California Citrus Cake {a recipe}

This is the last in a series of posts from my simple party. Will you miss them? Ah, but there are so many other things to talk about too!

{Missed one? Here’s the party. The party plates {easy project to jazz up plain party plates}. The party favors {potted succulents}. The party beverage – Texas Tea.}

Here’s what I served – since it was just a simple dessert kind of party.

This cake.

Is.

Da bomb!

So, yeah, that’s probably soooo 1990′s, but whatevs. It’s that good.

Other than having to hang around the house for an hour or so while it bakes, this cake is so simple to make.

It’s my “go to” cake for potlucks or picnics or for bringing to my friends who just had babies. It’s so yummy!

I even eat it for breakfast. {No surprise there though…I’m a sweet-toothed kind of girl.} So maybe I should say, I eat this without guilt for breakfast. Not chocolate = okay for breakfast. Figure that logic out. Lol.

It’s also my “catastrophe cake.” Don’t know if I should be admitting that. Please don’t let that deter you. Trust me, all the catastrophes have been purely baker error, not cake error.
The catastrophes while making this cake over the years have included:

• Burning the thing to a crisp when my mom asked me to watch it {she was going to serve it to guests}. My dad totally saved the day by running me down to the store {apparently I was under 16 at the time} to get the ingredients so I could remake it. My mom was none the wiser {until I told her}.
• In my first year of marriage, exploding a glass pan of brownies while trying to make the glaze. I had turned on the wrong burner – oops. Our countertops bore permanent burn marks from hot pieces of glass.
• Knocking birthday candles into the batter while it was mixing. Clunk, clunk. They were yellow, so we’ll never know if I fished out all the pieces or not.
• Making it in my silicone pan for the first few times and not getting the cake done enough. Ooooooozing out everywhere when I turned it onto the cake plate.

However! Despite my multiple failed attempts over the years, I still love this cake! It says a lot if you still love something even after failing so many times, right?

Do you want to give the {catastrophic} California Citrus Cake a try?

Here you go! {There is a downloaded PDF at the end of this post for printing ease.}

California Citurs Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 small lemon instant pudding mix
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 stick {or 1/2 cup} butter, melted
• 3/4 cup water

Glaze:

• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Grease and flour either a bundt or tube pan.

Slighty beat your four eggs.

Melt your butter in the microwave {or whatever your prefered method of melting is}

Mix cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, melted butter, and water with a mixer until smooth.

Pour your batter into your prepared pan.

{Let your helper lick the spatula}

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until done. I check my cakes with a toothpick. You know the drill, when the toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, it’s done. Depending on your pan, it may not take a full hour, so you may want to check it around 45 minutes. I find with my silicone pan, that it tends to take a little longer.

Pull your cake out of the oven. And let it cool for a few minutes. Maybe 5 minutes? Not too long.

Then flip it out onto your serving dish.

And cool.

While the cake is cooling, make the glaze.

I listed the ingredients above, but I’ll put there here again.

Glaze:

• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Put the orange juice and powdered sugar into a pan and bring to a boil.

Let the glaze cool. You want it to be cool to the touch, but not so cool that it starts to harden.

After the cake and glaze are cool, I like to use a spoon and pour the glaze all over the cake. And that’s it!

Eat and enjoy!

{It’s even better the second day. Ask me how I know. I eat it for breakfast. }

California Citrus Cake Recipe {click here for a printable PDF}

{Linked to Tatertots and Jello, Skip to My Lou}