Clementine Cake - NaBloPoMo Day 4

Do I have to admit that I hadn't ever tried a clementine? Well, I guess I just did. They are so darn cute though, and from Deb's description and her craving for them, how could I not try them.

While I am making silly confessions here, how about the fact that I seem to have a citrus buying obsession. When the beautiful citrus is in the store I can't seem to help myself from buying it. Like the fact that, even though I made this cake a month ago, I know have another 3lbs of clementines sitting on my counter in a bowl with a full pound of key limes. I haven't decided what to do with either one yet, but I know I'd better do something soon. I have far too many ideas of what I want to do with the key limes and some other ideas for the clementines, but I just need to get around to it.

It certainly is gorgeous and sunny inside, isn't it? The description of the cake as a recipe that used the whole entire orange, boiled down until super tender, then mixed with almond meal, was just too interesting to pass up. It was good, it was very orangey, but it probably wasn't something I would be in desperate need of another slice of.

It certainly was different and it was fun to make though, so I'll call it a success. If you really love clementines and you really love almond meal laden cake - well then, for you, this just might be your new favorite cake.

You can head on over to Smitten Kitchen for the recipe.

Cake Slice Bakers: Sweet Potato Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and Orange Cream Filling

Well, the cake slice bakers are back again this week with a Sweet Potato Cake. Yes. You heard me right. Sweet Potato. Did I mention it has orange cream cheese filling. Oh, and chocolate cream cheese frosting. Sounds interesting, huh? It also has a fair amount of spices in it.

This cake comes from the amazing and gorgeous cake book, Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes that the Cake Slice Bakers are baking a secret selection from each month for twelve months (ten more cakes to come your way). Our first cake was the Cappuccino Chiffon Cake as seen made by Steph, or in my case the Hot Cocoa Chiffon Cake. I loved that cake and so did everyone that tried it.

This month's cake was really very good and very seasonal for Autumn here in the Northern hemisphere. It tasted a lot like a spice cake and was very moist and tender with great flavor, as for the sweet potato, it was a little something extra that you just couldn't quite put your finger on.

Because there was no one to really share this cake with I went ahead and halved the recipe and just baked it in a jelly roll pan. I cut that into three sections and make a long rectangular cake. My favorite part of the whole recipe was actually the orange cream cheese filling but it was all very good and a lot of fun to make.

Make sure to check out all the other Cake Slice Bakers and their cake creations this month. Stay tuned for the next installment from our cake baking adventures, coming December 20th with the next cake - it is going to be good!!

Sweet Potato Cake
From Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes

2 medium or 1 large sweet potato (12 ounces)
3 cups of cake flour**
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
5 eggs, separated
2 and 1/4 cups of sugar
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 and 1/4 cups of milk
(**The recipe calls for cake flour and if you only have all-purpose flour on hand, you can substitute 3/4 cup (105 grams) all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (30 grams) cornstarch.)
(*If fresh sweet potato is not available where you live you may use canned sweet potato, yams, and pumpkin puree)

Makes a 9-inch triple layer cake, serves 16-20 people

1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Prick the sweet potatoes in 2-3 places, place on a small baking dish and bake for 1 hour or until the potatoes are very soft. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.

2. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F degrees. Butter the bottoms and the sides of the pans and line with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper also.

3. When the sweet potatoes are cool peel off the skin and remove any dark spots. Cut the potatoes into chunks and puree in a food processors. Puree until smooth. Measure out one cup of potato puree and set aside.

4. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Set aside.

5. In the bowl of electric mixer add the egg whites and attach whip attachment. Beat on medium speed until egg whites are frothy. raise the speed to high and gradually beat in 1/4 cup of sugar. Continue to beat until the egg whites are moderately stiff.

6. In another large bowl with the paddle attachment, combine the sweet potato, butter, vanilla, and remaining sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl after each egg yolk is added. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk in alternately in 2-3 additions. making sure to begin and end with the dry ingredients.

7. With a large spatula, fold in one fourth of the egg whites into the batter to lighten. Then fold in the remaining egg whites until no streaks remain. Making sure to not over mix or this will deflate the batter. Divide the batter among of the three pans.

