Orange & Almond ButterCream Cake with Berry Blossom Compote

HAPPY BLOG-O-VERSARY Chic & Gorgeous Treats! My tiny blog is now THREE years old. Has it been been 3 years? Boy, how time flies. It felt like it was only yesterday, I started this blog with no direction, filled with uninteresting photos. Part of growing up process and getting better at what I enjoy doing all this while...tapping in to my creative juices. Slowly developing into a precious diary...a log book... a journal of my baking, travel & photography adventure. A self discovery where I found solace, filled with tears of sorrow and joy a midst of my hectic days.

Part of being me, is my obsession towards Berries and Citrus. Orange, Almond ButterCream, Berries & Orange Blossom Water is such a wonderful combination when put together in a classic Orange Butter cake. Just a tiny drop into berry compote makes all the difference. Honestly, just a tiny drop, because Orange Blossom Water is quite strong and goes a long way.

Here's how I plan to celebrate after a long days work. A classy rustic ORANGE & ALMOND BUTTER CREAM CAKE with BERRY BLOSSOM COMPOTE.


This cake may looked like I put in hours to put together. I mean, after all it's a long week, I don't think I would like to slave in my kitchen for another 8 hours. So like most bakers out there, I am a huge fan of making everything from scratch, or at least some things.

However, I also have another tiny secret. I do keep some instant cake box mix in the pantry too. You know for those sudden craze and crave of wanting to bake something quick, and just being plain lazy to sift and measure out the ingredients, it sure comes in handy. Are you cringing your face >.< ?

Then again, who says instant cake box mix has to taste like a card board? I say put on your creative cap and think outside the box peeps. For this recipe, I used Pillsbury Yellow Butter Cake Mix. It's one of my favourite, and while I was a little girl, I started of with this handy dandy butter cake mix.

Here's what I did. I substituted the water with a mixture of whole milk, orange juice and added 1 1/2 large orange zest to the instant cake batter. For better aroma and flavour, I added 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. As for the other steps, bake at 177°C, between 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Set aside on a cooling rack to cool before transferring out of the cake pan.

For the Almond Butter cream, I whipped 1 stick of unsalted butter with 3/4 cups of sifted powdered sugar until light and fluffy. I then added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, and 1/3 cups of Almond Mill. Beat them until the Almond Butter cream is well combined.

To balance the flavours, I made my own Berry Blossom Compote. Really simple and delicious. I usually buy a lot of berries and stash them in the freezer until I need to use them. So for this, I used 3/4 cups of frozen blackberry, 1/4 cup of orange juice, 1 tablespoon of orange zest,  1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 4 tablespoons of caster sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of Orange Blossom Water. In a medium deep saucepan, and medium heat, combine all of the ingredients except the Orange Blossom Water. Let it simmer and mash the berries with a wooden spoon to help release the juices of the berry. Once sugar has fully melted, turn off the heat, let the compote cool down slightly and mix in the Orange Blossom Water.

Now to assemble, spoon a dollop Almond Butter cream, followed by Berry Blossom Compote and top with the next layer of cake repeating the same step. For the finishing touch, top the cake with heaps of fresh berries (Blackberries, Strawberries, Blueberries), drizzle extra Berry Blossom Compote and sprinkle some powdered sugar. Serve a slice of cake with English tea, or crisp fruity white wine and savoir every single bite. ENJOY!

xx