Directions:
Stir warm water and sugar together in large bowl, add yeast on top and let sit for 5-10 minutes until it’s all bubbly and frothy. In a separate bowl, mix flour, orange zest, and salt. In a third bowl, beat eggs and vanilla together. Add egg mixture and flour mixture to bowl with yeast and mix together until dough is combined. It will be very sticky.
Knead dough together on a clean, lightly floured surface. Scrape off counter when it sticks too much. Do this for 5 minutes until the dough starts to feel elastic-y. Then knead in the chopped up butter. The dough will be a little less sticky. Put in greased bowl, cover and let rise in warm, dry place for 1 hour. It should double in size.
Break dough up and put into greased molds. It should be enough to fill 1 muffin tin, for 12 cakes. Fill the molds about halfway. Cover and let rise for another 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake about 15 minutes, until golden and pick inserted in center comes out clean. Place large bowl and beater in freezer for 15-20 minutes to get nice and cold (for chantilly cream). While cakes are cooking, it’s time to make the syrup. In a large pan combine water, juice, extracts, and sugar. Let come to a boil and after the sugar dissolves, let it simmer 5-10 minutes.
When the cakes come out of the oven, let cool enough to take out of muffin tin. Then put a couple spoonfuls of syrup into each empty mold and put the cakes back in them to let them soak up the syrup. Leave them for 5 minutes or so.
While the cakes are soaking in the syrup, put heavy cream in chilled bowl and beat until frothy. Then add the sugar and vanilla and continue beating until the cream is thick and starts to hold its shape. Do not over beat! Or it will separate.
Assemble your cakes by placing Chantilly Cream on top of cake with raspberries. You can add some more syrup dripping down the sides, or pipe cream into middle.
I await your comments! Enjoy!