8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out the cake layers onto a wire rack and cool completely at least 1 hour.

9. To assemble the cake, place one layer flat side up on to a cake stand. With a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip and filled with chocolate cream cheese icing, pipe border around the edge of the cake. Fill the center with the orange cream filling smoothing it to the edge of the border. Place the second layer on top and repeat the process.Place the third layer on top and use all the chocolate cream cheese frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Cream Frosting:
makes 3 cups
10 ounces cream cheese*** at room temperature
1 stick of butter at room temperature
16 ounces of powdered sugar; sifted
1 and 1/2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate melted and slightly cooled
(***1 cup of cream cheese maybe substituted with 1 cup pureed cottage cheese OR 1 cup plain yogurt, strained overnight in a cheesecloth OR equal amounts of neufatel cheese)

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar to cream cheese butter mixture. Making sure to scrape down the sides the sides of the bowl. Then beat until light fluffy 2-3 minutes.

2. Measure out 1 cup of frosting and set aside.

3. Add the melted chocolate to the remaining icing in the bowl and beat until well combined.

Orange Cream Filling:
1 cup of reserved cream cheese icing from above
2 tablespoons of frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/4 teaspoon of orange extract (I used vanilla)

1. Stir together all the ingredients until well mixed.

RFJ: Ginger Orange Madeleines with Fresh Orange Glaze

I was hopping around the food blogs on this rainy day and, since it is raining so much, I've been in a real baking mood. I decided to check out the ingredients for the Royal Foodie Joust and was instantly inspired when I read that the ingredients were whole grains, citrus and ginger. I love these ingredients and instantly decided it was time to whip together (ok, as quickly as they can be whipped together anyway) some madeleines using these ingredients.

I have been practising my madeleine making skills for a little while now, but this is the first time I've branched out and tried to adapt a recipe into my own creation. So, while this was meant to be my entry into the Joust, I think I may have been looking at the ingredients after the deadline (not sure) and missed the boat. Either way, these were fun to make and it was really fun to think outside the box for me.

For the citrus I used fresh orange zest (in the madeleines) and fresh orange juice in the glaze. For the ginger, I wavered between using ground ginger and fresh, but since I had fresh ginger and it is still (technically, weather aside today) still summer, I decided to go with freshly grated ginger as well. My whole grains of choice were whole wheat pastry flour (which I checked to make sure was whole grain, but did not mill myself) and old-fashioned whole oats (which I did mill myself). It was super fun to mill the oats myself and use some healthier ingredients in the madeleines. I also added some dark brown sugar, well, because I am a serious fan of all things brown sugar. I hope you will give these a try. They really turned out pretty wonderful!

Whole Grain Ginger Orange Madeleines with Fresh Orange Glaze
(Method and recipe adapted from La Tartine Gourmand)

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
2 oz whole oats, ground into flour
2 1/4 oz whole wheat pastry flour
1 stick salted butter (4 oz), melted and cooled
1 oz dark brown sugar
3.5 oz fine sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
Melt the butter and set aside to let cool.

In a small bowl, sift together the wheat and oat flours with the baking powder. Set aside.

Place the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until thick.

Add the sugars, orange zest and finely grated ginger and beat until very light in color and texture.

Remove the bowl and add the sifted flours and baking powder. Mix together gently with wooden spoon or spatula. Gently add the melted, cooled butter using the spoon or spatula. Mix until well combined.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat your oven to 420 F.

Grease madeleine molds and fill 3/4 full. Do not overfill.

Bake for 5 to 6 minutes (to get the bump); reduce the oven temperature to 350 F and continue to bake for about 4 to 5 minutes more.

Remove the madeleines from the oven and unmold to cool on a rack. Allow to cool almost completely before dipping the "shell" side into the glaze. Place back on the racks and allow the glaze to set.

For the Glaze:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons fresh orange juice

Whisk together well til smooth and combined - glaze should be fairly thin. Heat briefly in microwave to melt sugar and warm the glaze.

Makes about 20 large madeleines or 30 minis.

