Want to spruce up a frosting with natural flavors?

I have several chocolate cake varieties in my bakery and the plain old chocolate and vanilla were getting boring. I’ve always loved the combo of orange and dark chocolate (remember the retired Baskin Robbins ice cream flavor?) so I created a special edition Real Orange Frosting to compliment my Chocolate Tennessee Whiskey Cake.

Note: If you want to make icing, here is an excellent recipe for Royal Icing from the helpful Diary of a Cake Stylist.  There, you can learn how to create buttercream chrysanthemums and a Mario cake, etc.  Here she explains the uses for three different icing consistencies (E.g., are you decorating with stiff flower petals (thick), stars (medium), or dots/lettering (thin)?)

Anyway, here’s my recipe for Real Orange Frosting (warning, this uses shortening which contains partially hydrogenated oils. Buy the brands that don’t contain these nasty oils, or make a real butter based frosting and substitute the orange extract where vanilla or almond extract is called for):

Em’s Real Orange Frosting

4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup shortening
1/4 cup orange juice (water works too)
1 tsp. real orange extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Several drops of orange food coloring (or 2 parts red, 1 part yellow = orange)

1. Cream the shortening and powdered sugar (ideally with an electric hand mixer).
2. Gradually add the orange juice and extracts, continue creaming.
3. Add about 4-5 drops of food color and blend in- if you want a darker orange, add more!

Oh and here’s the word to convo me for 15% off your purchase in my Etsy store: mobility.

A. I can’t give away my secret whiskey cake recipe and B. Many people are looking for lighter desserts (which this frosting is not!), so here is a recipe for chocolate cake I found on sparkrecipes.com (click link for nutritional info and original recipe). It uses MAYO and has no eggs or oil. It’s is actually pretty good… for a diet cake!

Light Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (from DakotaTurtle)

1. In a large bowl, with a metal sieve/sifter, sift  the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together.
2. In a separate medium bowl, cream the sugar, mayonnaise, water and vanilla together.
3. Add the dries to the creamed wet mixture and stir to combine.
4. Pour batter into greased and floured 9 x 13 inch pan (lightly sprinkle a pinch of flour over the pan- the higher your hand is, the finer the sprinkle- a good thing).
5. Bake at 350°F. for about 25-30 minutes.

Serves 12

Store cake covered tightly to retain its moistness, and ideally refrigerate after 1-2 days.  Top with my above orange frosting or just some powdered sugar lightly sprinkled over it.