The Cakey Kiss of an Orange with a touch of Dark Chocolate n Fennel

An intense Orange Cake with layered Orange Curd, fennel flavored whipped cream on top n Dark Chocolate shavings 

The goodbye of the winter comes with the disappearance of fresh oranges slowly from the local market n I never wanna say goodbye to oranges, partly because citrus are one my favorite flavors n aroma and because oranges are oranges n I just love the color orange. In fact my favorite color is yellowish orange which reminds me of the sun at dusk n dawn n fire n off course the oranges themselves. So before the oranges say goodbye I captured them in this cake-hoping this recipe would last forever n please us time n time again.

I have memories of making orange cake before, possibly last year I made them in my sister’s home-orange cupcakes n I have memories of reading about orange cakes from one of my favorite cookbooks-Recipes from a Provencal Kitchen by Michel Biehn n Bernard Touillon n I used to imagine the aroma reading that recipe n the description. But my cake comes from my experience of flavors that go well with orange, in my cake I have used fennel seeds known as ‘Mouri’, ‘Saunf’ in Bengali n Hindi respectively, this spice is aromatic with a soft aniseed flavor n it goes well with both orange n chocolate.

So the cake formed itself in my mind and I was looking for an opportunity to incorporate these flavors into the cake, so I slightly roasted the fennel seeds n pounded them until smooth n I mixed them into the cake batter and later on I used the same powdered form into the whipped cream. I was also looking for opportunities to produce a real soft light cake –that will mean incorporating air into the batter in many ways so the cake comes out light as a dream.

So there are many ways to incorporate air into a cake batter- we can use leaveners, we can use whipped egg whites to give more air, we can use more sugar while creaming the butter n sugar together, we can use heat while beating the eggs to stabilize them holding more air-so in this cake I whip the egg whites to almost stiff peak and then folded them into the batter. I creamed the sugar n butter very well for a good 7 minutes until it became really light n pale.

 I used fresh orange juice in the cake which is an acidic ingredient, so I used Baking Soda to react with that acid n produce air bubbles n therefore making the cake light, I also used Baking powder which reacts in 2 parts, once as it comes in contact with water, second when it goes inside the oven-the heat initiates another reaction producing more air bubbles.

I wanted the cake to speak of orange mainly with background flavors of fennel n dark chocolate, for that I used the orange zest because that has the essential oil n fragrance of orange which is so very beautiful, and how will I make a good orange cake without either the orange zest n the fresh orange juice!

And there is more, the two layers of the cake hold a sweet secret- a beautiful delicious orange curd, rich with egg n butter n orange. It kicks the orange flavor to a new height; at the same flavor it provides moisture.

When you bite into the cake you get this amazing orange flavor, then in the background you experience this subtle flavor from fennel seed and once in a while a little dark chocolate comes n seduces you but you never lose your focus from orange…it’s a beautiful bite-every flavor is in harmony n married to each other.

So now I will take you to the recipe.

For The Recipe: You will need

For the Cake Batter:

Orange juice- 2 medium sized, peeled, seeded n juice extracted

Orange zest- zest of 3 oranges grated on a grater/zester

Butter- 150 gm, at room temperature, unsalted

Cake Flour/All purpose flour-150 gm, sifted

Caster Sugar/Powdered sugar- 150 gm

Eggs- 3 at room temperature, yolk n white separated

Lime juice- ½ tsp

Baking Soda- ½ tbsp

Baking Powder- 1 tbsp

Fennel seed- 1 tbsp, slightly roasted n powdered

Salt- 2/3 pinches, skip salt if butter is already salted

For the Orange Curd:

Orange juice- from 1 orange

Orange zest- from 1 orange

Eggs- 2 medium eggs

Sugar powdered- 30 gm

Butter- 50 gm, at room temperature

For the Fennel Whipping Cream:

Whipping cream Dairy/Soy- 300 gm

Fennel seed- 1 tbsp, slightly roasted n powdered to smooth

Sugar- 40 gm superfine sugar, skip sugar if your cream is already sweetened

Pre-heat your oven at 180 Celsius/350 Fahrenheit

You will also need Dark chocolate shavings- you can do this with a big Chinese chopper, cutting the bar really thin n the stripes roll themselves as you slice them really thin or with a sharp knife scrape along the bar and you will see rolled up shavings coming out.

