ORANGE KISS ME CAKE (1950 WINNER)

Orange Kiss Me Cake (1950 Winner) image

This was written in a hand other than my mother's but the writer's name is not on it. From doing research I found that it is the winner of the 1950 Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. Lily Wuebel from Redwood City, CA. created this one and probably named it after the Broadway musical "Kiss Me Kate" which had opened in 1948. There are...

Provided by Marcia McCance

Number Of Ingredients 18

Ingredients

GRIND TOGETHER AND SET ASIDE:
1 large orange (pulp and rind) reserve juice for topping
1 c raisins (any kind)
1/3 c walnuts (pecans are ok, too)
CAKE BATTER:
2 c sifted ap flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c sugar
1/2 c butter
1 1/4 c milk (divided)
2 whole eggs, unbeaten
TOPPING:
juice from above orange
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c chopped walnuts
1 orange -- sliced very thin for decorating

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F -- makes 12x8x2 or 13x9x2 cake -- Grease and lightly flour baking pan -- For best results all ingredients should be room temperature
2. Juice the orange and set aside for the topping.
3. GRIND the orange pulp and rind in a grinder or food processor along with the raisins and walnuts
4. SIFT together the flour, soda, salt and sugar Note: If you use Self Rising flour omit the salt and decrease the soda to 1/4 teaspoon.
5. ADD the butter and 3/4 cup of the milk
6. Beat for 2 minutes on slow speed, then beat 2 minutes at medium speed
7. ADD the eggs and the rest of the milk (1/2 C) and beat for 2 more minutes
8. FOLD in the orange/raisin/nut mixture then pour into well-greased and lightly floured pan
9. Bake 350 F for 40-50 minutes
10. DRIZZLE the orange juice over the warm cake (probably about 1/3 of a cup)
11. COMBINE topping ingredients and sprinkle them over the cake
12. DECORATE with very thin orange slices and let it finish cooling -- some people do not like the orange slices on the cake so they simply leave them off -- up to you.
13. ALTERNATIVE #1: Some people are more sensitive to the taste of the ground up orange rind with the pith which is what adds the slightly bitter after taste, for them, so they substitute the following for the ground up pulp and rind: 2 tsp grated orange zest, 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
14. ALTERNATIVE #2: Some people simply use 6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed, divided -- instead of the orange, or the zest -- this would make preparation much speedier, too. I think it would also lack a little in flavor and texture, but would certainly not be "bad."
15. ALTERNATIVE #3: Kathryn May 4, 2012 at 8:25 PM said: my mom had this same recipe... almost. All the ingredients are identical except the nut topping in her recipe called for: 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, and 1 tsp vinegar. Mixing them together makes a crumbly topping you sprinkle over the top while still warm after drizzling the OJ concentrate. The topping is fabulous! This was my favorite cake growing up - I would ask for it every birthday when younger until I discovered german chocolate cake. I still make this several times/year to take to work as a coffee cake for early morning meetings - it is gone in minutes.