TWD Rewind for Bread Baking Day #10: Orange Berry Muffins

These muffins have already certainly been reviewed, but I guess one more time couldn't hurt. I've even posted these muffins in another incarnation on this blog before. We have been making this recipe fairly consistently since I got my copy of Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours. All I can tell you about this recipe is that these muffins are absolutely delicious, whatever fruit or citrus zest you use.

I'm sending this recipe over to Baking A Sweet Life for Bread Baking Day #10 - Breakfast Breads. I hope that you'll give this recipe a chance and have some fun with it.

Orange Berry Muffins
(From Dorie Greenspan “Baking: From My Home to Yours” p. 3)

Ingredients:
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
About 3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 Tablespoons honey
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries - fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)

Decorating sugar, for topping (optional) (I like using raw / turbinado sugar)

Directions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

SHF #43: Citrus! Orange Mousse Creme Brulee

Let's just get this out of the way - this is not your traditional creme brulee or mousse. However, since the components lend themselves to those names that's what I'm calling it - until and unless someone else comes up with a better name anyway. I'm also calling it delicious.

The orange creme is light, silky and super yummy plus - I love a sugary crust on just about anything - hmmm, let me think about that...... yeah, pretty much anything.


So, I give you my version of an Orange Mousse Creme Brulee for this month's Sugar High Friday, the super fabulous event created by Jennifer, the Domestic Goddess, and hosted this month by Helen of Tartlette. Helen chose the theme Citrus! and really got me thinking about all the different citrusy things I love. I've really been putting more citrus into just about everything lately, so this one was only difficult for me in trying to decide what to make. I had a lot of big plans, one of which included making a meringue, but the time has come to make my dessert and we have three days of rain, rain, and more rain. So, I am not going to attempt the meringue and have the meringue elves turn it into a fiasco - that idea will just have to wait.

Anyway, the flavor for this is light pure orange and creamy and the texture? It is a bit harder to describe - not quite a custard, not a mousse - more like a silky smooth cross between the two - thus the name.

For the recipe below I borrowed some of the ingredients and method from the Lemon Creme Tart in BFMHTY with a few additions and the obvious change from lemon to orange. I realize that there is an Orange version in the book, but it has a mixture of citrus in it and for this I chose to just go all orange. I added some cream and some vanilla to get the texture and flavor I was looking for and, as shown, I served this in either a hollowed out orange or a ramekin - whichever you prefer.

Orange Mousse Creme Brulee
(Adapted from Pierre Herme's Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart
- makes 4 servings -Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan)

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 large orange (2 if they are smaller)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from 1 large orange)
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Getting ready:
Have a thermometer, preferably an instant-read, a strainer and a blender (first choice) or food processor at the ready. Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.

1. Put the sugar and zest in a large metal bowl that can be fitted into the pan of simmering water. Off heat, work the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs followed by the orange juice.

2. Fit the bowl into the pan (make certain the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl) and cook, stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid to the touch. You want to cook the cream until it reaches 180°F. As you whisk the cream over heat—and you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling—you’ll see that the cream will start out light and foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger, and then, as the cream is getting closer to 180°F, it will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks. Heads up at this point—the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. Don’t stop whisking and don’t stop checking the temperature. And have patience—depending on how much heat you’re giving the cream, getting to temp can take as long as 10 minutes or more!

3. As soon as you reach 180°F, pull the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of a blender (or food processor); discard the zest. Let the cream rest at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 140°F, about 10 minutes.

4. Turn the blender to high and, with the machine going, add about 3 pieces of butter at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed while you’re incorporating the butter. Once the butter is in, keep the machine going—to get the perfect light, airy texture of orange-cream dreams, you must continue to beat the cream for another 3 minutes. If your machine protests and gets a bit too hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats. Add the cream and powdered sugar and continue to beat for 1 to 2 minutes more until well incorporated.

5. Pour the cream into your individual serving dishes and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and chill the cream for at least 3 hours or until ready to serve.

6. Just before you are ready to serve cover the surface of the creme with 1 teaspoon of the sugar and brulee/melt the sugar with a kitchen torch or under a broiler.

