This meltingly delicious cake recipe came to me many years ago from a dear friend. It belongs in that category of “sisterhood” recipes that are lovingly passed among female friends and relatives, and is in turn passed on again.

I cherish the memory of the wonderful lady whose made me my first marmalade cake and generously shared its directions, as she loved the departed aunt who shared it first with her.

In my recipe box it is titled: "Aunt Joy Lynn's Heavenly Orange Marmalade Cake"

Step 1: Ingredients:

The Cake:
3 cups cake flour
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
1 cup salted butter (two sticks), softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs, room temperature, slightly beaten
1 T orange zest
1 ½ t vanilla
1 cup buttermilk at room temp

The Syrup:
1 ½ cups fresh orange juice
1 tsp balsalmic vinegar (optional)
1/3 cup sugar
combine and simmer over low heat until reduced by a third; there should now be 1 cup of syrup. Let cool completely.

The Filling:
2 cups fine quality orange marmalade, stirred to increase spreadability
1 tsp Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice OR 1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (optional, if your marmalade is too sweet)

The Frosting
¾ cup heavy cream, cold
3 T sugar
¾ cup sour cream, cold
Double these amounts if top of the cake is to be frosted rather than spread with marmalade. Make sure bowl and beaters are cold before whipping.

Step 2: Directions:

Line two 9” cake pans with parchment or wax paper.

Step 3: Next-

Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs, zest, vanilla and beat until smooth.

Add 1/3 of the sifted dry ingredients plus ½ the buttermilk and beat. Add remaining 2/3 of dry ingredients and the last ½ cup of buttermilk, beat til smooth.

Step 4: Bake:

Bake 45 min at 325 degrees or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans. Poke holes in layers with a wooden skewer and pour on syrup. Cool completely before removing from pans.

Step 5: Filling:

Carefully slice each layer in half so you have 4 thin layers. Spread each layer with marmalade as you stack them back up. Chill the stack while making the frosting (next step).

Step 6: Frosting:

In a cold bowl, beat the heavy cream with the sugar on high speed until it forms stiff peaks. (If cream is slow to whip, put bowl and cream into freezer for 10 minutes to chill.) Add sour cream and blend just to spreading consistency.

The top of the cake may be spread with either marmalade or frosting. If frosted, garnish with additional orange zest. If the top is spread with marmalade, pipe or swirl a border of frosting just around the edge.

It assists in frosting the cake if you have a Lazy Susan to put the cake on, but in the greater scheme of things, there's really no way to mess up frosting a cake.

I'm no decorating cake expert, so my frosting is not fancy; you can probably do a much prettier job.

Dress it up with a few leaves or flowers from the garden.