1. Begin by lightly buttering your 8 inch cake tin n layering the cake tin with baking parchment paper n also butter it, in a big bowl cream together the powdered sugar n soft butter with a big whisk or electric hand mixer or stand mixer, do it for a good 6/7 minutes and the mixture will go light n pale, we are trying to incorporate as much air as we can at this stage.

2. After that add egg yolk no.1 n beat it in really well until the mixture is uniform, then add yolk no.2 n do the same, then add yolk no. 3 n do the same. After that add the oranges zest and mix it in well, then add half of the orange juice and slowly whisk it in until the batter becomes smooth again, then add the rest half and do the same.

3. In a big clean airy bowl take the 3 egg whites n add the fresh lime juice into it, then start beating it with a wire whisk or electric hand whisk or stand mixer with whisk attachment, first it will go to ribbon stage , then it will form soft peaks, then it will go towards stiff peak, when the egg white is at soft peak stage that is when you lift them with the whisk they don’t stand straight , add 1 tbsp of powdered sugar and whisk on, after 1 minute add another tbsp of sugar and whisk, soon they will reach to stiff peak when they will just begin to hold their shape, stop at this stage. We don’t want to reach full on stiff peak stage because after that the egg whites will have no more capacity to expand any more when they go inside the oven. We want our egg-whites to expand further in the heat of the oven, so we will stop just as it reaches stiff peak, just there- this is important.

4. Take the creamy sugar, butter, egg yolk mixture- sift the flour and the baking powder together and mix with the whisk until it becomes a uniform mixture, don’t do it for a long time, just as the batter becomes uniform it is done, add the powdered fennel seed powder and mix it in, then take 1/3 of the egg white and vigorously beat it in the cake mixture to loosen it up for30 sec, then take a silicone spatula and take another 1/3 of the egg white n softly carefully fold it in by going in a rotating motion from the outside of the bowl towards the centre, lifting up the mixture and cutting through when you go in again, rotate the bowl with every lift, do the same with the remaining portion of the egg white. Finally sift the baking soda over the batter, spreading it everywhere as you sift and again mix it well. Then pour the batter in the cake tin, place the tin on a baking tray and put it into the hot oven for about 35-40 minutes.  Every oven behaves in a different way, so keep an eye on the cake, after 35 minutes the top of my cake had no color, so I put the top grill on and I gave it 2-3 minutes more and the top became golden brown, test it with a skewer by inserting it into the cake n it should come out clean, when you touch the cake it will spring back and you will see the sides of the cake shrinking from the metal tin.

This is one of the characteristic of cakes done with folded egg white that when done the cake shrinks from the side of the pan. So now put the cake pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then take the cake out and place it on the wire rack to cool down. The cake needs to cook completely so that we can slice it, once cool the cake needs to go into the refrigeration to firm up for 4/6 hours so that we can slice it in 2 parts.

5. For the orange curd, prepare a water bath, pour water in deep bowl n make it come to simmer, then mix the orange zest n the sugar together in a medium bowl, then add the orange juice n mix well, then whisk the eggs in another bowl then add to the orange mixture n mix well, add the room temperature butter to the mixture and place this mixture  over the simmering water bowl making sure this bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water, whisk constantly for the first five minutes, then whisk every 1 minute so that eggs don’t scramble, if the heat if becoming too high you feel lift up the bowl n control the temperature, then bring it back n stir often, after 20 minutes this mixture will thicken n go pale, this is orange curd, pour it into a bowl n let it cool.

