Cakes....Choco...Tangerine

Cake flour 2 ¼ cups,
Light brown sugar 2 ¼ cups
Unsalted butter 4 oz/ 1 stick (room temperature)
Eggs 3 nos
Cocoa powder 3 TBSP
Sour cream 1 cup
Boiling water 1 cup
Baking soda 2 tsp
Vanilla extract 1 tsp
Salt ½ tsp
Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with the help of a mixer. Next add the brown sugar and combine well with butter. Add eggs one by one and combine with butter and brown sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and cocoa powder. Next add baking soda and salt. Now using a wooden spatula, mix everything well. Add flour and sour cream alternately beating until smooth. Pour boiling water to the batter, stirring with the spatula until well blended. Pour equally into the prepared cake pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow it to cool in the pan itself for 5-10 minutes and then invert to a plate and cool it completely before frosting if you plan to. Enjoy!!

Notes: You can use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. Make sure you add about 2 tsp of baking powder if you are using all-purpose flour.

I frosted the cake with Betty Crocker’s creamy milk chocolate frosting and it was a perfect balance with the not so sugary cake.

Tangerine Cake

All-purpose flour 2 ½  cups
Sugar 1 ¾ cups
Baking powder 1 tsp
Baking soda 1 ½ tsp
Salt ½ tsp
Eggs (beaten) 3 large
Vegetable oil ¾ cup
Unsalted butter 2 oz or ½ a stick
Sour cream 1 (8 oz tub)
Freshly squeezed tangerine juice 1 cup
Tangerine zest 1 TBSP

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 2 (9-inch) circular cake pans with vegetable oil cooking spray. (We used parchment paper to prevent sticking of the cake to the pan). Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and mix everything using a spatula. Add the beaten eggs, vegetable oil, butter, sour cream, tangerine juice and zest. Mix everything well together. We did it by hand but you can use a mixer if you have one. Pour the batter evenly into both the pans. Bake for 35 minutes. Check whether the cake is cooked well using a wooden toothpick. Remove the cake the oven and let it cool completely. When cooled, the cake is ready for the icing.

Tangerine Icing for both the cakes

Butter, ¾ stick, room temperature
Cream cheese, 1 (8-ounce) package room temperature
Confectioners’ sugar  3 ¾ cups or use the 1 lb packet of confectioners’ sugar
Tangerine juice 3 ½ tablespoons
Tangerine, zested ½ tsp

Mix the butter, cream cheese and sugar together in a large bowl. Add in the tangerine juice and zest and combine everything until you get the consistency of icing.

Directions for icing the cake

Make sure that the surface and the edges of the cake are smooth without any irregularities. Pour the icing onto the top of the cake and slowly spread it to get an even, smooth layer over the top and then slap some icing on to the side of the cake and move the spatula around the side of the cake until you get an even layer of icing. Decorate the cake using orange slices and orange zest. Keep the cake chilled until it is ready to be eaten.