Old Fashioned Orange Cake

My father's favorite cake is the orange cake his mother used to make. An old fashioned orange cake. And there are many family stories swirling around this legendary cake. So in an attempt to recreate this cake for my Dad for Father's day, I searched for a similar cake recipe . I finally found one in a vintage Betty Crocker cookbook that sounded much like the description of Grandma's Orange Cake. Now I know that no one can ever match the memory of a mother's masterpiece, but this was a close second. It was a flavorful and moist yellow cake, filled with an rich orange curd and frosted with a Fluffly white boiled icing that crusted like divinity, yet was soft to cut.

Old Fashioned Orange Cake

• 
  
  1-5/8 cups sifted cake flour
• 
  
  1 cup sugar
• 
  
  2 teaspoons baking powder
• 
  
  1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
  1/2 cup soft shortening
• 
  
  1/3 cup water
• 
  
  1/3 cup orange juice
• 
  
  2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8" round pans.

Sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add shortening.

Mix the water and orange juice. Pour in half the liquid and beat for 2 minutes.

Add remaining liquid and eggs and beat for 2 more minutes. Pour into prepared

pans. Bake for 28-35 minutes until the cake springs back in the middle.

Cool. Torte the layers and fill with Rich Orange Filling.

Ice with Comfort Frosting

Rich Orange Filling

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 Tablespoons orange zest
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Mix together the first 6 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil and boil one minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in egg yolks and cook one minute more. Stir in butter. Chill before using.

Comfort Frosting

• 
  
  1-1/2 cups sugar
• 
  
  6 Tablespoons water
• 
  
  1-1/2 Tablespoon white corn syrup
• 
  
  2 large egg whites ( 1/4 cup )
• 
  
  1/4 teaspoon orange extract

Mix sugar, water, and corn syrup in a saucepan. Boil slowly, without stirring until syrup spins a

6-8" thread (242degrees). Keep saucepan covered for the first 3 minutes to keep crystals from forming on sides of pan.

While syrup is cooking, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff enough to hold to a point.

With mixer beating, pour hot syrup very slowly in a thin stream into stiffly beaten egg whites. Add orange extract. Continue to beat until frosting holds its shape. Spread on top and sides of cake.