Alpha Bakers: Golden Orange Panettone with Chocolate Sauce

I love panettone. Before I knew how to bake, a long time ago when my oven was used for pots and pans storage, I used to get panettone at Whole Foods. They always have a huge tower of it around the holidays. I thought it was the best thing. It hails from Italy so it must be the best, si? (little that I know that years later I would learn that it is the best when it hails from Rose Levy Beranbaum). Back in 2011 Hanaa and I wanted to do a virtual bake a long and we made a recipe from allrecipes.com (Hanaa, do you remember? :). For comparison, I also made Rose's Panettone recipe from the Bread Bible. The allrecipes version was not good but Rose's was awesome.

The panettone recipe in the Baking Bible is different than the one in the Bread Bible. Both recipes uses golden raisins, but the Bread Bible version used chestnuts vs. this version using candied orange peel. The Baking Bible version uses golden syrup and has an extra step of making a biga 3 days beforehand and also has more steps in the dough preparation. It was too long ago for me to remember which one is better, but I can't imagine anything better than the Baking Bible's version. My husband said it best, "it is perfect." Funnily, he asked why I made the full recipe. I told him it is because I know it is going to be really good so I have to.

Homemade Candied Orange Peel

For the Panettone next week, I decided make my own candied orange peel. I've been curious about it but so far have been too lazy to make it. I figured now is as good a time as any.

There are a lot of recipes out there and most of them have similar instructions. The only big variance is the sugar amount. I finally settled on a recipe from BrightEyedBaker. I'm not familiar with this website but I like that she has the least amount of sugar compared to some others. Even with the smaller sugar amount, I still reduced it by 1/4 cup. I also like that her recipe comes with really good step by step photo instructions.

This turned out pretty easy and now I wondered why it took me this long to try. I'm already planning on making this again and use chocolate next time. Doesn't chocolate-dipped orange peel sound good?

My attempt at making marmalade

I was hoping to do a post today on how I ventured out to make a marmalade and succeeded.

Uhhmm.. not exactly.

As with most of my cooking/baking adventures, it started pretty well.

I borrowed 6 canning/jam making books from the library. Poured over them and decided to make orange marmalade. Orange ginger marmalade is one of my favorite jam but I thought I should just stick to utilizing one-type of ingredient so orange marmalade it is.

HCB: White Velvet Butter Cupcakes

I've made the cake version of this cake (okay that sounds weird) last year, frosted with milk chocolate ganache. The cake was good but the ganache was too sweet for me, so I only used a thin layer and have leftover in the freezer.

This time we are frosting it with the yummy golden neoclassic buttercream. I had made a whole batch of neoclassic back in March to frost Mini Vanilla Bean Cupcakes and had 1/2 quantity leftover in the freezer. I'm excited to use it now (and also excited that I don't have to make it again, making this the fastest cupcake made in Knitty Baker's history :)).

HCB: Orange Glow Chiffon Layer Cake

This is going to be a short post. I got a nasty cold over the weekend, and am still pretty run down from it. But I managed to force roll myself out of bed long enough to make this cake. I made 1/2 recipe baked in 7 x 3 inch pan.

The cake is pretty easy to make, and especially so since I've made it for the Bostini last year.

First, mix the egg yolks, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla in a bowl. Then mix all the dry ingredients in the stand mixer. This cake calls for unbleached AP instead of cake flour/bleached AP for the Bostini. Once all the dry ingredients are mixed, add in the egg yolks mixture. Then whip the egg whites until foamy, add in cream of tartar, whip until soft peaks, then add the 1 Tbsp of sugar and whip until stiff peaks. I usually use my hand mixer for this one. Once the egg whites reached stiff peak, fold them into the egg yolks flour mixture.

Pour into the pan and bake.

I had already taken out my flower nail before starting the cake, but had somehow forgotten about it (it was hidden behind the the book). And only after the cake's been in the oven for 10 minutes I remembered the flower nail. What to do? I quickly open the oven door, grab the pan and stuck the flower nail in the middle of the cake anyway. I wasn't sure whether I should do this but the middle of the cake is still liquid so I thought why not. The cake baked for 35 minutes, and though it did rose in the middle, it sunk upon cooling. So maybe the sunken middle is due to my forgetting the flower nail.

You can see in the picture below how the middle is a lot shorter than the edges of the cake.

I wanted to make the whipped cream but just didn't have the energy to do, so I skipped it. 

Tasting impressions:

This cold has killed my taste bud, I can't smell a hint of orange in the cake but can't taste it at all. It is spongy, that's all I can tell you. Hubby said that the cake is good. A bit dense he said but he liked the flavor. I'm sure it'd be much better with the orange marmalade whipped cream. I will have to make this again when I feel better.

