Orange Crunch Cake

Orange Crunch Cake: Bubble Room Copycat Version

Orange Crunch Cake

This copycat Orange Crunch Cake just like The Bubble Room is full of real orange flavor with a cream cheese frosting. It has a brown sugar and almond crunch nestled between the layers that elevates this cake to the next level.

Remember that time you burned yourself on your Easy Bake Oven, and ran crying to your mother? “Put some ice on it honey. You’ll be fine.” As you bolted… hysterical to the freezer, your dad yells out behind you, “Is the cake done?” Yeah, that time.

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Whoever thought of the idea of a light bulb baking a cake was pure genius. Dangerous, but brilliant none the less. Despite all our second and third degree childhood burns, we kept going back to our Easy Bake Ovens… bandaged and soldiering on.

Why? Because it held the end result that we all wanted. Sweet, glorious cake. Cake fixes everything!

This Orange Crunch Cake was inspired by the famous Bubble Room on Captiva Island along the west coast of Florida. When I first moved to Florida, my sister and her family often vacationed on Sanibel/Captiva Island. It was only a scenic 3 hour drive over from the east coast where I lived, through Alligator Alley on to Naples and then Fort Myers. I would visit them from time to time for a weekend.

We frequently went to The Bubble Room for dinner and my sister ALWAYS raved about the Orange Crunch cake. The Bubble Room is a quirky colorful little restaurant situated on Captiva Island. It’s well known for its mismatched christmas decorations, trains, vintage toys, and movie memorabilia crammed into every nook and cranny… top to bottom. Basically, it looks like anyone’s grandmother’s house, who may or may not have been a recovering hoarder.

May I make a suggestion? If you ever go there, some favorites to try are the flaming Socra cheese, Gone With The Fin grouper, and of course, all entrees come with their world famous Bubble Bread and sticky buns. Gosh, my mouth is waterin’ just thinking about all this delicious food.

Once you are stuffed to the gills, the Bubble Scouts (servers) bring around a tray of GINORMOUS desserts. If you pass this up, no matter how full you are, quite frankly, you’re not a true Bubble Room aficionado. Or better yet, you can get dessert to go. This keeps you from being a total loser and insulting the Bubble Scouts.

Cue Orange Crunch cake. No words can accurately describe the awesomeness of this cake. It’s unlike any cake you have probably ever eaten before. It’s a citrus-y moist yellow cake with a brown sugar & almond crunch nestled between the layers and covered with an orange flavored cream cheese buttercream frosting. Quite simply, to. die. for.

Orange Crunch Cake8

I have experimented baking this cake for well over three years now. Something was always a little off. The cake tasted fine. The crunch layers always seemed too crunchy! Almost like a toffee. I’ve since figured out it was the butter added to the mixture that was creating the problem.

It wasn’t until I stumbled upon the baker of the famous desserts, Katie Gardenia, online, when I discovered Katie was one of the owner’s of The Bubble Room and would bake her desserts at her North Captiva home and bring them by boat over to the restaurant. How quaint is that?

Katie no longer owns The Bubble Room. She sold it in 1989 to concentrate on her art, but she published a coffee table book of her art and original recipes, appropriately called A Bubble Moment.

The recipes are a collection of stories and the many dishes and desserts the restaurant is well known for. I haven’t purchased the book yet, but the sleuth in me led me to someone who has the book and posted the recipe in a forum.

Turns out, I wasn’t that far off and only had to make a few minor adjustments. Mr. Kitchen Prescription and I enjoyed this cake for Easter dessert. By far the best success yet! The original recipe calls for boxed cake, but I’m just not a fan of boxed cake mixes, for various reasons, but feel free to use which ever you desire. The end result will still be sweet glorious cake!

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Orange Crunch Cake:

Begin by preheating the oven to 325 degrees and toast slivered blanched almonds on a lined baking sheet until light golden brown and aromatic. Cool almonds for 5 minutes. Pulse the graham crackers & toasted almonds in food processor or blender about 6 times. Pour in a bowl and add brown sugar. Mix well. Set aside.

