Orange Slice Cake

I love getting into the Christmas spirit by baking! This year, given the fact that it has been hard on everyone, with Covid – and house fire for us, I was personally really wanting/needing some quality baking time!…and what better way than to have a family Christmas cookie decorating party! So, I planned and hosted, a hopefully annual baking weekend, with part of my family…some of which we haven’t seen in over a year.

We baked so many different types of cookies – some being family tradition, and some that are just my favorite!

• My Mom’s Classic Sugar Cookies, my mom is like me, our best made meals are baked goods! That’s what happens when your gifted a never-ending sweet tooth!
• My Grandma’s Gingerbread Boy Cookies, this recipe is one of my most favorite to make with my kids. We have created so many awesome memories making these on a yearly basis
• German Fruit Cake, a hand-me down recipe through the generations of my husband’s family
• Snowball Cookies aka Mexican Wedding Cookies, a fun recipe I started making with my kids a few years ago

Growing up, we would visit my grandma (who lived just shy of 101 this past year), and she would always have a spread of baked goodies that she had made on her dining room table. My brother loved her Gingerbread Boy cookies and my sister loved her Orange Slice Cake.

My sister searched her recipe collection and found our grandma’s orange slice cake recipe that she had written down on her church’s letterhead one time when we visited years ago. When she and I went over the recipe to gather the ingredients, we got hung up on one ingredient: a can of coconut. To me, a can of coconut means coconut milk, but I knew that if we added coconut milk, the mixture would be waaaay too watery and wouldn’t be right. The recipe is old and through some research of calling our aunt and looking at other orange slice cake recipes, we realized that the way ingredients used to be packaged are different from years (and years) ago to now. So a can of coconut = coconut flakes!

p.s. yes, I’m totally just showing off my brand new marble counters here! lol I’ll formerly introduce them soon! ;-p

The recipe yields enough for two loaf pans.

My sister and I had so much fun recreating the recipe and devouring it with our parents and brother.

It was so so so nice to just be with family. After a year from no-fun land { house fire and Covid}, a weekend full of laughs was just what the soul needed! It is moments like this, when you realize that growing up kind of sucks, especially when real life kicks in and dishes you circumstances that you would NEVER vote for or wish on your worst enemy! … but I guess you need those crappy times to appreciate all of the good in your life and world! Plus, it helps if you have a great family to share it with – to help you through those tough times….and recipes that have been shared through the generations with love!

Wishing you all an orange slice cake kind of recipe to bring a little cheer to your life! Enjoy an old family recipe that takes you back to the good ol’ days!

· In: Christmas, Dessert, Featured Article, Holidays, Recipes