Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day

Ever have this happen? You pick your kids up form school and one of them tell you that you need to make something for them for their in school party and - oh yeah it's tomorrow? And another - oh yeah - I would really like you to make that cake you make! Immediately the other one chimes in - oh me too!!! So what I thought was going to be a nice quiet Wednesday night on the home front is not! I did what any Mom out there would do...I made cake X 2!

It was really simple actually. I have been loving the taste of the super easy orange cake that I made last week and the week before that so it was a no brainer as to what I was going to do. My youngest daughter has a sensitivity to red dye so I also knew that she needed to have something that wasn't full of it...no red velvet cake for her!!!

This cake is so versatile. So far I have made a layer cake, bundt cake and now heart cakes using the same recipe. Up until now though I have just been topping it with a glaze but with it being Valentine's Day and all I thought I would make a nice orange icing to go on top. My youngest daughter's is the cake on the right without icing all the way around (less icing for the young ones is a good thing and they don't miss it!). I sprinkled them with some little nonpareils and colored sugar.

Orange Frosting (will frost 2 cakes)

1/2 C. butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla
6 C. powdered sugar ( sifted)
1/2 C. fresh squeezed orange juice
zest of 2 oranges

Beat butter with vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the sifted powdered sugar, adding a small amount at a time. Add a few Tbs of the orange juice and all of the orange zest. Beat and add more orange juice as needed to make the frosting spreadable.

Not too bad for a last minute treat!!!
Cake X 2

The spoils...great for my new composter!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

4 comments:

Danni said...

They look so cute!! You are fortunate that your schools still let you bring homemade treats. It's packaged-only on our end of the country.

And...what new composter?! Have you posted about this and I missed it? Pictures, too?

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

I think because our school is a Montessori school they like the natural way...not so many packaged goods. My youngest one can also not have red dye so I try and bake her something that she likes that doesn't have it in it!

Susan @ SGCC said...

Boy, I have sure been in that situation before! My daughter is always volunteering me for things. Your cakes look great. I'll bet they were a big hit.

My husband loves his composter. He is constantly raiding the trash for scraps!

Anonymous said...

Those are so cute. I was having a fantasy of baking all kinds of stuff for Valentines day with my new Baking with Dorie Cookbook but it didn't come til Saturday! lol Glad you were in there making something. The school our kids go to you are not allowed to home make anything and send it.