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| What do you get what you marry the concepts of Paula Deen's Is it Really Better Than Sex Cake and a Mandarin Orange cake? This delectable treat! |
Fresh Citrus Cake
These are the two cakes that stuck out in my mind when I had several pounds of tangerines left that I needed to use and I knew I wanted to use them to make some sort of a cake. So I took the two concepts and created this Fresh Citrus Not Better Than Sex Cake But Pretty Darned Good. Hey, don't look at me ... I didn't name it that originally.Now first, I used the fresh tangerines because I had them and needed to use them, but absolutely substitute canned mandarin oranges! Keep it easy y'all.
Now, I do have to put in a disclaimer here for my local readers, since I can hear y'all saying "that is not a Better Than Sex Cake Mary."
Yes, I do realize that Paula Deen's "Is it Really Better Than Sex Cake" is nothing like the similar named "Chocolate Sin Lush Cake aka Better than Sex Cake" (that I did not name by the way) we know and love down here in this part of the south. Our "Better Than Sex Cake" always involves chocolate and nuts and cream cheese and Cool Whip and a few other ingredients, none of which are actual "cake." You can find that delicious layered concoction right here and man oh man is it good.
For this cake here though, we'll start by getting the tangerines or oranges peeled, segmented and chopped up - do that over a bowl so that you catch all of the juices. Split that chore in half, because the first half of the chopped tangerines with their juices will be going right into the batter. Again... you can also substitute two large cans of mandarin oranges and save yourself all this work!
Beat the batter for two minutes and pour it into a prepared 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Whirl the remaining cleaned tangerines in the blender and set those aside.
After the cake has baked and cooled slightly, poke a bunch of holes in it with a fork. While the oven is hot, toast the coconut.
Pour the pureed tangerines over the top of the cake.
Cover the cake with the pudding mixture and put it into the fridge long enough for the cake to full cool. I didn't actually have a small package of vanilla pudding in the pantry, but I did have the larger 5.1 ounce, so I used my scale to weigh out 3.4 ounces from the larger pack. Problem is, I had no idea how to mix it at that point, but I settled on 1-1/2 cups of liquid, for which I used part milk and part half and half. It seemed to have worked.
Once cooled, whip up some heavy cream with a bit of vanilla and sugar, and spread that on top of the vanilla pudding layer.
Sprinkle the top with the toasted coconut.
And go ahead and top it all with some cherries. It just looks right.
Store leftovers in the fridge, where, by the way, it only gets better as it sits. You can certainly substitute lower fat products, any type of yellow cake mix you prefer, regular oranges or canned mandarin oranges in place of fresh tangerines, change the pudding flavor, and even substitute Cool Whip if you like. Make it your own!
For more of my favorite cake recipes, visit my page on Pinterest!
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