Orange Dreamsicle Mini Cake Recipe

The second set of mini cakes was Orange Dreamsicle, and I wasn't as happy with these as the lemon ones, but others at the wedding shower thought they were just wonderful so maybe it was just me. Here's the recipe:

Orange Dreamsicle Mini Cakes
Baker's Joy flour/oil spray for dusting pans
2 boxes of plain yellow cake mix (with NO pudding added)
1/2 cup of flour (for high altitude only)
1 1/2 cups of Miracle Whip salad dressing
2 envelopes of Dream Whip mix
1 1/2 cups of orange juice from 4 or 5 medium oranges
6 large eggs
4 tablespoons of freshly grated orange zest (from oranges above)
2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 cup of reserved orange juice
2 tsp. orange extract
Buttercream frosting (recipe on Thursday)
Orange marmalade, warmed in microwave

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and get out two mini cheesecake pans with removable bottoms (to bake 24 at a time) and the Baker's Joy. Put a gallon Ziploc bag into a medium bowl with the bag sides folded over in an open cuff, and have a pair of scissors handy.

Wash and dry the oranges, then grate the zest off. Cut the oranges in half and ream the juice from them, removing all seeds and stringy parts. Save 1/2 cup of the juice for the glaze.

Into the mixing bowl dump the two cake mixes, a 1/2 cup of flour if you are at a high altitude, the Miracle Whip, Dream Whip mix, orange juice, orange zest, and eggs. Mix on low for 30 seconds, stop and scrape to make sure it's all mixed together, then mix for another 2 minutes on medium speed. Stop the mixer, scrape the bowl thoroughly, and pour the batter into the open Ziploc bag. Zip the bag closed.

Spray each little well of the pans with the Baker's Joy, then snip 1/2 inch off one corner of the Ziploc bag full of batter. Carefully pour each mini cup about 1/2 full of batter, wiping up any drips. Put the Ziploc bag back into the medium bowl it was sitting in earlier, this time holding the cut tip up so the batter doesn't run out. Bake the mini cakes for 14 minutes (or so) until a toothpick comes out fairly clean. Remove from oven and let sit on cooling racks for about 10 minutes, then pop cakes out and remove little bottoms before sitting cakes on racks to completely cool. Wash the pans and bottoms then dry and spray with Baker's Joy again. Repeat process again to make 48 cakes. If you have extra batter left over you can either put it into a small pan (like 8 inch) and bake for eating later or just throw it out.

When all 48 cakes are cool, put the powdered sugar into the mixing bowl with the reserved orange juice, add the orange extract, and beat with a whisk until thoroughly combined. Dip each cake into this glaze and set back on racks (they will drip off the excess). When glaze is firm, then put a dot of buttercream on each glass coaster, then put a cake on the frosting. These cakes were covered on the sides with a striped basket tip, then a ring of stars around the top and bottom finished them up. I finished the presentation with a little tag that told what flavor the cake was slid under the edge of the frosting on the corner of the coaster. Put into a couple of huge, flat boxes with lids and refrigerate until ready to serve. Just before serving, warm the orange marmalade a bit and pipe a teaspoon onto the top of each cake.

TOMORROW: Luscious Lemon Curd Mini Cake Recipe!