Trace the bottom of three 8″cake pans on parchment paper and cut out 3 circles. Oil or butter pans well and lay parchment paper circles in bottom of pans. Oil top of parchment paper lightly. This will help the cake not stick to the bottom. It makes for super easy removal. Add approximately 3/4 cup of crunch mixture to each pan and press down evenly with palm of hand until bottom is covered & smooth. Add more if desired.

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk cake flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in large bowl.
Set aside. Cream room temperature butter and sugar for 3 minutes on med low with paddle attachment. Incorporate room temperature eggs one at a time. Add extract vanilla and orange extracts to the milk.  Add 1/3 of flour mixture followed by half of buttermilk to the creamed butter, sugar & egg mixture. Mix until just incorporated. Repeat step again, adding 1/3 of flour mixture followed by the rest of buttermilk. Mix until incorporated. Add remaining one third flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Don’t over mix. Over mixing activates the gluten strands and is what causes a dry cake.

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Measure cake batter as evenly as you can between the 3 pans. Approximately add 1 and 3/4 cup batter into each pan and spread out with a spatula. ***Place some cake strips around your cake pans for flat top, evenly baked layers. Place cake pans in center rack of oven and bake at 350 degees until center of cake springs back or toothpick comes out clean. Completely cool cakes before frosting.

***Baking Tip: don’t open the oven at all during first 2/3’s baking time. As tempting as it is, this can cause a cake to sink and bake unevenly.

***Baking Tip: Don’t run out any buy cake strips! Make your own. Cut an old towel into 3 equal strips long enough to fit around sides of cake. Wet them and wring out so they aren’t completely dripping wet. Wrap each strip around outside wall of cake pan. Knot it or secure ends with a safety pin. This prevents the cake from getting a dome shape and keeps the layers flat for even stacking. Genius!

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While cakes are cooling, cream room temperature butter and cream cheese on med speed for 3-5 minutes. Add confectioners sugar, extracts, and orange zest. Mix on low speed until confectioner’s sugar begins to incorporate. Slowly increase speed to medium low until well blended and your frosting holds a nice shape. That means it should be stiff enough to hold onto the paddle or beater when you lift it.  Add more confectioner’s sugar sparingly if needed to achieve desired consistency.

Frost cooled cakes with a light crumb coating. This prevents crumbs from getting onto your final frosting layer and keeps things much neater and prettier.

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Begin the assembly of your cake layers by placing a small dollop of frosting on the bottom of a cake board so it doesn’t slide around. Place bottom cake layer crunch side up onto the board and frost the top of crunch layer, evenly with an off set spatula. Your layer of frosting should be approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Repeat same step with the second layer. For top layer, face crunch side down, touching the crunch layer to the frosting of the second crunch layer. In other words, the top two crunch sides should be touching one another. Kissing if you will.

Lightly frost top layer and sides working your way from top to bottom with a thin crumb coating around the sides. Fill in any gaps in the layers. Place in the fridge or freezer 10 to 20 minutes to set crumb coat layer. Add the final frosting layer and decorate as desired. Garnish with orange slices.

Tip:*** I used a 1M tip for the rosettes and piped the flower design with the same tip.

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Orange Crunch Cake7Keep covered and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before eating. I hope you enjoy baking and eating this cake as much as I do. I hope it brings back fond memories and transports you back to Sanibel/Captiva Island.  I’m seriously contemplating purchasing Katie’s cookbook of original recipes so I can make some of my favorite other recipes from The Bubble Room. It’s the least I can do for her sharing such an awesome cake recipe.Orange Crunch Cake10

You might also enjoy these marble cupcakes with chocolate and vanilla swirl buttercream.

Author: Sherri @ The Kitchen Prescription

Orange Crunch Cake Recipe Type : Dessert Author: Sherri @ The Kitchen Prescription My version of the Captiva Island’s famous Bubble Room Orange Crunch Cake. A citrus-y delight.