Storing:
The orange creme can be kept in the frige for 4 days and in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Cookie Carnival: Blueberry Drop Cookies

After April's busy/crazy schedule it is good get back to something a little more simple, let no less sublime, as cookies. Darling Kate over at The Clean Plate Club is the lovely creator and host of a monthly event called the Cookie Carnival (and check out the seriously cute badge there). Each month Kate comes up with a delicious cookie recipe that she has been wanting to try and emails it to the group and we all make the recipe. The idea is to all make the recipe as is, but if tweaking is needed or done, that is ok too. Which is a very good thing for me this month, because what started out fairly innocently with the change I was going to make to the recipe, turned into several changes in ingredient and a little in the method as well.

So, that is why you see below two versions of the recipe. It isn't that I had any kind of issue with the first recipe, so much as I just had a few other things on hand that I wanted to try. So, while the original uses almond extract, lemon and no butter (just shortening), as well as regular sugar, that isn't what you see here.

Yeah, as I warned Kate, I am a "fiddler" (as evidenced by the new header on the blog... again). Sometimes, even when a recipe looks absolutely great to me as is, something just seems to come over me and I just can't stop myself from tweaking. As in this case. It started out innocently enough, then it just snowballed.

In the beginning I was just going to substitute half the shortening with some butter, just for flavor, just because. Then, I got thinking about how much I love orange with blueberry, so I switched out the lemon. Well... then I kept reading and realized I was out of almond extract and, since I couldn't go to the store at the time, I decided to add in vanilla instead... umm... vanilla bean extract that is, since I had it and all.

Oh, I'm not done yet. Sometimes the fiddling that takes place is a sickness! Told you it snowballed! So... I kept reading the list and got to the sugar and really wanted to switch out part of the sugar for brown sugar because, well, I seriously love brown sugar and would probably add it to absolutely everything if I could. I didn't want to switch out all the sugar though, because I really wanted to rub the orange zest into the white sugar like in Dorie's Perfect Party Cake I made for the Daring Baker challenge back in March. I would seriously love to wake up every day and do that. It is heavenly and totally therapuetic.

The last change I made to the ingredients was the milk. Yeah, I pretty much didn't leave anything alone here. I switched to buttermilk because I had some that needed to be used and also added a little baking soda just in case I had now completely torpedoed the chemistry here somehow.

The end result of all the crazy, can't-leave-well-enough-alone fiddling that went on here? These cookies were completely awesome! As I mentioned above, I'm sure that the original recipe is fantastic too, and I will probably try it as well, but in the meantime, you get two versions.

Oh, and since we all know I have a penchant for eating cookies for breakfast, since these were so much like the orange blueberry muffins in BFMHTY, I passed these off as 'biscuits' (fair enough right, our friends in other lovely areas of the world call cookies biscuits - right? Right.) and scarfed a few. And, yes, I feel fine about it. You should too!

BLUEBERRY DROP COOKIES

(Revised Version)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the 2/3 cup sugar with the orange zest and rub together until moist and fragrant. Place sugar and zest mixture in a large mixing bowl with the shortening, butter, and brown sugar. Cream together well. Add the egg and mix well. Add the buttermilk and vanilla paste or extract, and continue to mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. Fold in the blueberries gently and mix until well blended.

2. Cover and chill for 4 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls, one and one-half inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing them with a spatula.

Makes about 4 dozen.

BLUEBERRY DROP COOKIES (The original recipe)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over

Instructions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, milk, almond extract and lemon zest, mixing well after the addition of each ingredient. Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the blueberries and mix until well blended.

2. Cover and chill for 4 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls, one and one-half inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing them with a spatula.

Makes about 4 dozen.

How to Bake a Daring Cake - Dorie's Perfect Party Cake Revamp

This month the Daring Bakers are flooding the food blogging world with Dorie's Perfect Party Cake, as chosen by Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts. She also decided that we could all play with the flavors to our hearts content as long as we used the original recipes as our base jumping off point.

So, while I made an orange-strawberry version with some dulce de leche, there are many surprises waiting at the Daring Bakers' blogroll .

Let me start by saying thank you to Morven for the theme and the recipe - I loved this cake! Making it was as much of a pleasure for me as eating it was. My only regret was adding the dulce de leche on top because it slid off (even more than in the pictures). Next time I will just serve that alongside for anyone who wants more than in the layers.

