Creamsicle Cake for the troops

Now that I am not working, I am able to do some volunteer things that I did not have time or make time for previously. One such occasion was simply to bake a cake and hang out with some Airmen. My husband's squadron will have "crew feeds" from time to time. These are often organized by the spouses. The most recent one included a contest for best dish and was called Crocks for Crews. Everyone could sign up to bring a crockpot meal or a dessert. I chose dessert since I am not confident enough in my cooking ability to force other people to eat my savory dishes. I thought and thought about what dessert to make. There are soooo many great options! I had recently ordered some essential oils including a tangerine essential oil. I thought it would be fun to make something with it. So I decided on a creamsicle cake. It turned out to be delicious! I'm going to have to make it again sometime soon.

The cake is just a basic vanilla cake, made from scratch using a recipe from the blog I Am Baker. Of course I found it on Pinterest. This recipe is neat because you can mix the dry ingredients together ahead of time and store in a mason jar or another container. Then when you are ready for some cake, you just add a few extra ingredients and bake.

The frosting is my favorite Betty Crocker vanilla buttercream with a few drops of tangerine essential oil.

Creamsicle Cake

Ingredients for cake
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 T vegetable oil
1 stick butter, softened
1 T vanilla
3 large eggs

Ingredients for frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 drops of tangerine essential oil (orange essential oil would also work)
1 1/2 t vanilla
1  to 2 T milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place softened butter in bowl and mix on medium for 1 to 2 minutes.

Place dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) in bowl with butter and combine for 30 seconds.

Add milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium-high for one minute.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake. For 9 inch pans, bake for 20-25 minutes. For cupcakes, start checking around 15 minutes. (I used a 13x9 inch pan and had to bake for longer than 25 minutes... I can't remember the exact time, but I did it in small increments and checked using my cake tester). Cool before frosting.

To make frosting, mix powdered sugar and butter in bowl with mixer on low speed. Stir in essential oil, vanilla and milk (starting with 1 tablespoon and adding more, as needed). I usually have to add more than 2 tablespoons of milk for the right consistency.