6. Now we will whip the chilled cream, the cream needs to be chilled so that we can whip it to its full volume, so chill the cream in the fridge for 12 hours before you whip it and chill the bowl n the whisk for 2 hours if you are using dairy cream, if using soy cream you can skip it, so whip the cream until it begins to hold shape which is stiff peaks, then add the fennel powder and whisk it in, set aside in the refrigerator.

7. Now we will assemble the cake, take the cold cake out of the refrigerator, with a sharp big knife give light cut marks along the perimeter of the cake first to devide it in half, then as you rotate the cake cut a little into the cake, in this way you will get a smooth slice of the cake , carefully lift up the top layer and then take the orange curd and smear it generously over the bottom layer with a palette knife, then place the top layer carefully over it, then take the whipped cream and smear it over the surface with the palette knife and then put some of the cream in a piping bag and pipe over the cake into a beautiful pattern-just the way you like it,

Take the dark chocolate shaving and arrange it over the surface-in between the piped designs or just the way you like it, then drop some of the remaining orange curd over the piped cream, finally slice some orange cloves and open them up and place them over the cake and hey there! It seems you are done.

Now you can eat the cake but I will suggest you place the cake in the refrigerator for 1 hour, so after an hour take the beauty out and first show it to everyone, create the anticipation, then gather everyone and keep a sharp knife ready, slice through the beauty with uttermost love and then it approaches your lips...the moment, let it kiss you and then you get the taste, you get the aroma. Sooooo good right! Bon Appétit.

2 Mousse madness, Nalen Gurr n Dark Chocolate Rum n other stories…

Two Amazing Egg less Mousse recipes, minimum ingredients, maximum flavor: Nalen Gurr Mousse, Dark Chocolate with Red Rum Mousse for the Valentine’s day n Saraswati Pujo

Winter days call for food that makes you warm, even if they are cold in temperature themselves and even if they are desert and sweet they will make you warm n cozy in the course of enjoying them. So when I think of winter I think of rum, especially the dark red rum, complex in flavor, almost like a candy with a lot of depth and its affinity with dark chocolate, yes that’s magical n sexy n yet subtle. So they come together in my mousse, hugging each other and dissolving into the whipped cream as I go beating the cream.

Yes the mousse is literally very simple, it is only made with whipping cream n dark chocolate n red rum and Nalen Gurr- Date-Palm Jaggery available in the eastern part of India, in the land of Bengal, only in the winter season and this is liquid gold in my food dictionary.

You can make a mousse with the combination of stiffly beaten egg-whites and whipping cream also, in that case the mousse becomes even lighter n airy as the beaten egg whites bring even more trapped air bubbles into the mousse, I decided to make them eggless this time because the people for whom I made preferred it without eggs. But let it not make you think that the eggless mousse will not melt you as you eat them-they will. They are not as light as it would be with eggs but still they are deliciously light n smooth, singing with the flavors of Nalen Gurr n Dark chocolate n rum.

A mousse literally describes the texture of a food, a food item that includes air bubbles trapped inside it to produce a light and airy texture is a mousse, they can be both sweet n savory. Now depending on the techniques of including the air bubbles into the mousse the final result can be light n fluffy while some can be thick n creamy n denser. The mousse I made is very creamy n thick, whereas if you add egg-whites to them they will be even more airy.

A savory mousse can be flavored with a vegetable or fish or eggs, cheese, herbs. We can attain the light texture by using egg-whites, beating them to get the light n fluffy or cream; sometimes gelatin can be used in stabilizing the foam.

The taste of the Nalen Gurr mousse is absolutely delish, the molten jaggery just dissolves in the cream n unifies itself; it has such a satisfactory sensation attached to it. Like I said Nalen Gurr is a jaggery which is made from the sap of the date-palm trees in the region of Bengal, when the simmering sap thickens at the end of preparing it, it has a flavor unmatched by anything, there is nothing quite like it, liquid gold I tell you.

