1tsporange blossom extractyou can substitute this with orange juice if you want, or even vanilla
1TBSPorange juice.
2TBSPorange zest
Instructions
Cake
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Prepare 2- 9″ cake tins by buttering the tins, placing a round of parchment paper in the bottom, butter that, and then flour the sides, shaking off the excess flour. Set aside.
With a mortal and pestle or food processor, grind the tea (take the tea out of the bags if you are using them) into you get smaller pieces. You don’t want it to be a powder, but you don’t want to be chewing your cake, either.
In a small saucepan, scald your milk until just barely simmering. Turn the heat off and add the tea. Allow to steep while you prepare the cake.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add half of the dry mixture to the butter and mix until just combined.
Add the milk and tea mixture and mix until just combined.
Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overstir!
Divide the batter equally amongst the 2 prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating the pans halfway and testing with a toothpick.
Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then turn out on a wire rack.
Simple Syrup
Into a small bowl, zest an orange. Set aside.
Squeeze the juice of an orange into a measuring cup.
Remove 1 TBSP of the juice for the frosting, and set aside.
You want to have a 1/2 cup of liquid for the simple syrup, so if your orange falls a little short, just add water until you get 1/2 cup.
Combine the juice/water and the sugar into a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
Using a pastry brush, brush the simple syrup over the tops and sides of the cakes. This will help seal in moisture.
Cool the cakes completely before frosting.
Frosting
In a large bowl, mix together the butter, orange zest, and orange blossom extract until all lumps are gone.
Add the milk and slowly mix until incorporated.
Slowly, adding about 1/2 cup of sugar at a time, mix in the powdered sugar.
Once all the sugar is in, cream on high for 2 minutes with an electric mixer.
Mix in the orange juice.
Assembly
Place one cake upside down on a cake pedestal (so that the flat bottom is facing up).
Stir the orange marmalade until it becomes very spreadable, and then evenly spread it on the top (well, bottom, really) of the cake.
Place the other cake round on top of the marmalade.
Frost!
Enjoy!
Notes
(I like to keep my cake covered in the fridge to allow the buttercream to harden. That’s the way I like it!)