Fresh Orange Cake with Walnut Buttercream Frosting

I'm not afraid to admit that I'm obsessed with cake. It is my weakness er...[one of] my weakness[es]. That said, this is my most favorite cake of all.  I found the recipe in my favorite cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens Best Loved Community Recipes. The cookbook was a gift to me from Quenton when we were dating "just because" he knew I loved to cook. It is one of those well used and well loved cookbooks that is now completely falling apart and has food splattered on all of my favorite pages. 

Happy 35th Birthday to me!

I made my favorite cake for myself when we were living in Krakow, Poland in 2009.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 cup shortening 
• 1 tablespoon or more of grated rind of 1 orange 
• 3/4 cup milk 
• 1/4 cup juice of the orange 
• 2 eggs

Ingredients: 

Filling and Frosting:

• 1 cup milk 
• 5 tablespoons sifted cake flour 
• 1/2 cup shortening 
• 1/2 cup butter softened 
• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts 
• 1/2 to 1 cup sifted powdered sugar 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8-inch round baking pans. Set aside.
2. To make the cake: Sift the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add the shortening and the grated orange rind.
3. Add the milk and the orange juice to the dry ingredients and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add the eggs; beat for an additional 2 minutes.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake in the 350 oven about 25 minutes or until the cake tests done with a wooden toothpick.
5. Cool 10 minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the pans (may stick on bottom). Cool the layers on racks.
6. To make the filling and frosting: Blend the milk and cake flour in a saucepan. Cook over meduum-low heat to a very thick paste, stirring constantly. Cool to lukewarm about 40 minutes (tip: if I'm in a hurry I scrape it out onto a plate and spread it out a bit so it cools faster).
7. Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, cream the shortening and butter with the 1 cup granulated sugar and salt.
8. Add the lukewarm paste to the shortening mixture and beat with electric mixer on high speed until fluffy.
9. Stir in vanilla. *Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture. Fold the nuts into the remaining mixture. **Spread 1 1/2 cups of the mixture between the cake layers.
10. Add the powdered sugar to the remaining mixture and beat vigorously with a spoon to desired consistency. Frost top and sides of cake.

* Use the reserved 3/4 cup of frosting to seal in the crumbs. First, brush off as many crumbs as you can by hand. Then, spread the sides of the cake with a thin smooth coat of frosting. This layer will help seal in any stray crumbs. Finally, spread a thicker layer of frosting over the thin layer, swirling the frosting decoratively.

** If the filling and frosting is a little soft, add some sifted powdered sugar until it is just the right spreading consistency.