Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Tasty Tuesday Orange Crunch Cake!

I know. I'm a bad, bad blogger. The truth is, I've been too busy working on home improvement projects and writing new books to do much blogging. Aside from the fact that blogging without the naked hunks just isn't the same. *:-&lt sigh

That being said, I still do the occasional bit of cooking, and not long ago, my friend Susan Clement sent me this recipe. She'd recently been to Sanibel Island, which is where The Bubble Room is located. Budley and I vacationed on Sanibel twice when we were MUCH younger, and we had dinner in that same restaurant a few times. Seeing this recipe brought back some seriously old (but good) memories! Thanks, Sue!

THE BUBBLE ROOM’S ORANGE CRUNCH CAKE
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 tbps grated orange peel

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch pans. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, walnuts and butter. Divide mixture evenly between the prepared pans. Set aside.
2.In a medium bowl, mix together the cake mix, water, orange juice and oil until blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the orange zest. Pour the mixture evenly over the crunch layer in the pans.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely before frosting. Frost (crunch side up) between layers, on top and sides. Refrigerate.
  
Frosting:
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
8oz softened cream cheese
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sifted 10x confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. orange juice
1/2 tsp grated orange peel. Many users double the icing recipe.

Note: Some users add orange extract to the cake(1 tsp) and frosting(1/2 tsp) to increase the flavor. Others decrease the water to ¼ cup and increase the orange juice to ¾ cup.
At The Bubble Room this is a 3 layer cake so I might play with this to make it so…great reviews on allrecipes and food.com. Duncan Hines also makes an orange supreme cake mix that should work well, too.

8 comments:

  1. This sounds so delicious. And way too many points for Mr food program. OH Dang. Tell me just how good it tastes.

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  2. LOL! That's the kind of thing you need to take to a pitch in. I'd need lots of help consuming all those calories!

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  3. Yummy Cheryl ~ I'll have to try it out! Hopefully it will go better than your last recipe...Check out my last comments to you from the last post about the cheesy hamburger/Potatoes. I tasted awesome but ... just read the comment, lol.

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  4. *still chuckling* At least we know your hubby likes dog food. ;)

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  5. At least your "dog food", lol.
    It's a testament to me that he'll trust me enough to try it...then like it no matter what it looks like :-).
    My son came home from college for the weekend and he loved it. Not hard to be better than dorm food though. He put it over left over mashed potatoes like gravy. I guess I "trained" them right.

    Have a great week. Today is a hard one. It's my mother's 86th birthday today. It's also the year anniversary of her funeral. We had it on her birthday because when all was said and done - it was a celebration that she (and Daddy 3 weeks later) finally graduated to Heaven and was released from her declining body. But I miss my best friend today. Tomorrow will be better and not so lonely.

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  6. My husband insists that I've never made anything that tasted bad. I'm a little more critical. ;)

    You were lucky to have your mom for so many years, and I'm sure you cherish every one of them. Hope you're feeling better today!

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  7. Thanks Cheryl, I am great today! I was the special speaker at our local chapter of "Mighty Woman of Vision - Toast the King" I spoke about the miracle God wrought over the conception and birth of our son, who's now 19 and a freshman at Oregon State University. It is a powerful story and it's the first time I've spoke to a group about it. It went well but I had "time management" problems ~ BIG SURPRISE! That's one of the reasons I've joined the group. To learn to speak with confidence and be effective. It's kinda a Christian Woman's Toastmasters-ish. I learned a lot today. Brevity does not come easily to me...can you tell, lol. Have an awesome day!

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