Orange Coffee Cake

I have a lot of cousins.

A.

Lot.

So when we have family get togethers, everyone chips in food or drink because it's just too much work and too much money for one person to handle everything.

So for Easter -- my first Easter in town and out of my parents' house -- I made sure to ask what I needed to bring.

I decided to bring a coffee cake.

A Paula Deen coffee cake. Not because I have any special affinity for Our Southern Lady of Butter, but because it seemed a heck of a lot easier than the other recipes I was considering.

I mean, seriously. I didn't even have to make my own batter. I just went to the store and used a coupon to get some Pillsbury Grand Flaky Layers Rolls.

Side note: I hate how Pillsbury constantly give out coupons, but it's never for just one tube of rolls. It's always three. I bought three because I figured I would use the others in short order, but still. Pain in the butt.

Anyway, I also bought one fresh orange since the recipe called for both orange zest and a small amount of orange juice. Now that I have a microplace, why would I buy the dry stuff?

Our Southern Lady of Butter's. Her glaze looks so pretty.

I also substituted slivered almonds for walnuts because I don't eat walnuts and I already had the slivered almonds.

I made it pretty much according to the directions. Since I used a square disposable pan, obviously, I couldn't put the biscuits in exactly as the recipe stipulated. And I didn't measure the orange zest or juice. I eyeballed it.

And was then tempted to eat the orange sugar as it was. It smelled so good.

I microwaved the cream cheese to soften it for the glaze. I probably should have used a hand mixer to make sure it was smoother, but I really didn't feel like busting out the handmixer. I just used a fork.

Twenty minutes was plenty to make the "cake" part come out golden brown. I added the glaze (which didn't turn out nearly as well as the picture) and let it cool on a trivet. 

Tasty, but not nearly as pretty.

When I tried it the next day, I shared had a corner piece with a cousin. It was delicious. The topping was very sweet, so I appreciated that the "cake" part was less so. Everyone who had some liked it. Although not enough people tried it that I didn't have to take some home. Good thing I didn't make a second one...

I had another piece the next day, however. Not as good. I'm not sure if sitting for an extra day was the downfall, or if the middle just wasn't as good. The middle part seemed doughy-er, and I can't be certain if that was because the middle didn't cook as well or because it had just had to long to soak up the glaze.

Conclusion: Don't make too far in advance. Almonds work fine. Maybe cook the biscuits a little longer. Use a hand mixer when a fork doesn't do the job.