I also wanted to mention that, hands-down, my favorite part of the entire process was rubbing the zest with the sugar. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that getting in there with your fingers and working the sugar until it is moist and fragrant had a completely calming effect on me. I think I would happily wake up and do this every morning to help wake up. It was awesome and I had to taste just a little of the orange sugar which, of course tasted like candy. I loved it so much that I sprinkled more on the top of the cake to highlight it. That was absolutely my favorite part!

I had actually never made buttercream before and though I gave some passing thought to not trying it this time either, I knew I wanted to make it and see what it was like. I am so glad that I did. I actually didn't have any trouble with it and it was a pleasure to work with. I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste to mine for flavor and the lightly speckled effect. I now know that I will use both recipes many more times to come.

I layered the cakes with strawberry buttercream (by taking 1/3 of the entire buttercream and mixing in some smooth pureed strawberry preserves) and a center layer of dulce de leche. It was awesome!

Here was the process of rubbing the sugar with the orange zest - I wonder if Blogger is working on smell-o-vision capabilities - oh well, until then, you HAVE to try this.

Here is where I added the butter and creamed it. As you can see, mine never got very light and fluffy, but I pressed on and it didn't seem to be a problem.

Here is the cake and the layering process. Yeah, now you can see the problem with the dulce de leche. The inside layer of the cake wouldn't have oozed as much if I hadn't poured it onto the smooth side of the cake. Next time I'll know better.

And here is the piece I ate for Easter. The orange-strawberry-dulce de leche combo was insanely good and the cake was devoured very quickly at a friend's house where I took it as Easter dessert. I was even told that it was the "best dessert" they had ever had. Since they have had some amazing desserts, this is high praise indeed. I am thrilled to have this recipe, and the ability to play around with the flavors, in my arsenal.

Orange Infused Party Cake with Vanilla, Strawberry & Dulce de Leche
(Adapted from Dorie's Perfect Party Cake)

For the Cake:
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Buttercream:
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon orange juice (from 1 large orange)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

For Finishing:
1/2 cup strawberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable (puree in food processor to make it smooth if necessary)
1/3 cup dulce de leche

Getting Ready:
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet (I didn't have a big enough baking sheet so I just baked them directly on the rack).

To Make the Cake:
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl. Put the sugar and orange zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.

Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream:
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat. Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in the orange juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly. When you are ready to assemble the cake, place 1/3 of the buttercream into a seperate bowl and whisk in the strawberry preserves for in between two of the layers.

To Assemble the Cake:
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Spread it with one-half of the preserves/buttercream mixture. Top with another layer, spread with a layer of dulce de leche and then do the third layer the same as the first with the remainder of the strawberry buttercream. Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.

Serving:
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold.

Storing:
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Bread Baking Day - PheMOMenal Kolach

In all of my hopping around on different food blogs I found out about this lovely event. The theme chosen by Eva for Bread Baking Day #6 was "Shaped Bread." I was excited about this event, but I was really excited about doing something with shaping breads. I tried to decide what to do, and it was actually a little tougher than I thought it might be, because there were so many choices I wanted to try. I have made shapes before, but I wanted to try something I've never done before.

So, several years ago I bought a copy of Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads (actually my copy looks to be an older version than this one) for my birthday. I have used several recipes from the book, but there are sooo many recipes in this book that I have barely scratched the surface. So, I decided that I would make something from the book for this event. I wanted it to be something pretty, but also something I knew my whole family would want to eat.
I settled on a recipe I found in the "Festive Breads" section of the book. One of the main things I like about Mr. Clayton's book is that pretty much every recipe has a little bit of background or story to preface the recipe. For this bread, called "Kolach" Mr. Clayton talks about this being a very rich bread that the "Circle of Serbian Sisters" in Milwaukee reached back to homelands in the Balkans for the recipe. It also said that the bread is traditionally served on one's patron saint day.

I liked the idea of a long heritage and tradition behind this bread, and the photograph of it on the front looked lovely, but not too terribly difficult to do. I decided to do a search on Kolach and found out that it is really just a term for cakes or breads, usually filled. So, while perhaps that isn't the really exact name for this bread, that is the name on the recipe. The original version was more simple, with lemon zest and juice and pecans studded on the top.

