Best Orange Creamsicle Layer Cake

Step 1: In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together the room temperature milk, egg whites, and extracts. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, rub together the orange zest and sugar. Then whisk in the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the vegetable oil. Use a hand mixer to combine the oil with the dry ingredients until they are evenly coated and no dry pockets of flour remain. The texture should be like wet sand. Add the milk mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Do not over mix. Pour the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for 34-37 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cakes. Cool for 20-30 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 2: Combine the milk, vanilla bean (or extract), and kosher salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat. Combine the granulated sugar and orange zest in a medium bowl. Rub the zest and sugar together between your fingers to express the oils and flavor from the zest. Add the egg yolks and whisk vigorously until light yellow and fluffy. Add flour and cornstarch and whisk until thoroughly combined and lightened in color even further. Very slowly stream in the warmed vanilla milk with a ladle while whisking vigorously to prevent cooking the eggs. Continue slowly adding in the milk mixture until it is all combined. Whisk in the orange juice.

Step 3: Place the mixture back into the medium saucepan over low heat and whisk constantly until the pastry cream has thickened to a pudding consistency (coats the back of a spoon). This can take 5+ minutes. Remove from the heat promptly pour into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve. Discard the solids in the sieve. Alternatively, transfer to a silicone- or plastic-lined baking sheet for faster cooling. Cover the surface of the pudding with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Place the bowl over a larger bowl with ice and place in the refrigerator to cool for at least 2 hours. If using a baking sheet, place it in the fridge without the ice for 30 minutes.

Step 4: Make the buttercream according to Serious Eats’ instructions, adding 2 teaspoon of orange blossom water at the end and mixing to combine. Remove the buttercream to another bowl. Add the room temperature cream cheese to the bowl the buttercream was just in. Beat on medium with the paddle attachment until the cream cheese is completely smooth. Add your swiss meringue buttercream to your cream cheese in thirds. Do not add your cream cheese to your swiss meringue buttercream. It will not mix in properly. Your frosting is ready to use as is, or you can add food coloring. I added orange food coloring.

Step 5: In a small bowl, add the gelatin and 3 tablespoons of water. Whisk to combine and let sit 5 minutes to bloom. Meanwhile heat 3 tablespoons of the heavy cream until hot either in a microwave or small saucepan. Add the bloomed gelatin to the hot cream and whisk to dissolve the gelatin completely. Let cool to room temperature. Whip the remaining heavy cream until stiff peaks in a stand mixer or with hand beaters. To the chilled the pastry cream, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix just until combined. Fold in the whipped cream, then the gelatin cream.

Step 6: Level the cake layers by cutting off any domed parts with a serrated knife that may have developed when baking. Cut each layer in half to make 4 cake layers. Put a small dollop of the buttercream on a serving plate or board (this will help the cake stick and not slide around). Place the first layer of cake on top. Pipe a tall, thick dam of buttercream around the top edge of the cake to keep the fillings in. Fill with a layer of orange cream and place the second layer of cake on top. Repeat with the remaining layers. Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of the buttercream to create a crumb coat to seal in any crumbs. Freeze for 5-10 minutes to seal this coating. When the crumb coat is set, pipe or dollop a thin layer frosting around the outside. Spread evenly with an offset spatula before scraping down the outside edge with a bench scraper. You may need to do this several times to get a smooth look. I find that keeping the bench scraper in a bowl of warm water before using it (drying it off in between) helped remove air bubbles on the outside and made smoothing even easier. If you need a visual on how to frost a traditional layer cake, check out this video. Garnish as desired. I piped lambeth-style accents on my cake.