Ingredients

  • CRUNCH LAYER:
  • 1 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 c sliced toasted almonds
  • CAKE:
  • 2 1/2 c cake flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup salted butter room temperature
  • 1 1/2 c sugar
  • 3 eggs room temperature
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons orange extract
  • CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
  • 12 oz cream cheese room temp
  • 3/4 Cup butter unsalted room temp butter
  • 4 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1Tbsp orange extract
  • 1 whole orange zest
  • Orange slices for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and toast almonds on a lined baking sheet until light golden brown and aromatic.
  2. Cool almonds for 5 minutes
  3. Pulse graham crackers & toasted almonds in food processor or blender about 6 times.
  4. Pour in bowl and add brown sugar.
  5. Mix well
  6. Trace bottom of three 8″cake pans on parchment paper and cut out 3 circles.
  7. Oil or butter pans well and lay parchment paper circles in bottom of pans.
  8. Oil top of parchment paper lightly.
  9. Add 3/4 cup of crunch mixture to each pan and press down evenly with palm of hand until bottom is covered & smooth.
  10. Add more if desired.
  11. Preheat oven to 350.
  12. Whisk cake flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in large bowl.
  13. Set aside.
  14. Cream butter and sugar for 3 minutes on med low with paddle attachment.
  15. Incorporate eggs and yolks one at a time.
  16. Add your extracts to your milk.
  17. Add 1/3 of flour mixture and half of milk to the butter, sugar & milk mixture.
  18. Mix until incorporated.
  19. Repeat step again.
  20. Add remaining one third flour mixture and mix until incorporated.
  21. Don’t over mix.
  22. Measure cake batter as evenly as you can between the 3 pans.
  23. Approximately 1 3/4 cup batter into each pan and spread out with spatula.
  24. Place in center rack of oven and bake until center of cake springs back or toothpick comes out clean.
  25. Completely cool cakes before frosting.
  26. Meanwhile,cream room temperature butter and cream cheese on med speed for 3-5 minutes.
  27. Add confectioners sugar, extracts, and orange zest.
  28. Mix on low speed until confectioner’s sugar begins to incorporate.
  29. Increase speed to medium low until well blended and holds a nice shape.
  30. Add more confectioner’s sugar sparingly if needed to achieve desired consistency.
  31. Frost cooled cakes with crumb coating.
  32. Place 1st cake crunch side up and frost top of cake evenly with desired layer of frosting 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
  33. Repeat same step with second layer.
  34. Lay top layer crunch side down touching frosting and second crunch layer.
  35. Crunch sides should be touching one another.
  36. Lightly frost top layer and sides working your way from top to bottom with a thin crumb coating.
  37. Place in fridge or freezer 10 to 20 minutes to set crumb coat layer.
  38. Add final frosting layer and decorate as desired.
  39. Garnish with orange slices.
  40. Keep covered and refrigerated.
  41. Bring to room temp before eating.

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30 Comments

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  2. This recipe doesn’t work. The “crunch” was not crunchy at all and the instructions are poor.

     
    • Also. The cakes fall apart

       
      • Hannah,

        If the batter is over mixed it can cause a dry crumbly cake. You can also try adding a couple of tablespoons of sour cream, yogurt, or mayonnaise to help moisten the cake. Hopefully those tips can help others. My cake did not crumble. Sometimes, it’s just “operator error.”

         
    • Hi Hannah,

      I’m sorry you had problems with the cake. I guess the crunch is a personal preference. I honestly, preferred it just the way I made it. If you want more of a crunch try adding a couple of tablespoons of melted butter to the mixture. It will caramelize it and give it a crunchy texture. As far as the instructions are concerned, I will re read them and adjust accordingly for a better understanding to the readers.

       
  3. Hi, thank you for posting your recipe. Did you use red & yellow food coloring to achieve the beautiful orange color of your frosting? I know the Bubble Room’s recipe does.
    Thanks

     
  4. Approximately how long do you bake the cake? I didn’t see the time listed in the recipe.

     
    • Hi Diane, that’s because everyone has different oven temps,so the time varies. I would say at least 25 minutes then follow #23 directions. When the center springs back or when a toothpick comes out clean. Hope that helps.