Though his version looked and sounded lovely to me. I wanted to experient and see what I could come up with, so below is my version of a Kolach. And far as having this on my Patron Saint's day, since I'm not Catholic, I don't actually have one. However, because I think it is a great thing to celebrate people that did wonderful things, I decided to see if there was a Saint for the day I made this and there was. What I love about this coincidence (or is it?) is that this it was a wonderful woman who cared for lepers. She reminds me very much of a close friend of mine who also does a lot of incredibly giving and good work around the world and especially in Africa, including caring for those stricken with leprosy. She is amazing and does so much for me and my family. So, it is for these two amazing "PheMOMenal" women that I dedicate this humble loaf. I hope they would approve. My adaptation is shown below. I think it hits a whole new level with a few little tweaks by changing from lemon to orange and adding the dark chocolate - a killer combination.

Oh, and the leftovers the next day made amazing french toast!

PheMOMenal Kolach with Pecans, Chocolate and Orange

Makes 1 Fat Loaf

For the Bread:

3/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp minced orange zest (original recipe used lemon)
1 Tbsp orange juice (original recipe used lemon)
1 1/4 C hot milk (120 to 130 degrees F)
3 3/4 C bread or all-purpose flour, approximately
1-pkg dry yeast


FILLING & TOPPING:

1/4 cup pecan halves (for topping)


Egg Wash Glaze for before baking:
1 egg yolk, beaten, mixed with 1 Tbsp milk


For Glaze after Baking:
2 T honey
1 T unsalted butter, melted
1 T orange juice (if you want a stronger orange flavor use 1/2 tsp orange extract)

Combine well in a small bowl.


For Filling:

1/3 C toasted, finely chopped pecans
1/2 C bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 C dark brown sugar
Dash of kosher salt
1 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tsp orange juice, fresh


Baking Sheet: 1 large baking sheet with Silpat or lightly buttered parchment


In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer with the flat beater attachment, combine the butter, egg yolks, sugar, salt, orange zest, and orange juice. Mix the milk into the butter and egg yolk mixture. Measure in 1 cup of flour. Add the yeast. Stir to blend well.

When the batter is smooth, add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and each time stir vigorously. When the dough has formed a mass that can be lifted out of the bowl and placed on the floured work surface, the dough is ready to knead. Or, if you want to knead in the stand mixer, switch to the dough hook attachment. Add sprinkles of flour if the dough continues to be sticky during the kneading period.

Knead the dough with an aggressive push-turn-fold motion or under the dough hook for 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. At this point it should not stick to the work surface or to the sides of the mixer bowl.


Butter the insides of a large bowl and place the dough, turning it over to coat all sides, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Put aside at room temperature to double in bulk, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling mix by placing all the ingredients except butter into a heavy-duty (like quart-sized freezer) zip-top bag and shaking the contents until well combined. Next pour in the melted butter and massage until it forms a kind of paste texture.

When the dough has risen, turn onto a floured work surface and divide into 3 equal parts.


Flatten each part into a long rectangle (approximately 4" x 20").

Fill with the filling mixture by shaking the filling contents into corner of the bag and snipping a small hole off of the corner to use the bag as a piping bag. Pipe a small amount into the center of each strip, leaving about 2 inches on each end of the rectangle. Brush the top edge of the dough with the egg wash glaze and roll the dough over around the filling and seal well on all sides so that each portion creates a filled rope.

Braid the 3 filled ropes together. Place the braid on the baking sheet and coil it, tucking the end of the braid into the coil so that it doesn't break loose as the dough rises. With your hands, gently push the coils into a symmetrical shape.

Cover the coil with parchment paper or a cloth and put aside at room temperature until the dough doubles in bulk, about 50 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F about 20 minutes before baking.

Brush the loaf with the egg-milk glaze, and carefully push the pecan halves into a pattern over the top of the loaf.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until golden, about 1 hour. Turn the loaf over and if it is browned and sounds hard and hollow when tapped with forefinger, the loaf is done.

Remove from the oven and brush all over while still hot with the honey orange glaze. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before lifting with a metal spatula and place on a metal rack to cool before serving.