A Spring Cake Perfect For Easter

No Sunday Brunch recipe today. I made crepes for breakfast this morning and I shared that recipe with you some time ago. What I did make was my husband's favorite cake. It's really perfect for spring and lovely for Easter as well.

 I start with a Duncan Hines Orange Supreme cake mix,

and a large can of Mandarin oranges, I think it's a 15 oz. can. Basically I go right by the instructions on the box, 3 large eggs, 1/3 cup of oil, but rather than the water, I use the drained juice from the mandarin oranges and I add a little almond extract. The box calls for 1 1/3 cups of water so if you don't have enough liquid from the oranges, top it off with orange juice.
Mix all ingredients together and just before you pour the batter into the pan, fold in the mandarin oranges. I save out 21 orange pieces to decorate the top of the cake. Pour the batter into a large spring form pan and bake as directed on the box.

To ice the cake, I take one package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, a cup of confectioner's sugar, about a tablespoon of milk and a 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract, mix all together with a hand mixer until very smooth. Spread icing on the cake and along the side. For the topping, I toast slivered almonds until they are lightly brown, crush them a bit and then sprinkle over the top of the cake. Decorate with the reserved oranges and enjoy. The cake is very moist and very good. If you like oranges, you'll like the cake.  

Whatever you celebrate today, be it Easter, Passover or just the fact that it is Sunday, I hope you are having a lovely day.