SPICE CAKE FROM SCRATCH RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (This recipe uses the reverse creaming method.)
• Grease and flour three 8 x 2 inch round pans
• In a separate bowl, combine eggs, strawberry puree, vanilla, strawberry extract, pink coloring (as desired). Blend together with a fork.
• In the bowl of your mixer, hand whisk the dry ingredients (cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt) for 30 seconds to combine. With your mixer on low to medium speed, add the pieces of butter, a few pieces at a time, also add the oil at this time. Mix until the dry ingredients form moist crumbs that look like coarse sand.
• Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Method is important when using Reverse Creaming, so with the mixer on LOW speed, SLOWLY add 1/2 of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, increase the mixer to medium speed and beat for 1 1/2 minutes, the batter will be thick and fluffy.
• Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating 20 seconds after each. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and pour into prepared pans.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans 10 min. then turn out.
• Makes 7 1/2 cups batter IF USING FONDANT: If using fondant to cover the cake, our first choice is to cover the cake in ganache for a nice firm shell before laying on the fondant. You could also use all butter buttercream, that is well chilled to firm it up before the fondant.
• Cupcakes: This recipe will work for cupcakes, they will have only a slight dome**We frosted our cake with this Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe. (I piped spirals of frosting in varying sizes with my Wilton star tip 21.)

Steps:

• For the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (This Recipe uses the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.) Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch round pans. In the bowl of your mixer add the dry ingredients, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl, add the eggs, orange juice concentrate, milk, orange extract and zest. With the mixer on low speed, add the slices of butter a few pieces at a time to the dry ingredients. Increase the mixer to medium speed and beat until the dry ingredients look crumbly and moistened. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl. SLOWLY add 1/2 of the egg mixture, increasing to medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes, the batter will become thick and fluffy. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Add a small amount of Orange Coloring Gel to the bowl if you would like the batter to be orange. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let the cakes cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out. Works well for cupcakes. Makes 6 cups batter. For the Orange Cream Filling: Combine the pudding mix and heavy cream and orange extract in a mixing bowl. I prefer to mix with a hand held mixer, but a whisk is just fine too. If using a mixer, start on low speed until well combined. Then, switch to high speed and whip the pudding until thick and fluffy. If mousse is too thick, mix in small amounts of heavy cream to reach desired consistency. If mixing by hand, simply whisk rapidly for a couple of minutes or until mixture is nice and thick. Refrigerate until ready to use. Cakes with this filling should be chilled until close to serving time. For the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting: Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth. Cut the cold cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. Add the vanilla and orange flavorings. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar. Increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy. Don't over beat. This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix. Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake. When decorating our Dreamsicle Cake, we frosted our cake and then went back in with swirls of lightly tinted orange frosting for a pretty effect.