Orange butter cake

She likes plain cakes.
That was what my sister told me when I volunteered to bake a cake for my little niece's birthday. What a tall order. I was thinking of a repeat performance of my carrot cake, a cheesecake or maybe even a red velvet cake. But no ... a plain cake.

What was I do to but to crack my head and think. Chocolate cake, butter cake, vanilla cake?
Butter cake won hands down even though I'm not much of a butter fan. I never crave butter ever. But hmm ... butter cake with orange zest? Even my heart sighed with contentment because it sounded so perfect. I could already smell the tangy fragrance in my head even before I started baking.

Here's my adaptation of orange butter cake that I got from the Little Teochew's recipe. I love tested-and-working recipes. 

Ingredients: 
For the cake:
7 oz all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz butter, softened
8 oz sugar
1 large egg, plus one large egg yolk
1 1/2 tbsp orange zest
12 tbsp whole milk

For the frosting:
6 Tbsp butter, softened
250g icing sugar
2 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated orange zest

Directions:

Baking the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius. Butter and line a 9-inch* cake pan.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Using a mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until fluffy for about about 2 minutes.
4. Beat in orange zest, then egg and egg yolk. If the mixture curdles, just add 1 tbsp of flour and continue mixing.
5. On low speed, add flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with milk.
6. Switch mixer to medium and beat for 10 to 15 seconds, just until batter appears uniform. The batter should look thick and creamy.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with spatula or knife.
8. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until it reaches a dark-gold color and an inserted cake tester comes out clean.
9. Let to rest in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cake stand or platter. Allow cake to completely cool before slicing.

Preparing the frosting:
1. Cream butter until smooth.
2. Gradually beat in icing sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in 2 tablespoons orange juice to bring to spreading consistency.
4. Stir in vanilla and 1 teaspoon orange zest. Spread over cooled cakes.

In the spirit of all things birthdays, here's my attempt on a birthday cake which for some reason turned out to be more wedding-like instead. I frosted my three tiers with frosting and then proceeded to cover the frosting with fondant. I spent my entire Saturday afternoon just getting this cake ready and it wasn't quite my best work unfortunately, but still quite alright for my first attempt of decorating a cake this big. The birthday girlie was happy though, and that's the important part. :)