Cranberry-Glazed Orange Layer Cake

 It was my birthday a few days ago, I turned twenty-two.  I felt/feel old.  Oh how I will hate myself for saying that in eight years when I turn 30, or in ten years when I finish this project and I turn 32.  Thirty-two, can you believe it?!  I can't even imagine 23! My family and friends made my day very special and spoiled me absolutely rotten.  Some people think it is wrong to make your own birthday cake, but I argue it couldn't be more right for me! I love baking, and the only birthday cake I get full control over is my own.  I actually made this cake for my family and chocolate peppermint cupcakes for my friends.  Every last bit got eaten, for realz.

I knew that some of the cakes in this book were going to be harder to make than others, not technically, but convincing the birthday person that I should make them as birthday cakes.  Chocolate, peanut butter, anything with coffee or candy, or vanilla are easy sells, everyone wants those. But the folks I know don't seem to love citrus cakes.  I knew if I wanted to bake these, they'd be on my own time, so I chose a seasonal citrus cake for my own birthday.  It's an adult cake for sure.  It's not very sweet, cranberry and orange are the main flavours and I could not sell my little brother on a slice, but all the adults I shared it with loved it.  LOVED it!  The cake was not very pretty (though I've definitely made worse), but the flavours were spot on.  Light cake, zingy cranberries and a sweet brown sugar frosting.  I would eat a slice of this again!

Baking notes:
-I couldn't find orange extract in my little town, so instead I doubled the orange zest.  The flavour came through brilliantly.
-I baked the cakes in three 8 inch pans, which worked really well and kept the cakes from drying out.  I also didn't bake them for 35 minutes (I forgot to record how long I did bake them), I kept a close eye on them and took them out exactly when they were done.
-Other than that I followed the recipe closely and had great results.

The recipe for Cranberry-Glazed Orange Layer Cake can be found on the epicurious website.

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