Orange Crème Patissiere

Hello...

This is totally mine..mine, mine.Inspired ,no doubt but ,I dont think I've evre heard or seen of a Crème Patissiere made with orange juice instead of milk.Inspired by Mrs Veeru's filling for her orange cream cake(she is the one who taught me how to make the Eggless Date Cake-If you missed ithttp://baketitude.blogspot.com/2011/08/eggless-date-cake.html). She was super fond of me and made that cream cake as often as we provided that 250 mils pack of orange juice...but she never did reveal the recipe.

Trial by fire...not quite there yet,but this turned out super fab! A flavourful custard..delicacies come up via accidemnts.

The red on the Orange Crème Patissiere is red chili flakes btw.

Zing!

Yum!

On the way to the finish,we broke a bowl, changed a bowl and realised that stainless steel is indeed the best!
You can use this over cakes,as a filling or with fruit.
for the

Orange Crème Patissiere...

you need

3 egg yolks
4 tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour
240 mils Orange juice(we used Real Activ)

The three yolks,sitting pretty.

The dry ingredients,before you mix them get a flat pan of water poiling....we'll use it as a bain marie.

Mix,and into this add in the orange juice and pop on the bain marie.

It was taking a gazillion years to cook and we were loosing patience(one never runs out of topics for gossip),so we transferred this to a steel sauce pan and stirred with a wooden spoon.

The Crème Patissiere is always cooked till the stage when if you run a finger on the back of the wooden spoon,the custard goes nowhere. Like SO! I wish I had gone to Le Cordon Bleu to learn this...but sadly non! I went to TV school.Watched TV,Chef Raymond Blanc...'e so loves le good food!

When that is done,a piece of film or parchment paper over the Orange Crème Patissiere to ensure that a film will not form!Let this cool till your cake is ready to slice open.

Now slathered between an Orange Chiffon Cake or whatever cake.This url is for the Orange  Chiffon Cake- if you havent guessed already.http://baketitude.blogspot.com/2012/01/orange-chiffon-cake-with-orange-creme.html

There was just enough for three layers,so we dressed up the secong cake with orange slices and cut grapes...the white is icing sugar.

Happy children...

There were more there ,honestly...but not willing to be photographed.
See how clean the cake cut and how white it is...not to mention moist.Yes I am pushing you off the chair and into your kitchen!

Try this and enjoy!


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Orange Chiffon Cake with Orange Crème Patissiere

Chiffons and georgettes and all things pastel and tangy…remind you of Yash Chopra and his sensuous sirens…with happily ever after.

Well, I tried to recreate that here…minus the serenading hero…we were doing the serenading, with the ooohs and aahs and the wows.

The occasion…the return of the prodigal. My neighbor Kanchan Bhartari was out on vacation, meeting up with her siblings and all the spouse-in-laws and I have it on good authority that she has come back refreshed after all t hat R&R.

I know, I am not supposed to be calling her the prodigal…but I love the sound of the expression…reality is that she has avoided baking with me for so long..And now that she is back..She has to bake…such is my charm!(sic).

The cake in question is a chiffon cake…a prettier name for a Genoese sponge …only this one has a wee bit more oil. But I promise,the oil is balanced with the blessings of orange juice. Fresh or tetra packed…whatever is convenient to you, my dear.

And we also acknowledge the absolute beauty of cake flour.

Hello ,in India flour is flour is flour-its either Maida or its Atta…plain or whole wheat. So what’s all  this mumbo jumbo about bleached and cake and strong and bread flour. We’ll learn as we go on. For the moment the first tutorial is on cake flour.

Tutorial…rings a bell does it?

If you have graduated from the University of Delhi, you’ll know about the absolutely tiny “tute” rooms as they were so called. Majority of them were used to actually study in, my friends and I once did some table turning. An absolutely archaic expression for calling the spirits…lots of giggles and goose flesh at the end of that séance. At the end of this baking session…you’ll have many more. How can something taste so so  good and be low in fat?

Let’s start. With some serenading…I chose this one…the man may be pudgy and the song not that great but Sridevi in her diaphanous sari is probably the most beautiful of all of Yash Chopra’s  muses. Eternal, Ageless..And wearing the same color as orange crème patissiere.

..Yay!

Smiles .Totally worth it!

For the

Orange Chiffon Cake with Orange Crème 

Patissiere...

You need

6 eggs separated and at room temperature

2 ¼ cups cake flour

1 ¼ cup sugar-processed as fine as you wish

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

120 mils/ ½ cup vegetable oil

180 mils/ ¾ cup orange juice

1 tsp vanilla essence

¾ tsp cream of tartar/ lemon juice
and the http://baketitude.blogspot.com/2012/01/orange-creme-patissiere.html

For the cake flour sift together ¾ cup plain flour and 2 tbsp corn flour. That’s the basic ratio…many many times and bottle it for future use. Dig into this bottle for this cake.

And to frost or dress this cake…another fat free custard. The Orange Crème Patissiere.

That is the next post…too many words in this one already!

Before you start ,ovens-two (if two pans won’t fit into your oven….halve the recipe) pre heated at 180F/360F and two tube pans oiled and papered. I do not have tube pans…so innovate! 2 regular cake tins, dressed to kill and centered…one with a peg measure and one with a steel glass.

Ek glassey!

Do glassey!

Teen glassey!

Char!

I don’t thing blogger will support two videos in one post, but who am I not to try…

Ok, first big bowl-the egg yolks,

Now the 1 cup of the sugar.

The orange Juice.

Mix them all together...

And the oil.