PPB: Love for Three Oranges

This is Love for Three Oranges from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Pie & Pastry Bible. Did you know that Love for Three Oranges is a title of an opera? It's a story about a prince who's addicted to tragic poetry. The doctors told the King that the prince's sickness can be cured with laughter, so then a mission began to find someone that can make the prince laugh successfully. Several people tried to make the prince laugh, one of them was a witch. The witch tripped over while trying, revealing her underclothes. The prince laugh. Pissed off, the witch cursed the prince with obsession for "love for three oranges." So then the search began for the three oranges, which turned out to be real oranges that upon opening each one materialized into a princess. Strange right? But I do find that opera story often does not make sense - and they tend to be very melodramatic (kinda like soap opera but much fancier). You can read all about this opera on Wikipedia here.

Back to the tart. I have been wanting to make this tart for a while. It is now citrus season and when I walked into Whole Foods last week I saw both tangerine and navel oranges up front and they are both on sale. I bought both right away. I've read the recipes briefly several months ago and I remembered 2 of the oranges' component: navel oranges and orange juice. I don't remember the 3rd orange but Julie over at Rose's forum mentioned she has used tangerine and loved it so I figured I should be safe buying tangerine :).

This tart is time consuming to make. None of the steps are hard but they take time. So much so that Rose even breaks it down for you for 3 days.

I made it over 2 days - yes I am crazy that way. But I also made 1/2 recipe, baked in 4 mini tartlet pans.

Day 1: Make the crust (chill, shape in the pan, and freeze), make the orange curd, make the caramel sauce, macerate oranges.

The crust is called sweet cookie tart crust - basically it's pate sucree. Easy to make, combine the flour, sugar, and butter until the butter is pea-size, then add the egg yolk and cream mixture. Chill the dough for 20 minutes. While the dough is chilling, I made the orange curd.

Orange curd is pretty easy also, whisk yolks and sugar in a pot, pour in the tangerine juice, add a pinch of salt, and butter. Place the pot over low heat, stirring constantly. I cheat and use medium heat, it's okay as long as you watch it and stir constantly! When you see steam, lower the heat or take it off the heat, while still stirring constantly. I found that I have absolutely no patience stirring citrus curd for 30 minutes - which is about how long it takes when I use low heat, so I have been cheating (sorry Rose!). So far it's been successful :). Once the curd has thickened, strain it, and mix in the orange zest (the tangerine doesn't have very appetizing-looking skin, so I use navel oranges' zest :)).

Next, macerate the oranges. Peel and supreme navel oranges. 1/2 recipe means that I should use 2 oranges, but I find that I need 3 to get enough slices. Then make the caramel sauce - cook water and sugar until it's dark amber, then pour in the cointreau. Once the sizzling stop, add in orange juice. Put the pot back over the heat until the caramel melted. Once all the caramel has melted, pour the sauce over the orange slice. Cover and store away.

By this point I have spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen. Tired and orange-d out, I spent the evening watching some mindless TV show :).

Day 2: Blind bake the crust, make the sponge cake layer, make the orange curd cloud cream, make the caramel glaze, compose the tart.

Rose said that if the crust has been frozen for more than 6 hours, you can bake it without any weights (beans/rice). Mine's been frozen for about 24 hours so I bake it as is. While baking, the bottom of the crust keeps rising so I had to poke it with a fork several times. Next time I will use the beans to weigh it down as I like a poke-free blind baking. Not a big deal, but it's just annoying having to remember to keep checking.

The sponge cake layer is very similar to the biscuit roulade. It might just be biscuit roulade. One of my favorite type cakes. I made 1/2 recipe baked in a quarter sheet pan.

The orange curd cloud cream calls for making gelatin-stabilized whipped cream and then fold it into the tangerine curd.

For the caramel glaze, drain the oranges and pour the caramel sauce into a pot. Boil until reduced to 1/4 cup. This is where I messed up. Rose said to boil until thickened and bubbly. It was bubbly pretty fast but it's still more than 1/4 cup so I kept reducing it. Until it turned into caramel goo - as in, there is no way it's pourable or spreadable onto the oranges.

Tasting impressions:
Where do I begin? I feel like I am in orange heaven. If there is any tragedy here it would be the tragedy of not making enough tarts. The orange cream is the star of this dessert, combined with the sponge cake it is super good! This goes to the top of the list of favorite tart - I am already plotting making it again!

HCB: The Amazing Bostini

This is the Great Bostini from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. Cake No. 49.

Chocolate and orange is my absolute favorite combination. Every time I see a chocolate bar with orange, I buy it. I'm in constant lookout for the best chocolate bar with orange. My favorite right now is Newman's Own Organic Orange Dark Chocolate. It has, IMHO, the perfect balance of bittersweet chocolate and orange flavor. This is the only chocolate bar that I could eat the whole bar in 1 sitting.

What, you asked, has that anything to do with The Bostini? The Bostini is a combination of orange glow chiffon cupcake, pastry cream, and chocolate sauce. I got so excited when this cake comes into rotation. In fact, my buddy Monica and I are so excited that we are immediately on lookout for the same cappuccino cup that Rose used in the book. We both got ours on Amazon and we both tracked our packages - holding our breath in anticipation.

