Orange Crunch Cake from the Bubble Room

Submitted by Realtor by day

"This is the recipe for the famous Orange Crunch Cake from the Bubble Room in Captiva Island, Florida. It has developed quite a cult following. We love it. I hope you do, too. The added bonus-it's pretty easy to put together."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• Crunch layer

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts (actual recipe) or 1/2 cup slivered almonds (actual recipe)
• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1⁄2 cup butter, melted

• Cake

• 1 Pillsbury Plus yellow cake mix
• 1⁄2 cup water
• 1⁄2 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons grated orange peel
• 3 eggs
• 1⁄3 cup oil

• Frosting

• 1 pillsbury ready to spread vanilla frosting
• 1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 3 tablespoons grated orange peel
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

directions

1. : Combine crunch layer ingredients. Press 1/2 into each bottom of 2 greased and floured 8" or 9" pans.
2. : In a large bowl, blend cake ingredients at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 mins at high speed. Pour into pans.
3. : Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes Cool 10 minutes Remove from pans and cool completely.
4. : In small bowl, mix frosting & topping. Fold in lemon & orange peels.
5. : Place one layer, crunch side up, on plate. Spread with 1/2 cup frosting. Top with remaining layer, crunch side up. Spread top and sides with remaining frosting.

Reviews

[Sydney Mike]

This recipe definitely makes for A GREAT TASTING CAKE! I particularly appreciated all the citrus zest that was included & didn't feel the urge to increase it as I often do! The one change that I made was in the amounts of water & OJ ~ I used 1/4 cup of water & 3/4 cup of the juice! Great crunchy topping, too, in this great keeper recipe! [Tagged, made & reviewed in Please Review My Recipe tag]

 

[WhiteSnake]

Baked this for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! I really liked the bright citrus flavor and the texture the crunch layer gave the cake. I brought the orange flavor out even by adding homemade orange powder to the cake mix and to the topping. This will go into my Go To list for cakes. This is a winner and if there were more starts to give, I would give it to this cake.

 

[Amy020]

This is a REALLY good cake!! However, not exactly like the one from the Bubble Room - but I'm wondering if that was my ignoring 1 subtle measurement. The icing was much lighter than the Bubble Room's - I noticed that the recipe specified "1 c" of Cool Whip. I used the whole 8 oz tub b/c 8 oz usually = 1 c, but of course whipped cream is so light that that doesn't hold true. Next time, I'll measure out 1 c of Cool Whip to see if that's the trick. I'll also probably add some orange extract to the cake next time for that BOLD orange flavor from the Bubble Room. The crunch layer is SPOT ON - perfect duplication! Thanks for a great cake!!! :-)<br/>*~*~*~*~*~*~* Update: I made this again last weekend during Hurricane Irene, so it was really humid. I added the orange extract, which made the flavor UNBELIEVABLE. The only problem was that the icing kinda ran off the cake. I had to put it in the fridge to save it and really coax the icing back on the cake right before serving. The only other variable was that I used 1 c of cool whip instead of the whole tub. Not sure if it was the humidity or the different cool whip measurement that caused the difference...guess I'll just have to make this DELICIOUS cake again ... in the interest of scientific research, of course! :-)

 

[Lux31428]

I was at the Bubble Room this spring with my boyfriend. He said it was the best cake and wanted it for his birthday. I was so glad to find this recipe floating around online. It may not be exact, but it was exceptional! I did, however, use the advice of a previous review and included a 1/4 tsp of orange extract in the cake and 1/8 tsp in frosting - good choice in my opinion!

 

[Darkhunter]

Never having been to the Bubble Room, I had no preconceived notions concerning this cake. Well, I think it's TDF! I can't say enough about this cake! If you were to ask me right now my favorite cake.....this would be it! Thnx for sharing your oh-so-good recipe, RbdCbn. Made for PRMR recipe tag game.