It’s my birthday and I will make cake if I want to!

I never make myself cake, Birthday or not. My mom does an amazing job at Birthdays, has my whole life and always makes a delicious homemade cake for everyone’s Birthday. Last year I threw my mom off and asked for a very nostalgic meal I remember getting for many years on my birthday as a kid: Pot Roast with potatoes and carrots. She surprised me and took it a step further and made me a spice cake as well! It was the perfect meal. I shared most of my cake with my dad (he also loves spice cake) and took some home with me to eat on my actual birthday. I ended up eating it immediately for breakfast and even shared some with my cat.

This year I won’t be able to get home until right before Thanksgiving to celebrate my birthday, so I am cake less. Hence the decision to make myself a cake! After a lot of deliberation in my mind of what cake to make, I remembered this recipe I used to make quite often while I was working as a Pastry Chef.

I found this recipe years ago and it is probably the strangest cake recipe I have ever found. Instead of a mixer, you use a food processor to blend everything. Instead of being a know it all though, I decided to give it a shot in the food processor. As long as everything is room temperature, the cake comes out beautiful! It’s light and fluffy and has a great texture to it. The original recipe also calls for only 1 tsp of fresh orange zest. This irks me about recipes. Do you know how annoying it is to zest citrus and then figure out how much you actually have? My motto is, just zest the whole fruit. It’s not going to kill you. In fact, it will probably make your dish extra delicious.

The original recipe is also paired with a sour cream chocolate frosting. I did not love the frosting, so I am pairing it with my favorite chocolate frosting: chocolate cream cheese frosting. Its super easy to make and the cream cheese helps add some texture as well as great flavor to the frosting.

The Cake

2 Cups Cake Flour
1/3 Cup Cornstarch
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/3 Cup Sugar
Zest of 1 Large Orange
8 oz Unsalted Butter, cut into cubes
1/2 Cup Whole Milk
3 Eggs, Lightly Beaten
2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1-2 TB Cocoa Powder (for dusting)

NOTE: Bring your butter, eggs and milk to room temperature before mixing.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe 
Grease two- 8 inch cake pans with pan spray and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
Bake : 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes

The Cake:
1. Combine your milk, eggs and vanilla. Whisk together until the eggs are completely broken up. Set aside.
2. In a food processor add your flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Pulse a few times to combine everything (pulsing also helps add some air to your dry ingredients, which will help the cake rise in the oven).
3. Add your sugar and fresh orange zest and pulse 3 or 4 times to get everything mixed together.
4. Add your softened butter and pulse until butter is in pea size pieces.
5. Add your liquid ingredients and mix (not pulse) until the batter comes together and is smooth and creamy.
6. Pour batter evenly into two 8-inch cake pans and bake until a toothpick in the center of the cake comes back clean.
7. Once done, let the cakes cool on a baking rack.

The Frosting:
Make the frosting and set aside at room temperature until ready to use.

Assembling the Cake:
1. Remove the cakes from the pans and make sure to remove the parchment paper on the bottom of the cake.
2. Place on cake layer on a large plate or cake stand.
3. Fill a large piping bag 3/4 of the way full with your Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. Cut about 1/2 of the pastry bag, at the tip, off in a straight line making a medium size hole. Starting in the center of the cake, working in a circular fashion, pipe the frosting in a spiral from center to the edges of the cake. Stop piping when you are about 1/2 inch away from the sides of the cake.
4. Top the cake with the second layer of cake and press down. Your frosting should start to move outwards, filling in any gaps of space between the tow layers of cake.
5. Repeat frosting steps on second layer of cake.
6. With a large off set spatula, smooth out the frosting until it covers the entire top of the cake and do the same around the sides.
7. With a fine mesh sifter, sprinkle your reserved cocoa powder over the top of cake for an elegant but simple garnish.

ENJOY!

Original recipe found here