baking powder & baking soda. Using a long tined fork
or a whisk, mix together well.
Now make a well
in the center of the dry mix. Carefully measure out and pour in the oil. On top
of oil, carefully measure out and pour in the orange juice. On top of oj, carefully
measure out and pour in the extract.
Measure out the
fizzy water and pour it slowly but all at once into the bowl.
Mix or whisk briskly
to form a bubbly batter, a tad thicker than pancake consistency. I prefer not
to leave streaks of flour (uncooked flour = zero taste) but be careful not to
get over zealous in stirring or the cake will be tough. Regardless, the wacky
cake batter is denser than typical bakery cakes.
Lightly fold in
the orange zest. Pour batter into greased baking dish.
Pop into the hot
oven and bake for ~ 30 minutes. Cake is done when it is set and toothpick comes
out pretty clean – crumbs are OK, glob of batter is not. Should be lightly
browned.
Let the cake sit
for 5 minutes or so, and then gently turn out onto wire rack to cool
completely.
ORANGE
BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
Ingredients:
3/4 cup
confectioners sugar
2 Tbsp butter
(room temp)
1 Tbsp orange
juice
1/8 – ¼ tsp
vanilla extract
¼ cup
confectioners sugar
Zest from ½ orange
(can fold into frosting before spreading or sprinkle over top of cake for
decorating)
Directions:
Beat butter.
Then add in ¾ cup sugar and beat to incorporate. (I use a hand immersion
blender, with the deep cup accessory.)
Beat in orange
juice and extract.
Gradually beat
in remainder of sugar. Use as much sugar as desired for spreading consistency
and level of sweetness. Frosting should be creamy and thick, thicker than a
glaze.
Once frosting is
consistency you desire, fold in zest if desired. Set frosting aside and follow directions
for assembling the layer cake. This quantity should cover the top and top sides
of the cake.
*TIP:
for easy clean up of frosting – just run really hot water and rinse everything
as soon as the cake is iced. The hot water melts the butter/sugar.
 | |
| Fresh cranberries simmered in orange juice, sweetened with orange marmalade, mandarin orange sections, and craisins |
CHUNKY CRANBERRY
ORANGE SAUCE
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Directions
for assembling the layer cake:
Once the cake is
cool, carefully use a long bread knife to slice the cake into 2 equal parts.
Gingerly remove the top, then place the bottom on a large plate or cake platter.
NOTE: The cake does not rise very much, so layers will be thin. This recipe was designed for a single cake with 2 layers. To get more layers, consider baking two cakes. My photo at the top was staged by cutting a single cake in half and then stacking for 3 layers. I'm not advanced enough to try 4 layers! And I think you'd need extra frosting. But feel free to experiment.
Using a
Tablespoon, spoon and spread the chunky Orange-Cranberry relish onto the bottom
layer. Try to distribute a generous but even layer.
 | |
| NOTE: this picture is showing 1/2 the bottom to display the thickness of cake and sauce. Your cake will be a full round. |
Gingerly place
top layer on top of relished layer.
Cover top and
sides of cake with orange buttercream frosting.
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| This is a fully iced, unsliced 2 layer cake |
If desired, sprinkle
orange zest on top of cake for decoration and added flavor.
VEGAN VERSION: replace
butter with margarine or other solid, nondairy fat.
ALLERGENS:
contains wheat, dairy, corn (confectioners sugar typically contains cornstarch)
ALLERGY
ACCOMMODATIONS: replace wheat with gluten-free baking flour; replace dairy by
using solid margarine; if you can’t find corn-free confectioners sugar, try this recipe by grinding regular sugar and root starch in a blender
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