When the cups arrived, I jumped up and down and then I went to work making the cupcakes.

The cupcakes were really easy to put together. So easy that as I am writing this post on Monday morning, I forgot how it is made.

Another reason why I forgot is because I made another cake yesterday from RHC, so my head is all full with that recipe.

The cupcakes baked really nice and it rose high above the cupcake pan. They smelled really good coming out of the oven and are nice and spongy.



Next is the pastry cream. This one is also very easy to put together. I don't have vanilla beans and don't really feel like buying them as they are expensive. So I opted for the vanilla bean paste. I added it to the cream once I took it off the heat - right before straining it.

After the cream is strained, put the all in the individual cups, cover with plastic wrap, and cooled.

Once cooled, into the fridge it goes. 1/2 hour before serving time, I took one of the cups out, put 1 cupcake upside down over it. After the 1/2 hour mark - which felt like the longest time in the world, by the way, as I was dying to try this awesome-sounding dessert.

I managed to patiently waited, but only because I want the pastry cream to come a bit to room temperature first.
The chocolate glaze is super easy to put together. With equal amount of butter and chocolate, dividing the recipe into 8 is very easy. For those who are curious, it is 28 point something grams LOL. I just rounded it to 30 grams.

Once the chocolate glaze is poured, I took a quick snappy picture. Then hubby and I shared a glass.

Tasting impressions:
YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM!
This one goes to the Top 5 Favorite Cakes from RHC list now. It is so good. The warm chocolate sauce with the orange-y cupcake and pastry cream is heaven in a cup! Hubby ate his half with gusto, then declared he was full for hours :). I was glad we shared a cup because the pastry cream is a bit much for me. I think for next time I will put less serving of pastry cream in each cup. Maybe less cream, more cupcake, and more chocolate sauce :).

HCB: True Orange Genoise

In an attempt of baking more often but eating less quantity, I vowed to try to make 1/2 recipes from now on. So for this week's selection, I baked 1/2 the genoise in 6 inch pan. I measured everything correctly, but alas, the genoise only turn out to be 1 inch tall! I was too sad and annoyed (and lazy) to remake it so I went ahead with the rest of the recipe.

The syrup was a breeze to make - I used Grand Marnier instead of Triple Sec since that's what I have on hand.

There has been many discussions among my HCB friends about finding Seville oranges. I couldn't find any here so I went with navel oranges instead. Making the orange curd was pretty easy. I love the smell of the curd as I was stirring it on the stove. Smell so orange-y (this is not a real word, though I think it should be :) and tart! It taste yummy too (I stole a spoonful) - and I can't imagine how much better Seville orange curd would have tasted.

I actually had mixed feelings about this cake. Flavor-wise, I was really looking forward it because my favorite chocolate is dark chocolate with oranges. What worries me is because it calls for ganache. Ganache is my nemesis in baking!!! The first time I made ganache last year, it turned grainy and gooey and icky looking so I threw it out. The second time I made it, it never set - even after a day of refrigeration (though it didn't go to waste this time, I bought strawberries and banana and had a yummy chocolate fondue :)). Oh, and keep in mind that I tried different recipes here - so it's not the recipes' fault. You would think third time's the charm, but no, not in this case. The light-whipped ganache I made last month - I renamed into chocolate butter. The texture was odd, too creamy and it didn't want to stick to the cake. It still taste good and we ate the whole cake :). This weekend was the fourth attempt of said nemesis. I made 2/3 of the ganache. Everything went well and I leave the ganache to set in a container at room temperature while I made some soup. Well, 1/2 hour afterwards the ganache looks like it has set so I prepped the cake to be decorated. By the time I was gonna spread the ganache, it was too hard to spread easily. I still persevered but I ended up pushing some of the curd out (they were oozing from the sides of the cake). It's no big loss though I think the cake would lose some of its orange flavor. Back to ganache, I managed to spread it all around the cake nicely - but I didn't have anything left to drizzle on top of the cake (though at this point the ganache is not drizzalable). So I went ahead and made a small batch of it. I made 1/5 of the recipe. This quantity is too small to do in a small food processor, or so I found out right away. So I scrape the whole thing off to a saucepan and heat on low heat while mixing on the stove. This is where the disaster happen. The mixture start to separate. It looks oily and odd. I was about to give up when I remembered an advice from Annie (from Rose's blog) about adding some cream to it. I added about 1 tsp of cream and mix, still looks odd, I add 1 more tsp of cream, and the whole thing came back looking more like ganache. The good thing about the cream also is that it makes the ganache drizzalable (I love this made up word :). And this is the result...



Lalala... I'm so happy that I managed to save ganache...



Tasting impressions: I love this cake! It's really really good! I do wish it's a bit more tart or orange-y. And I realized after it's all done that Rose give tips of reducing the juice oranges if not using Seville - which I forgot to do. Oh well, for next time. For now, I am enjoying this yummy yummy cake.