This time of year, my refrigerator is full of citrus. I buy every kind I can find and make my family eat oranges daily. It’s my simple way of keeping their vitamin C intake at the right level, especially during cold and flu season. If we get sick less, great. Regardless, we get to enjoy some wonderful fruit.
I discovered Cara Cara oranges last winter. I saw a bag at the store and thought I would see how we liked them. It was fun to peel them and see the PINK interior! It’s a big surprise considering the outside looks like a regular navel orange. The flavor was a nice combination of tangy and sweet. The fact that they are seedless, was just one more thing to love. My kids are decidedly annoyed by seeds. What I did not tell my family was that each orange contains a whopping 150% of the RDA of Vitamin C. These babies were perfect for my winter arsenal!
Today I made up a lovely orange curd using some Cara Cara oranges. The color was not a deep orange because of the pink flesh. I thought about adding some orange food coloring, but why? The flavor was lovely and they are known for their unexpected color, so I nixed the artificial colors.
Really, this is a very basic cake. I cheated everywhere I could. Cake mix and frozen whipped topping kept this easy and quick. I made the orange curd a few days before the cake. I would recommend at least a day to let the curd cool down and thicken up.
1. Info for Have You Tried A Cara Cara Orange?
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins
- Servings: 8
- Calories: 756kcal
2. Ingredients for Have You Tried A Cara Cara Orange?
- 1 yellow cake mix and eggs, oil and water to make it according to package directions
- 1 cup chopped white chocolate (chips or bar)
- 1 8oz container Cool Whip or other frozen whipped topping, thawed
- 1 3.5 oz bar white chocolate, melted
- Orange Curd:
- 3 whole eggs
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- dash salt
3. Directions:
- Make cake mix according to package instructions.
- Stir in orange extract and chopped white chocolate.
- Bake in two 8 or 9 inch round pans according to package instructions.
- Let cool completely before assembling the cake.
- Make orange curd by placing orange juice, butter, eggs, maple syrup and salt in a double boiler.
- Over medium heat (and boiling water), stir mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes.
- Pour into a jar and refrigerate until completely cold.
- To assemble cake, place one layer of cake on a plate.
- Top with all of the orange curd.
- Place second layer on top of the orange curd.
- Mix Cool Whip and melted chocolate (mixture will become a bumpy strange texture)
- Frost entire cake with white chocolate Cool Whip.
- Garnish with orange zest, if desired.