For a good dark chocolate mousse you need a real good chocolate, the better the chocolate you have the better the mousse will be, I used the one with 50% cocoa content, you can use 70% for an intense dark chocolate experience.

There are so many whipping creams in the market, some are dairy-based while some are soy based, you can use whatever you love, it is only up to you, some of the creams are previously sweetened and flavored with vanilla, if you are using that cream remember that the gurr is sweet itself, so the resulting mousse can be too sweet, in that case adjust the proportion of the gurr in the recipe.

So now I will take you to a sweet n cozy n warm winter evening, I’ll give you the recipe.

For The Recipe:  You will need

For the Nalen-Gurr Mousse:

Nalen-Gurr- 100 gm, grated or broken into small chunks

Water- ½ cup

Salt- a pinch

Whipping cream- 250-300 ml

Lemon/lime juice- 3-4 drops

For the Dark chocolate Rum Mousse:

Dark Chocolate – 150 gm, grated or broken into small pieces

Red Rum- 3 tbsp

Salt- a pinch

Milk (full fat) or cream- 100 ml

Icing sugar-50 gm (if you whipping cream is pre-sweetened then skip sugar)

1. Begin by melting the gurr, for that place the broken or grated gurr in a wok or frying pan or saucepan and add the water, let the flame be on a medium, with a wooden spatula stir the mixture, the gurr will melt in 3-4 minutes, then the mixture will come to a simmer, let it simmer on a low heat now for 4/6 minutes and it will thicken slightly, you will see the whole mixture is filled with bubbles, put the flame off, add a pinch of salt and drops of lime n mix well,  let it come to room temperature.

2. Melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie, make sure that the water is not touching the bowl of chocolate, stir the chocolate as it begins to melt, when all the chocolate has melted give it a good mix. Warm the cream or milk slightly, make sure that the milk/cream is not cold when you add it to the hot liquid chocolate , add the slightly warm milk/cream  and mix to a smooth consistency, then add the red rum and pinch of salt into it, mix again. Let it come to a room temperature.

3. For whipping the cream, if you are using a dairy based cream, then freeze the bowl into which the cream will be whipped along with the wire-whisk or pedal attachment of your stand mixer, in case you are gonna whip with your hands, open your hands from the elbow and freeze them too……NOOOO! Really! If you are using soy based whipping cream you might skip this part. One important thing is you are using a whipping cream which was frozen to a solid block in your freezer; you have to take it out n keep in your refrigerator for 12 -16hours at least, until it becomes liquid again. So now simply pour the cream in a big airy glass or metal bowl and whisk with either wire whisk, or electric hand whisk or like I did I whipped it all with my hands which took me 15 minutes of solid whisking, gosh I do believe in hard work!

If your cream is not previously sweetened, then you have to add icing sugar to the cream at the stage when the cream begins to transform from soft peaks to more stable peaks. You can always check by tasting if you want your whipped cream to be more sweet or not and you can adjust.

4. With a spatula draw a line over the whipping cream dividing it into two equal portions for the two mousse, then take one third from one portion and beat is vigorously into the chocolate rum mixture to lighten it up. Then add half of the remaining cream and fold it gently into the lightened chocolate mixture, do it by moving the spatula outwards and upwards beginning from the side of the bowl to the centre and rotate the bowl by one quarter with each fold. So in four fold you will rotate the bowl completely, work lightly and then add the remaining cream into the chocolate mixture and fold until combined.

5. Repeat the same process with the gurr. Now you can simply put them into beautiful small glasses or cups by spoon or you can put them in a piping bag and pipe them into small glasses, do whatever you feel like , then place them in the refrigerator to chill for a good 4 hours, yes they will taste better when cold.

So now take them out, sprinkle them with some grated chocolate for the chocolate mousse and for the Nalen Gurr mousse drizzle them with some liquid gurr, gosh look at them! Beautiful! Aren’t they? Delicious! Aren’t they? Now you must share them with everyone around, they keep well in the fridge, so save some for future good times, I know you will make them soon again, and guess what? Bon appétit.

