My husband's birthday was a week ago Saturday, and for the event I made a Williamsburg Orange Cake which, my son-in-law said while eating, and I quote, 'is the best cake I've ever eaten!' Do you think he made points with a comment like that? Absolutely! :-)
From my second Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1969 edition, came the recipe for the cake and the wonderful orange frosting. Our daughter and her husband got me the cookbook a few years back when they noticed that my old copy had pages stuck together (like the 7-minute frosting recipe page) and was showing other signs of wear.
The first thing I did when I got my 'new' cookbook was to copy all the notes I'd made in my old cookbook into the 'new' one. Now I'm more careful about frosting too, you'll be glad to know.
After the layers of the cake had cooled and I frosted the cake, I put it on the cake plate and covered it with the cake cover. It's a heavy beast, unlike the cheap junk that's for sale these days. I'm glad I didn't throw it out during one of my rare cleaning sprees.
WILLIAMSBURG ORANGE CAKE RECIPE:
Note: I added a little extra orange peel to both the cake and frosting.
2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. shortening
3 eggs (farm fresh eggs make all the difference)
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 c. golden raisins, cut up
3/4 c. finely chopt walnuts
2 T. grated orange peel
Frost with Williamsburg Butter Frosting (Below)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour 3 nine-inch layer pans (I used two because it called for two, and wish I'd used a third. Fortunately, I had set them on a jellyroll pan so that the overflow was easy to clean up. I actually think the problem may have been that I beat it on high, rather than medium, and a bit too long, adding too much air.)
Measure all ingredients into bowl. Mix on low a couple minutes, then beat on medium a few more minutes. Pour into pans. Place in preheated oven.
Bake appx. 35 minutes, a little more or less. Test to see if cake is done by gently touching the center. If it springs back, it's done.
Frost with the following:
WILLIAMSBURG BUTTER FROSTING RECIPE:
1/2 c. soft butter
3 c. confectioners' sugar
3/4 T. orange-flavored liqueur or orange juice
2 T. grated orange peel
Blend butter and sugar. Stir in liqueur or orange juice and peel.
Beat until smooth.
Tip: After I had frosted the cake, I covered it and put it in the refrigerator overnight. I will definitely do that another time, for it made the cake so much easier to cut, plus the flavors seemed to have had time to 'steep.'
Serve with Breyer's Natural Vanilla Ice Cream!
My son-in-law asked me why I chose Breyer's. I told him, 'because I looked at the ingredient list.' Truly, so many ice creams have so much unnatural stuff in them they are sickening! But this was truly a delicious treat. :-)
And now, I'm really glad it's gone or I'd be tempted to go into the kitchen and get more!
You're gonna love this!
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