Orange Almond Cake with Chocolate Orange Cream

The name of this cake is pretty long I suppose, but I couldn't think of a simpler way to convey its organe-y-ness. I've been so busy the last few months that the Goodness has been sorely neglected - Sonja's birthday last week ended the dry spell, thankfully, and I'm happy to report she enjoyed the results. It was my buddy Eric's birthday last week as well, so Eric, if you're readin' this, you know I would have baked you somethin' too:)
This cake is basically an adaptation of a simple yellow cake recipe I pulled from my mother's collection some years ago - I substituted orange and almond extracts instead of vanilla, and used by beloved unrefined sugar instead of the white stuff.

For topping, I wanted something to contrast the relatively bland look of yellow cake, and continued the orange theme by blending chocolate and more orange extract into whipped cream.

A note about orange extract - I've usually shied away from citrus flavorings in my baking, simply because I had encountered too many lemon and orange cupcakes with that super-fake-gross-citrus flavor. I always thought *extracts*, as opposed to juicing and zesting the real thing, would yield something so fake-tasting, only sugar-crazed kids would enjoy it. I had a bottle of orange extract that I had bought on a whim a couple years ago, but it was so...ORANGE. I didn't want whatever I baked to taste like baby aspirin, and was happy to discover my local health food store carries a "natural" orange extract.

What qualifies as "natural" I'm not really sure, (there's a lot of debate about it, and to date there are no clear labeling regulations), but it looked and smelled nice, so I decided to go for it...

Orange Almond Cake

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2/3 cup butter, softened

1 ¾ cups sugar, preferrably unrefined

1 tsp. orange extract

1 tsp. almond exctract

2 eggs

1 ¼ cups milk

- Grease and lightly flour pan(s). Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

- In a large mixing bowl beat butter with mixer on medium to high speed for 30 sec. Add sugar both extracts; beat till well-combined.

- Add eggs, one at a time, beating 1 minute after each. Add dry mixture and milk alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.

- Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake in a 375-degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes, (30 to 35 minutes for smaller layer cake pans), or till a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and remove from pan(s).

Chocolate Orange Cream

1 pint heavy whipping cream

2 Tbs. confectioner's sugar

1 tsp. orange extract

2 one-ounce squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

- Combine cream, sugar, and orange extract. Beat on high speed until medium-soft peaks form. Using a spatula, quickly fold in melted chocolate, just until combined. If thicker cream is desired, beat until stuff peaks form. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

- Frost center and top of cake, or use as desired. Yields enough to fill and frost one two-layer cake.

Creepy Orange, meet Tasty Orange

the dry goods...

unrefined sugar, butter

all mixed and ready to go

chocolate cream

topped with toasted hazelnut goodness...