A sweet sexy soufflé - The love affair with Gurr n how it got soufflé-d in love

                                                                                    Valentine’s Day is long over, thankfully so. I am not fan of Valentine’s Day in general, it’s quite commercialized and what is so special about a day when on that day red roses and every flower costs so much. Now in fact when it’s all over, now if you gift someone a red rose, yellow rose, or anything out of love it makes this extra special. There is no pressure of giving gift because it’s Valentine’s Day, so now it’s really comes from within you. I do believe in the power of sweet sudden surprises. If you want to express your love to someone make him/her this soufflé and you will touch him/her deeply. If that someone is a person you romantically involved with, try sleeping beside him/her without his knowledge while he/she is asleep, so when he/she wakes up, sees you. Now that’s something.

Forget about romance and all its lights and shadows and let me tell you about this soufflé. First things first this is a soufflé made with a type of Jaggery, date-palm jaggery. You know there are these date-palm trees and people collect the flavored sap from the tree by putting cut marks or incision at the top part of the tree and they make a way for the sap to come n get collected in a hanging earthen vessel tied to the tree. Now this sap has a distinct flavor and you can drink it fresh, when it is put on heat and reduced by simmering for long periods of time it develops an unique taste, more intensified. That’s the rough idea of how it is made, as for turning it into jaggery it is further reduced and then it solidifies as it cools down.

                                                                                                  Now for the soufflé I could have made it without the addition of crème patissiere, in that case it would have been even more light n puffed up, but then I thought I want it make it a little more rich so I made the crème patissiere with the melted Nalen gur, which gave it a pronounced flavor of that golden gur. And it does bring a touch of creaminess in the soufflé, however on another day I might make it without the special crème patissiere. Do you know that in French the word “soufflé” literally means “puffed up “? I read somewhere that day when we will make a soufflé of something it will mean to arrive at a texture, like airy, light, puffed up-now that is a way of looking at this word now. The word “soufflé” made into English vocabulary in the early nineteenth century, where it used to be described as an airy cooked confection of beaten egg-whites with the egg yolks with a savory and sweet flavoring.

                                                                 One thing about this special soufflé is that it tastes better the next day, as least that what I found out, I kept them in the freeze and next morning it was such a pleasure eating it, soft airy gurry goodness.  And I thought this is quiet it! So fit for the Valentine’s Day and in fact for any day when we want to make it special and we make this soufflé for the people we love and watch the smile on their face as they get soufflé-d.  somehow I ended up imaging this- I am little kid and my mom makes this soufflé sometimes, and I watch her at times curiously how she makes it, she beats the egg-whites, makes the pastry crème, pile them high on little ramekins and when she gets them out of the oven- woooo! They have risen like sweet monsters! And my anticipation makes them even tastier. So if you are a mom reading this having little kids, do make them this and they will have such wonderful memories.

                                                                                         By the way that morning was quiet eventful when I made this soufflé, first I was so cautious that there is no trace of egg-yolks in the egg-whites, not a drop fat in it and in this super-cautiousness  I tumbled the egg-whites on the table…errghhhh! Disaster! Disaster! And it was only the beginning. I fixed the egg-whites telling myself to calm down as I started making the crème patissiere and the point comes when it starts to get thick and you have whisk it all the time at that point for a minute, so there I was whisking madly and I checked my mobile too see if a minute is over and somehow in a sweet sleepery moment my mob jumped into the crème patissiere bowl! Lol! I couldn’t believe it, I snatched it out before it even submerged a bit into the crème since it was so thick...it all happened within some seconds-the fall and the rescue. But oouch ouch!  What an event! Ha-ha…I ended up laughing about it after that and even after these small disasters in the kitchen the soufflés puffed up like good boys. So V for victory and P for puffed up.

