Orange Tian

This is the Daring Bakers Challange for the month of March. I loved that I was challanged to make preserves. I not only made orange marmalade I made homemade Strawberry preserves also. In the bottom of my Tian I spread the Strawberry instead of the Orange Marmalade. I also triples the whipped cream filling to get a nice high Tian.

Preparation time:- Pate Sablee: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to rest, 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake- Marmalade: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch- Orange segments: 20 minutes, overnight to sit- Caramel: 15 minutes, overnight to sit- Whipped Cream: 15 minutes- Assembling: 20 minutes- Freezer to Set: 10 minutes
Equipment required:• Cookie cutters . Ideally, you should have about 6 cookie cutters to build the desserts in and cut the circles of dough (see photo). The cookie cutters will be the size of your final dessert, so they should be the size of an individually-sized tart mold. If you don’t have round cookie cutters you could use an individually-sized cheesecake mold without its base.• A food processor (although the dough could be made by hand too)• A stand-up or hand mixer• Parchment paper or a silicone sheet• A baking sheet• A rolling pin

For the Pate Sablee:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperaturegranulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 gramsvanilla extract ½ teaspoonUnsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubedSalt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 gramsAll-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 gramsbaking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams
Directions:Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.
Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for IngredientsFreshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams1 large orange used to make orange slicescold water to cook the orange slicespectin 5 gramsgranulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked
Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.
Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.
Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).
Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.
In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:
For this step you will need 8 oranges.
Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.
[See YouTube video in the References section below for additional information on segmenting oranges.]

For the Caramel:
Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredientsgranulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 gramsorange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams
Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.
Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.
Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.
[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:
Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredientsheavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams3 tablespoons of hot water1 tsp Gelatine1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugarorange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon
In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]
Assembling the Dessert:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.
Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Chocolate Coca Cola Cake

Use your favorite Chocolate Cake recipe and sub in Coca Cola for some of the liquid. Once the cake is baked and cool soak some Coca Cola into the layers. Now, imagine covering the whole cake in truffle filling, Coca Cola truffle filling:

2 1/2 Cups Whipping Cream

1/2 Cup Coca Cola-room temperature

4 Cups Chocolate Chips

In a microwave or sauce pan heat the cream to a scald and add the chips and whisk until smooth then add the Coca Cola.

The secret to frosting the cake with Coca Cola Truffle Filling is to get it to the perfect usable temperature. This will take practice. Let it set up at room temperature-may take about 6 hours or put it in the refridgerator or freezer and stir frequently until it becomes a spreadable consistency. If it gets too thick microwave it. Only microwave it for 15 seconds at a time and stir as too not get it too runny again.

Funeral Sheet Cakes

I made both these cakes the same flavor. A white cake with a symple syrup with the juice of 2 oranges soaked into the layers. The filling was made with a homemade strawberry preserves and a classic french buttercream-I mixed the 2 together in equal parts. It made a beautiful pink color. The outside was frosted with Italian buttercream. I haven't had to do alot of cake decorating lately so I was not on my game as far as writing on the cake-I'm surprised that this is something that I need to do on a regular basis to stay good at it-I used to think I wrote good on cakes at one time but this is just OK. I think they still turned out beautiful and they tasted amazing. I made these cakes for 2 funerals that were help at Church this past weekend back to back. I will especially miss Kathryn whom I sat next to for the last 10 years. Until we meet again Kathryn.

Swedish Tea Ring

Swedish Tea Ring
Makes 2 tea rings
Dough:
¼ Cup Warm water 105-115 degrees F.
1 Tbsp Dry yeast
1/3 Cup Sugar
5 ¾-6 ¼ Cup all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp salt
½ cup warm milk 105-115 F
1 cup sour cream
3 large eggs
Zest of 1 orange
1 stick unsalted butter room temp cut into small pieces

In a 5 qt mixer add the water, yeast and sugar, mix together and watch for bubbles. Once yeast mixture bubbles add 2 cups of flour and the remainder of the ingredients and mix until incorporated with the paddle attachment. Switch to the dough hook and add the remainder of the flour ½ cup at a time. Mix until the dough pulls away from the bowl. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise. Meanwhile prepare the filling.

Filling:

Zest of 1 orange
1 cup sugar
1 ¼ cup sliced almonds
1 ½ cups golden raisins
½ cup chopped candied orange peel* (recipe follows)

Rum Butter:
½ stick butter melted
1 tbsp. dark rum

To assemble:

Once the dough is proofed divide it in half. Roll the dough out into a rectangle like done for cinnamon rolls. Spread half of the rum butter all over the dough then sprinkle half of the filling evenly over the dough. Roll the dough up like a cinnamon roll but them form it into the shape of the letter “O”. Place it on parchment covered cookie sheet, tucking the ends of the “O” together. Using kitchen shears cut into the dough about 2/3’s of the way in all around the whole “O” turn the dough so it lays flat. At this point allow the tea ring to proof at room temperature or cover it and place in the refridgerator and pull it out in the morning and let it sit for about 20 minutes then bake it at 350 for about 20-30 minutes check for doneness.

While the tea ring is baking prepare the glaze.

Glaze:
½ cup orange juice
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Whisk all of the above ingredients together and spread over the tea ring immediately after it comes out of the oven. Let cool and enjoy.

Candied Orange Peel

6 thick skinned oranges
4 ½ Cups Sugar, plus extra for rolling
1 ½ cups water

Peel the skin off the oranges with a carrot peeler. Cut them into strips-thick or thin-depending what you would like.

The next step is done for removing the bitterness in the peel. Place the peel in saucepan with cold water, bring to boil. Let simmer for a few minutes then pull the peels out of the pan and put them into a bowl of ice water. Dump the hot water out and but fresh cold water in the pan and put the peels back in the pan and bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes then once again take them out and put them in ice water. Dump out the hot water and one last time add cold water and the peels and bring to a boil. