Make your Easter Sunday perfect with this luscious three layer Easter orange cake. Flavourful bright layers and silky, colourful vanilla buttercream will satisfy anyone who has a sweet tooth. A small little Easter nest, colourful candy eggs and the bluish colour make it a real eye-catcher.
I love to bake, to try new things and I love cakes. Every time I decide to make a cake, I want something different from a previous one, that I’ve made. Some of my favourite ones are the blueberry buttermilk cake, this beautiful apple cinnamon cheesecake, the hazelnut chocolate cake, the amazing olive oil orange cake and the Christmas fruit cake enriched with cherry liqueur. Yummy! This time I decided on a layered cake with candied orange and buttercream.
This cake uses three layers. They are soft, with an orange flavour and candied orange peels for some texture. I sprinkled some of these over the buttercream layer, too. Now, when making a three-layered cake, your cake sponge needs to be high enough to get three layers out of it.
However, you can also use two cake pans or springforms or even a combo of a form and a baking sheet. When using a baking sheet, you have to make sure to spread the batter (not too thin and not too thick) enough to be able to cut out the form you’ll like to have. I used a circle. Therefore, I used a springform (because I only have one) and a baking sheet.
And now it is time to create layers. To easily cut the cake into layers, the cake should be chilled. Cutting a freshly baked cake would be a disaster. In other words, the cake would crumble or fall apart. Therefore, chill it completely!
To keep the cake layers together and to add some more flavour and colour to the cake, I used this lovely French buttercream. It’s silky smooth and made with whole eggs. Also, it’s super easy to make and it tastes delicious.
In addition, to keep your cake stander clean, place some pieces of parchment paper on it before putting your cake together. As a result, your stand will stay clean after you do the frosting, by simply removing the paper from under the cake. Wonderful!
There are two things that give this cake a real Easter touch. Firstly, the brown spots and secondly, the nest. I love those small dark brown spots on the cake. They are a lovely touch. And, it is such fun creating those. It’s brought me back to my childhood. I used to paint with this technique, using a toothbrush and watercolours. It’s a mess, but fun. Wink.
More, creating a nest or straw is very easy. The best way to make edible straw is to use phyllo dough. This dough is so thin, thinner than paper, and therefore perfect for this task. And, it only needs a couple of minutes to bake and get golden.
In order to allow the cake to set, it needs to be in the fridge. Therefore, make sure, your cake stander and cake will fit in the fridge. I had to rearrange the shelves a bit. Wink.
Ingredients for a three layer Easter orange cake (Ø 20 cm):
- 1 whole egg
- 80 g sugar
- 16 g vanilla sugar
- 1 tsp of vanilla paste
- 100 ml of olive oil
- 60 ml of sunflower oil
- 200 ml of whipping cream
- 80 ml buttermilk
- 10 drops of orange aroma (depending on your taste)
- 250 g flour
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- two pinches of salt
- 50 g candied orange peels
- 2 egg whites
- around 700 g French buttercream
- half a tsp of brown food colour
- 1-2 leaves of phyllo dough (garnish)
- candy eggs (garnish)
To begin, preheat the oven to 180º C and start to separate the eggs. Then, combine one whole egg, sugar, vanilla sugar, vanilla paste, olive oil, sunflower oil, whipping cream, buttermilk and orange aroma in a larger bowl. Blend it, using a hand mixer (or a stand mixer), until well combined.
In the second bowl, put together flour, baking powder and salt. Give it a quick stir and mix one third at a time into the egg batter. Once the flour is completely incorporated, fold in the candied orange peels.
In another bowl, whip the egg whites until firm peaks. Again, adding a bit at a time, fold it into the batter.
Slightly grease the sides of the springform (or baking pan Ø 20 cm) and line the bottom with parchment paper. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, too. Now, pour two-thirds of the batter into the springform and spread the remaining batter evenly (around 8 mm thin, a bit bigger than Ø 20 cm) on the baking sheet.
Furthermore, put in the oven and bake for 15-25 minutes. The batter in the springform will take longer. Therefore, once the batter on the baking sheet is baked, remove it from the oven, but leave the springform in until baked completely through.
Once also the cake is baked (do the check with a wooden skewer), remove it from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes while in the form. Then, remove it from the form and flip it upside-down on a wire rack. Leave it to cool completely. Now it’s time to make the French buttercream.
Afterwards, cut the cake into layers. Start with cutting off the top of the cake, in order to make it straight. With a serrated knife cut a thin top layer off. Then, measure the cake’s height and divide it by two or three to determine the height of each layer. Carefully cut the layers, making them as even as possible.
Then, place some overlapping pieces or larger stripes of parchment paper on the cake stand leaving the middle empty (to keep your stand clean) and place the first cake layer (the bottom layer from the springform) on it. As next, pipe the French buttercream, thick as the cake layer, on it, followed by another cake layer and buttercream.
At this point, add some candied orange peels, place the last cake layer on top and pipe the remaining buttercream on top and sides of the cake. With a spatula and a scraper try to make the sides and top straight and even as possible. Start with the sides, by slowly rotating the cake and smoothing the buttercream. Then, smooth out the top with slow movements going from outside towards the middle of the cake.
Once you are satisfied with your cake, carefully place it in the fridge for at least one hour.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170º C and take one or two sheets of phyllo dough (keep the rest for another recipe). Quickly brush each sheet with some olive oil or sesame oil, roll it up on the short side to get a form of a cigar. More, with a sharp knife cut it, crosswise, into thin (2-4 mm) strips.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper spread the “strips” on it and put to bake on the middle-low rack for about 5 minutes or until golden and crispy. Then, remove them from the oven and let them cool down completely.
In the meantime, mix the brown food colouring with 2-3 drops of water. With a toothbrush (obviously one that you don’t use), create the spray effect on the cake, by dipping it into the colour and then gently running your thumb along the bristles.
Now you can remove the parchment stripes from under the cake. With the phyllo dough create a nest on top of the cake and arrange the rest of it around the cake. Finally, nicely place the candy eggs in the nest and around the cake as well.
In conclusion, serve this luscious three layer Easter orange cake on the upcoming Easter holiday, on a birthday or any other celebration. It’s a real eye-catcher and will most definitely satisfy everyone with a sweet tooth around you.
I wish you all a lovely springtime and a happy Easter.
Enjoy!
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas on how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