Blend with a balloon whisk.Sift the flour and the salt and the baking powder together.

Add to the wet ingredients and blend gently.

Second bowl egg whites…

Beat them till a soft peaks form. Add in the sugar and the cream of tartar or lemon juice and beat till there is no tomorrow.

 Rather stiff peaks…

And now into the other bowl.
If you think  that this post is a little terse and succinct-I’m watching Desi Boys…where Akshay Kumar and John Abraham make complete fools of themselves. So am a little distracted.

Ok, stiff peaks egg whites folded into the mix.

And lovingly now pour the batter into both the pans.

And pop into the ovens for 30 to 35 minutes.

Check for done-ness with a wooden pick!

As soon as you bring it out of the oven…just invert it  and leave it till it cools.

Then just run a knife around the edges and invert it out.

Leave it to cool  and then split the cake. The toothpicks are a guide.... 

WOW!

Ok...even the moon is a little off.

And frost with whatever…or the Orange Crème Patissiere.That is from http://baketitude.blogspot.com/2012/01/orange-creme-patissiere.html

We were short of red fruit so we tried red chili flakes…they put a zing in the cake and on your tongue too! The second cake...just a shower of icing sugar-the Orange Crème Patissiere finished.

Women and kids and all around us loved the cake…

Try this and feel the zing!

Happiness!
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Cinnamon Carrot Cake

Winter mornings...there is a real chill in the air...Ranchi is almost freezing. Well, one does not expect it of Ranchi…unfortunately, nothing is ever moderate.

The pictures have a few buds of sweet peas, shy in front of the sweetness of the cake and the prettiness of the cake too!Specs of red...the carrots...so good for your eyes and your tummy and your heart!

Everywhere you see there are piping hot cauldrons full of gajrellas-gajar ka halwa,moong dal halwas and gulab jamuns-for those unfamiliar with these yummy treats…Halwa is a dish in which an innocent vegetable or grain is slathered with massive quantities of pure desi ghee-clarified butter and sugar and cooked till it loses its identity and is awfully tempting. Let’s face it, who in their right minds will, in this biting cold and eat 2 kilos of carrots, when they can get the same amount of (only) fiber and an exponential rise in calories from a small bowlful of gajrella.

We, the crushed dieters need to refrain from such thoughts too. Even the thought of such fat and sugar laced food will pile on unnecessary calories. No amount counseling and diet plans from the venerable Atkinson or Dukan are going to help. So we turn to you guessed it-cake! At least its healthier…even Marie Antoinette advised her county men “Let them eat cake!”(Sic).

We follow….the queen!

Cinnamon Cake, with carrots.

The original recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine called for an equal amount of sugar –to the flour…hello, I halved it. Healthier, you can use sugar substitute…but the vegetable oil and eggs and the carrots are good. I used 400 gms of carrots, the cake could do with at least 150 gms more. Guilt free way of enjoying carrots, this way you get a lot more than the fiber…all the nutrients are in the cake…All the RDA of Vit A not lost to the gods of fire or mingled with the halwa makers sweat(yuck). I, with a nut hating son have to avoid the walnuts, but this time I really wished I could’ve added them. You don’t get into the could’ve been rut. Add some walnuts and appreciate the layered flavors’ of this cake.

Let’s not dawdle like old women and get to the task.

For the

Cinnamon Carrot Cake…

You need

3 cups/400 Gms shredded carrots

1 cup/125 Gms chopped walnuts

2 ½ cups/400 Gms plain flour

1 ¼ cup granulated sugar (my book said 2 cups-boo! Even this was a little too much. If you eat as much sugar as me then 1 cup will suffice.)

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon powder

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 170C/340F and grease and flour a cake tin. Aluminium, if you please, the silicon does not give any crusts. So no can do!

Simple…don’t need to process the sugar…even if a few granules don’t dissolve, little grains provide that yummy crunch…a sudden burst of sweetness…like a little light behind your eyes.

That’s the sugar into which the eggs have just been cracked.

A little bit of whizzing to fluff up the eggs.

Now pour the oil and vanilla into the egg and sugar mix. 

Next time I am going to substitute half the oil with buttermilk. (Read milk and vinegar mix- make it lower in calories, without removing the moistness.)

Meanwhile all the powders have to be sifted, twice if you feel up to it. Otherwise, once is good. Take it easy…all this is supposed to be stress busting and not wrinkle creating.

Add in the dry ingredients and mix gently.Three batches is good. I once tried to introduce a friend to baking and she would whisk or beat the batter like there was no tomorrow. When her cakes came out like cookies, she blamed me. Tell me, when the cake gives you so much pleasure doe sit deserve that kind of a beating? No! So, moral of the story, be gentle!

Once all the flour has been incorporated fold in the carrots and the walnuts.

As you can see no walnuts in mine. Also I increased the amount of carrots...almost 1 cup extra. I dunked the remainder of a pack of raisins and glace cherries…totally useless.

Into the now hot oven, almost 55 minutes to a hour. Check with a skewer to see if it is done. 

Let it cool in the tin for about half an hour an d then run a knife along the edges and turn it out.

That mes Amis…Is proof the that cake is well baked. See the bottom…couldn’t have been more perfect.

Sliced with my once lost bread knife….now found after languishing in a drawer of my least used cutlery. The aha moment.

Finally the sunshine…an ode to god’s bounty.

PS it was Makar Sankranti…yesterday…the Hindu New Year…so that’s one more reason to celebrate.

Sunshine and spring.

Happiness…without the extra ghee and the halwai’s (the halwa maker) sweat.

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