Baking with Olivia and Caroline

This cake absolutely exudes spring with its sunny yellow and white marbled interior. Reminiscent of a daffodil – hence the name. Light, airy, and delicate, it feels like the perfect way to welcome warmer weather. After the winter we’ve had, it’s especially nice to enjoy food that both tastes and looks like spring.

While visiting my mom down south, we were brainstorming recipes that might be fun to share with y’all, and this was one she suggested. She told me that my paternal grandmother used to make this cake quite often back in the 1960s and 70s.

That sent us straight to her little recipe cabinet, which is always a treat to explore. It’s a small, well-worn two-drawer cabinet with cookbooks stacked on top and drawers below that house her recipe cards. This cabinet has clearly lived a long and useful life in her kitchen. The drawers are packed full and slide open with a familiar resistance, revealing oodles and oodles of recipe cards standing neatly in place. Some are written in her careful handwriting or typed, others in the looping script of friends and relatives. There are cards yellowed with age, magazine clippings trimmed just so and tucked into plastic sleeves, and newspaper recipes folded and refolded until the creases are permanent.

Everything is alphabetized, of course. My mom is one of the neatest, tidiest people I know – if only I had an ounce of her organization! My own recipes are scattered everywhere: in books, in drawers, in cabinets, and even by my bedside table. Going through hers feels like flipping through a family scrapbook, each card a reminder of a meal, a holiday spread, or a simple family gathering. So many of the dishes she cooked for us over the years are preserved there, tucked safely inside that little cabinet, waiting to be made again.

Trial, error and tweaking

Interestingly, this is one recipe I don’t actually remember my grandmother or my mother making. It was handwritten on a piece of stationery, with the ingredients listed but the instructions frustratingly vague. After researching this vintage recipe and discovering countless variations, I did a bit of tweaking of my own – and I think the result is truly delicious.

I chose to finish this cake with a light citrus glaze, but it’s wonderfully versatile. You could also serve it with freshly whipped cream and berries, a simple dusting of powdered sugar, or even a classic buttercream frosting.

And finally, a little behind-the-scenes moment: while preparing to photograph this cake, I removed it from the tube pan and stepped out of the kitchen to hunt for a cake stand from my laundry room cabinet (which is also extremely unorganized and houses far too many kitchen tools). That’s when I heard my dog, Ruby, being scolded by my boyfriend. Despite being quite small, she had managed to stand on her hind legs and take a huge chunk out of the cake, which was a little too close to the edge of the counter. If she were any bigger, she probably could’ve claimed the entire thing in one swift gulp! It’s a good thing I love her so much, because I was more than a little ticked off.

As always, enjoy!

Ingredients

• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 10 room temperature egg whites (use large eggs)
• 1¼ cups sugar, divided
• 1¼ cups sifted cake flour
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• ¼ teaspoon orange extract

Glaze

• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
•  1-2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice (you can add a little water as well to thin it out if it is too thick)
• 1 tablespoon orange zest

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 375° F.
• In a very clean mixing bowl, add the egg whites. Sprinkle with the salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla. Beat until the egg whites hold stiff peaks. Gradually add one cup of sugar, beating just until incorporated.
• Carefully fold in the sifted cake flour in four additions using a rubber spatula, folding gently until fully combined and no streaks remain.
• In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the orange zest until thick. Slowly add the remaining ¼ cup sugar and the orange extract, beating until the mixture becomes pale yellow.
• Fold about one third of the egg-white mixture into the yolk mixture to lighten it. Using large spoonfuls, fill an ungreased tube pan, alternating the white batter and the yellow batter to create a marbled effect.
• Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Invert the tube pan upside down (I place mine over a glass bottle) and allow the cake to cool completely. Once cooled, remove from the pan.
• To make the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, orange juice, and orange zest until smooth. Drizzle over the cake. Alternatively, frost with whipped cream, dust with powdered sugar, or finish with buttercream. •
• Olivia and Caroline are enthusiastic foodies and bakers who are constantly in the kitchen, as well as explorers who create their own adventures in our area – and did we mention they are mother and daughter? Follow Olivia on Instagram to see her many creations at @oliviawvalentine.