Easy & Inexpensive - Mandarin Orange Cake

Every now and then I like to fix a dessert but since I am not one that enjoys eating or serving a heavy dessert that is covered in thick, sweet frosting, I am always on the lookout for something light and fresh tasting.


Enter the Mandarin Orange Cake - like most recipes, there are different versions of this cake and most of the ones that I have seen use a cool whip/pudding type mixture for a "frosting" but even that was too much for what I was looking for.  Instead I opted for a very light drizzle of the "powder sugar and milk" icing and it was perfect!

The recipe is so simple - just use a box of yellow cake mix, 3/4 cup of oil, 3 eggs and one 11oz can of mandarin oranges - with the juice.


I gently folded the mandarin oranges into the batter so that they wouldn't break up too much, hoping that we would end up with whole orange segments in our cake.  As you can see from the photos, it worked.


The cake came out airy and just sweet enough - it was very tasty and we drank hot tea with it which was a great combination.