Orange Crunch Cake

Have you eaten something at a restaurant and thought you had to duplicate it at home? While on vacation in Captiva, my sister-in-law told us about a place called The Bubble Room; it's a very unique restaurant and they have amazing desserts.  Although we did not eat dinner there, we did visit twice to get dessert! The first night I picked their famous Moist Chocolate Cake although the Orange Crunch was recommended to me.  The Orange Crunch looked amazing but Chocolate was calling my name.  The Chocolate Cake was great but two nights later when we returned I took home the best piece of cake I have ever had-THE ORANGE CRUNCH! WOW, the chocolate cake did not compare to this amazing cake! So moist with the sweet taste of orange and the crunch-what's better than walnuts and brown sugar!? The icing was my favorite part. It resembled a less firm, almost fondant texture but unlike fondant this icing was good (I have never met a fondant icing I liked, always tastes like cardboard to me).  It was firm yet creamy with just the right amount of orange flavor. I knew I had to make this at home.  I did a google search and found many recipes, all about the same but what concerned me was the icing.  I looked and looked but didn't find an icing recipe that I thought would be the right one, but I tried it anyway.  Although the cake I made was very good, it was not exactly like the one from the Bubble Room :(  No worries, I will continue my search and when I hit the jack pot I will be sure to let you know! But, until then, here is my closest version of the Orange Crunch Cake from the Bubble Room.

Finished Product

ingredients

The Crunch

Mixing Away

Put wax paper until the edge of your cake so you don't make a mess of your cake stand, I learned this tip from Ina Garten

So Yummy!

Orange Crunch Cake

 Printable Recipe

adapted from  Food.com (I doubled this to make 3 layers & had extra left over)

Crunch Layer:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 cup butter, melted   

Cake:

2 yellow cake mixes

1 cup water

1 cup orange juice

 2/3 cup vegetable oil  

6 eggs

4 tablespoons orange zest

Frosting:

 2 (16 ounce) can vanilla frosting

 2 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

6 tablespoons orange zest

2 teaspoon lemon zest

1. Combine crunch layer ingredients. Press 1/3 into each bottom of 3 greased and floured 8" or 9" pans.
2. In stand mixer, blend cake ingredients at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 mins at high speed. Pour into pans.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes Cool 10 minutes Remove from pans and cool completely. 
4. In a large bowl (or stand mixer), mix frosting & topping. Fold in lemon & orange zest.
5. Place one layer, crunch side up, on plate. Spread with 1/3 frosting. Repeat two times and enjoy!

I need some icing lessons :)

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I must give a shout out to my Kentucky Wildcats for winning the SEC tournament!