       
  5. We are going to attempt this cake recipe after having it earlier this month in Captiva. Do you remove the cake from the pans when it comes out of oven or let it cool in the pans? I always have difficulty getting the cake out of the pan without leaving a hand print in the cake. Thanks.

     
  6. Thanks for the recipe! I’ve just made my second cake! This one is much better than the first. The first one I made, the crunch layers were falling apart before I could get the cake together. So this time I added 2 tbsp of coconut oil to the crunch mix before baking. Worked much better for me. I haven’t tasted the whole cake yet, only the pieces I’ve trimmed, but those were delicious!

     
  7. For the frosting, the butter just says 3/4. Is that 3/4 of a pound or 3/4 of a stick? There is a big difference as 3/4 of a pound is 3 sticks!!

     
  8. Quick question. When do you add the crunch layer? after the cakes have baked or on top of the batter so that it bakes along with the cake. THanks!

     
  9. I am missing where the extracts get added into the cake batter. Im assuming they get mixed in with the milk? But it doesn’t say.

     
    • Hi Lauren, yes the extracts get added in with the milk. Sorry for the confusion.

       
      • Hello thank you for your recipe.
        Do you add any fat or butter to the crunch layer ?
        If not how does it stay flat and comes out nicely out of the mold on your picture It doesn’t look all dry.
        And so you have the ingredients using the cake mix ?
        Thank you so much

         
        • Hi Ana. No I didn’t use any fat in the crunch layer. Butter seemed to make it hard and crunchy almost like a toffee and I didn’t like it. I was very careful when handling the cake after it baked and in fact I used a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan and it peeled off beautifully leaving the crunch layer flat an intact.

          If you’re using a cake mix, just use the directions on the box and eliminate my cake mix ingredients.

           
  10. Jeanne Ketrick

    Hi, Sherri.
    I made this cake last week and all the components came together nicely. I was told that it had the exact flavor of the Bubble Room cake, except that the cake itself was very dry. I bake a lot so I’m not sure what went wrong. I don’t use cake flour much but did use it for this recipe. Maybe there is a particular way of measuring or sifting that I needed to do before adding it?

     
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  12. Could you explain what crumb coating is?

     
    • Hi Nancy. I did explain in the post what a crumb coating is, but to reiterate, it’s a light layer of frosting to catch all the crumbs. The idea is to put a light layer of icing on the cake, refrigerate it for a bit as it helps to set the icing and keeps all those pesky crumbs in place as you put the final frosting layer on the cake. Hope that helps.

       
  13. Kelsey Royer

    This cake was requested by friends of ours that visit captiva and the bubble room at least 4-6 times a year. The my rave about this cake. As I started my own baking from home business he asked for a few months if I could try and recreate it. So I found this recipe as it seemed to be similar to others, but all from scratch. I took a piece joke with me after dropping it off to them. One of the best cakes I have ever made and ever tasted. I was really leery about it. Just because of just sounded weird to me. But OMG amazing!!! They also loved the cake, although he said it isn’t the same. Well I tried haha. But I really can’t wait to make this again for me and the bf!!!

     
    • Kelsey, thank you so much for your comment & review. Yes, I don’t think it will ever be spot on to the real orange crunch cake but it’s a great riff recipe…IMHO.

      I did think it was a bit dense with all those eggs so now I just add 3 whole eggs and leave out the yolks. No need. I also use cake flour to make a more delicate crumb. Some add butter to the crunch filling but it gets too crunchy and toffee like for my taste.

      I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.

       
  14. Hello,
    I really appreciate all the time, research and effort you put into perfecting this recipe and am going to make it in 2 weeks for my husband’s birthday. We live in Central Florida and for years vacationed on Sanibel and would visit The Bubble Room! Have you eaten/made their “Bubble Bread”?!?!
    I have a question please, could you possibly tell me the original recipe that uses a box cake please? I actually am a big fan of using a box cake mix as the base and fixing it up because I have great luck with how moist they come out. Thank you.
    Sincerely,
    Chris in Florida

     
    • Hi. So sorry for the late reply. All you need to do is replace my cake recipe for the box recipe instructions. I hope you made it and it turned out well for you.

       

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