Orange cake

One of my favorite baking books is “Genius Desserts” written by the FOOD52 folks. I’ve mentioned it on and off in recent years and highly recommend it. I had tagged this cake as one to try - it’s billed as “whole orange cake”, the recipe published years ago in Sunset magazine. From a quick internet search I discovered that Sunset was first published in 1898!! Guess what - it’s still being published and the recipe is on their website.

Not long after I had added it to my baking agenda, lo and behold, over the next week or two, it popped up in my life, seemingly by happenstance. First I came across the same recipe in the NYT and then heard about the experience of making it from a woman attending a baking demo I was giving at a nearby assisted living facility. Kismet I say.

I’ll admit that what really drew me to baking this was the swirly Nordic Ware pan that I’ve had my eye on for awhile now. I kept telling myself “Susan - you don’t need another pan”, but I ordered it anyway. In my defense, the well-worn traditional style bundt pan that I used to have so many years ago is long gone and I had no urge to replace it. After all, I tend to prefer petite teacakes - love those financiers! - rather than large slices.

Buuuuttt . . . . Nordic Ware has been producing some very cool designs over the years and this one caught my eye - so classy without being too ornate. Something about those swirls.

10 Cup Heritage Bundt

While there are some whole orange cake recipes out there that require boiling whole oranges, this one calls for 2 oranges (about a pound), ends cut off but otherwise left unpeeled, then chunked up, seeded and pulsed in a food processor to a somewhat coarse purée. You can do that part ahead and hold it in the fridge until ready to make the batter.

I’ll go through the steps and link you to the recipe here. It is readily available on a number of sites and is certainly not unique to me. Who knows the countless number of folks who have made and enjoyed this cake over the years! Oh! You might notice my navel and cara-cara oranges in the photo below - seemed like a good combo.

 

As you plan your project, the do-aheads are: butter and flour the pan (or use pan spray), purée the oranges (you’ll portion out 355 g / 1 1/2 cups for the batter and compost or dispose of the rest), have 3 large eggs at room temp and 227 g / 2 sticks unsalted butter at soft room temp. When ready to make the batter, mise out 250 g / 1 1/4 cups sugar, 320 g / 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon fine salt.

You’ll be glazing the cake after baking - whisk together 150 g / 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar and 35 g fresh squeezed OJ. You can always do this during the bake.

Here’s how my purée looked - remember I used a combo of navel and cara-cara.

 

Heat the oven to 325ºF. Cream the butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes until lightened and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, blending each fully before adding the next. Blend in the orange purée. Looked a bit like orange cottage cheese.

Hmmmm . . . . interesting look

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and blend until incorporated and smooth.

Everything blended!

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Ready to bake

Bake about 55 minutes - you want a golden top, firm to the touch and a tester with just a few crumbs clinging. Let cool in the pan about 10 minutes then turn out onto a grid over a pan and cool completely.

One note here - I made sure to butter and flour all the crevices thoroughly even though the pan is billed as non-stick. This cake released from the pan beautifully. One of the frustrations I used to have with the old bundt-form pan I had years ago (a lighter weight knock off) was getting the cake out of the pan without leaving some pieces here and there. Grrrrr . . . . but not any more!

Hmmm . . . maybe I should do a test without buttering the pan - makes me nervous but gotta try it.

 

Spoon and brush the glaze over the top, into the crevices. I prefer my glaze on the thinner side - gauge the way you like it by starting with less OJ to confectioner’s sugar for a thicker consistency or add additional OJ or even a bit of water for a thinner glaze. Once glazed I pop it back into the oven for 3 minutes or so to set the glaze.

All glazed up

Delicious, moist and tender with just the right amount of orange flavor and a hint of sweetness - a perfect balance.

 

Steve and I enjoyed a slice with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and some strawberries. Yum. A slice with morning coffee was good too, and the remaining slices went into the freezer for future enjoyment. Yes I would make this again.

 

I’ll be back with you as the weeks go by. Enjoy!

A Thanksgiving tart and moving into citrus season

Thanksgiving is now behind us, and we look ahead to the upcoming weeks of December holidays and festivities.

This time of year I start thinking about citrus - all the lovely oranges and grapefruit that come to us from warmer climes.  There's the Cara Cara orange (a lovely pink fleshed navel), the blood orange and the standard navel orange.  And let's not forget tangelos, tangerines and clementines.  Nothing like a bunch of Vitamin C, right?!

As Thanksgiving approached I debated what I wanted to make for dessert to follow the classic American turkey-and-all-the-fixins meal.  Would it be a caramel nut tart or perhaps apple-cranberry or pumpkin ginger?  No - this year I opted for something citrus!


citrus browned butter cream tart

This tart is based on a recipe from Fine Cooking magazine some years ago.  Basically a blind baked pâte sucrée crust filled with browned butter pastry cream and topped with fresh citrus.  What's not to like?

I used my favorite pâte d'amande dough for the crust (I happened to have some in the freezer which made it an all the more attractive option).


lining the tart ring

all lined and ready for blind baking

baked and cooling - just waiting for the pastry cream

The filling is a pretty standard pastry cream made with milk, sugar, egg, cornstarch and, in my case, some added orange zest and vanilla bean seeds.  Yes!  Oh - and some browned butter added at the end of cooking.


les ingredients

In general I like to lighten pastry cream with a little whipped cream, so once my pastry cream was made, I chilled it in the fridge before whipping up a little cream and folding it in.


ready to fold and fill

all filled up

I segmented navel oranges and red grapefruit . . . .




and after drying the segments on paper towel, I did a practice layout . . . .




before the final assembly.

Et voila!


all assembled and ready to transport

We had a delicious Thanksgiving feast at cousin Garrett and his wife Laurie's home in nearby Rockford MI.  We took a break after dinner for some games and chit-chat, and, when it came time for dessert, enjoyed Laurie's pecan and pumpkin pies along with the bright taste of citrus and the smooth creaminess of the vanilla-orange crème pâtissière.

All in all a great day!