                               You can beat the egg-whites with a hand beater or a stand mixer or if you are like me young and energetic trust your hands. After making that mayonnaise, beating the egg-whites to soft peak was a Childs play to me, literally. And it’s fun, as I beat in with my hands I literally see the change I bring in, starting with the liquid egg whites as they absorb the air and become so airy and white.

                                      So now I will tell you the special recipe. Whisk whisk puff puff.

The recipe:  you will need

For the crème patissiere/pastry cream:     

 50 g shaved nalen gur/date palm jaggery

2 egg yolks

25g corn flour

250ml milk

25m unsalted/salted butter.

Begin by making the crème patissiere because it will take some time to cool off while you will prepare the egg whites. Whisk together the shaved gur, egg yolks and corn flour together in a bowl. Put the milk in heavy based saucepan n slowly let it come to a boil, just then remove it from the heat and whisk one third of the milk into the egg mix. Now quickly tip the egg mix back into the milk pan and keep whisking. Then put it back in the low heat, stirring constantly let it come to a boil, as it comes to a boil give it 1 min, don’t stop whisking. After that take it off the heat, add the butter, stir until it melts. So let it cool off to warm and then cover it with cling film and leave to cool it off. Remember when we have to fold the pastry crème with the beaten egg whites; we need it a little warm, not cold.

For the Nalen gur syrup: 

4-5 tbsp of shaved nalen gur, melt in a low heat with 1 tbsp of water, once melted keep in a low heat for 2 mins. Pour 1 tbsp or more each into 4 ramekins with base diameter of 2 1/2 inches (6cm), top diameter 3 ½ inches (7.5cm), 2 inches (5cm) deep, lightly buttered. Pour so that the base of the ramekins is coated with the syrup.      

 Pre-heat the oven to 170 Celsius, 325 Fahrenheit, gas mark 3.

 For the soufflés:   

3 large eggs

1/8^th of big lime or 1/4^th of a small lime or 1 tsp of lemon juice

2 tbsp of castor sugar

Separate the eggs, I find it to separate the eggs safely when they are just out of the refrigerator, then I let them come to normal temperature. Take a big airy bowl and make sure it is very clean and grease free, just to be sure take a little lemon or lime wedge and wipe the bowl with it. Next put the egg whites into the bowl and squeeze the lime or lemon juice into the egg whites. Start beating with a big wire whisk or with a electric hand beater, if you are using an electric beater, start slow, then to medium to high, beat the egg whites to almost stiff peak but the tip of the egg whites should bend down a little when you pick them up, so we don’t need stiff peaks actually, lower than that, slightly higher than soft peak, while your egg whites are getting to become fluffy as you are beating them add the castor sugar slowly. If you are whisking by hands like me add the castor sugar once you see the egg whites reaching the soft peak, first add 1 tbsp and after sometime add another. We are doing it just to give the beaten whites a little sweetness and to stabilize it also.

                            Now when you have reached that stage where it is almost stiff peak but the peak bends down a little as you put it up, so now it is time to fold the warm pastry crème into the egg whites. So take about 2 tbsp of the egg whites into the pastry crème and whisk it vigorously to light it up, then take about one fourth of the egg whites and still vigorously beat it in, then take half of the egg whites and gently fold it with a spatula by gently lifting it up along the circumference of the bowl and slowly folding it in the middle. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

                             Now spoon the mixture into the ramekins, pile it high if you want to, then run a finger into the inside rim of each one. Now place them in a baking sheet and put them in the middle shelf of the oven and bake for15-20 minutes or until the tops start to get golden. Then take them out and  you can see your soufflé is so puffed up, as you take them after 5mintues they will sink, that’s normal, don’t let your heart sink, let it rather sing a song because it is so delicious, even more on the next day. Why they will mostly sink is because we have folded the heavy crème patissiere into it, which is the reason. Enjoy them completely now whenever and however you like them hot or cold or normal. Bon appétit.