Orange Vanilla Cake

Does anyone ever wake up and think, "Woah. I'm almost (insert age here)?? I have TWO kids?! What the heck?? No way!!" I'm having one of those days. Not in a bad way!! My inner 19 year-old is just out in full force. 

To be perfectly honest, I feel about 20 inside all the time. Age? Nah. Who cares. I plan on staying this young as long as I can pull it off. But what brought on my little slip back into teenager-dom?? Nickelback. HA!! Yep, go ahead and laugh. I remember when they first came out, all edgy and growly and dark, and their songs these days just crack me up. They're trying to be all poppy and ballad-y, and that voice just DOESN'T work, bud! Give it up!! But as much as I scoff and mock, I have a horribly guilty love of their corny new songs. As I zipped over to the store for eggs in my pj pants, the one that brought it on today was "Gotta Be Somebody". Love it. "There's somebody else that feels the same somewhere, There's gotta be somebody for me out there" You know if anyone but Nickelback sang it, you'd love it. 

But then!! It was followed by my current favoritestest song, so I came home, gave in, and bought it. And proceeded to dance around the kitchen with headphones plugged into my iPad trying to bake and text my mom and sing while seriously congested and not being able to hear a note...Stephen laughed. Yup. I put it on repeat and hoped I wasn't so distracted I missed a major cake ingredient... Oh! The song! "Payphone" by Maroon 5. I loooooove Maroon 5. One of these days I need to go through all their songs and buy all the ones that don't cuss. Sigh, Adam Levine, why must you swear?? Oh well. I'll just listen to the clean ones a few dozen times. 

Lets see... what's next on the playlist... "Already Gone" by Kelly Clarkson! Wow. Now there is a song to crank up and sing so loud it hurts. Too bad my kids are napping...

How's this for another great mental image: Stephen making the boys super-sandwiches filled with everything in our fridge, while speaking in his own special blend of Hispanic and French accents (dubbed "Frenchican") while mixing up the names of every sandwich fixin' while the boys laugh and try to imitate him. It was pretty great.

Joe wins the Awesome Sandwich Award, for his creation of mayo, Swiss, cheddar, muenster, pepperoni, turkey, and baloney. :) He was very proud.

Speaking of proud, this cake smells absolutely divine... just a few more minutes!! It's actually a collaboration between me, my mom, and a recipe I saw on SprinkleBakes. I wanted to make it more orange-y and up the vanilla, so I got tips from my mom on how to do that most effectively. And I do believe, I have created a thing of beauty! I have to confess, it took me two cakes to get it right.

Orange Vanilla Cake
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups+1 heaping tsp all purpose flour 

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

zest from 2 oranges

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup 2% Greek yogurt

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp orange extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Line and/or grease a loaf pan. (see my teeny workspace! ignore the ingredients, this is first batch, I changed lots of stuff)

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Rub orange zest into sugar with your fingers. (mmm, orange sugar...)

In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Whisk in zested sugar, yogurt, oil, and extracts. Gradually whisk in dry ingredients until well blended. 

Pour batter into loaf pan.  Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. (Second loaf. Prettiest loaf cake I have EVER made!!)

Let cool in pan for a few minutes, then whisk together the juice and powdered sugar and pour over the top.

Let cool until glaze is completely absorbed into the cake. Dust with powdered sugar and serve! 

(The rest of these pictures are from my first cake, it was just too dark to take them tonight. They'll work!)

Can you see the higher rise with the second cake? That's the difference between 2% and non-fat Greek yogurt! Fat is important! All right, teaching moment over, time for the yumminess.

And it IS yummy!!! I achieved exactly what I wanted, a cake bright with orange and creamy with vanilla. It's fantastic, I am in LOVE.

This cake would be perfect with some lightly sugared whipped cream... I might have to make some tomorrow. I think this is my favorite loaf cake I have ever made... And I created it!! It's super moist, but the higher fat yogurt made it fluffier and tender, instead of heavy and "wet", as Stephen describes.

The powdered sugar may not add much flavor-wise, but it sure is pretty. Takes this cake right over the top. I would say this was like a cake version of an orange creamsicle, but in reality, it is infinitely better. Yay!! Creating recipes is so much FUN! I hope you like it!

And the baking is back!!