Sweetheart Cherry Cake with Lemon Rose Buttercream
I imagine with a famine or any financial hardship, there will still come times when we want to bake a cake for a birthday or special occasion. Given that, I wanted to share this recipe.
The cake was lusciously moist (with no added fat, besides what was in the cake mix...and slathered all over it in the form of butter cream.)

So...here's what you need...
Sweetheart Cherry Cake
Adapted from the original cherry cake recipe by the Lucky Leaf Pie Filling Co.:

1 (18.25 oz) dry white cake mix (I used My Yellow Homemade Cake Mix)
2 large eggs (or 1/2 cup water and egg replacement powder)
1tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp orange zest (fresh or dehydrated)
1 tsp rum extract
1 (21 oz) can Cherry Pie filling

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9inch by 2 1/2 inch heart shaped cake pan (I used Wilton). Mix together on medium speed, dry cake mix, eggs, baking powder, zest, extracts and 1/2 can of cherry pie filling until moistened. Fold in the remaining 1/2 can of cherry pie filling by hand until blended. Batter should appear thick. Pour batter into pan and level with a spatula.




Bake for 65-75 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Solar oven works great here. Remove cake from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan. Invert cake onto a serving platter to decorate.
Lemon Butter cream
Adapted from the original recipe by the Lucky Leaf pie filling company

1 cup softened butter (use the real stuff--you can get canned stuff from New Zealand or used butter Crisco...though I'm not a fan of shortening usually)
1 tsp Watkins double strength vanilla
1 tsp rose water (optional)
1/8 tsp orange brandy oil (optional)
zest of one lemon
4 cups (1 lb) confectioners sugar (that's fancy chef talk for powdered sugar (sifted)
2-4T buttermilk (you can us rehydrated dry buttermilk powder)

For icing:
Cream together butter and extracts. Slowly add the sifted confectioners' sugar, beat well. Add 2T buttermilk, mix well. If needed continue to add buttermilk 1T at a time until icing is smooth and spreadable.

I micro plane zest one lemon over the top of the prepared frosting (micro zester makes a very very fine substance BTW you can dehydrate fresh zest at room temperature on a paper plate for 48 hours and put it in your year supply in tightly sealed jelly jars.). What is it about the smell of lemon that makes me want to run through a field of wild flowers with a bouquet of pansies? Just curious.
You can use dehydrated zest, but if you have a lemon tree or access to fresh fruit during times of famine...I say use it fresh. It's such a bright addition to frosting. Especially this one that I won't be piping through a pastry bag aka "cake decorator" bag.

Once you've stopped sniffing the lemon zest, wipe the yellow substance off your nose. Proceed to mix it into the frosting. Wait. That sounded bad. Don't put the stuff from your nose in the frosting...just the zest that was already there. Goodness sakes...don't do everything I say to do. Wait...send me a million dollars. Do that.

When cake is cooled completely, spread frosting over the top and sides of the cake. You can also just use icing on all the sides of the cake, then evenly spoon 1/2 can of additional cherry pie filling over the top (keeping the pie filling about one inch from the edge of the cake). Pat slices of almonds, chopped nuts, or mini chocolate chips onto the sides.

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There you go.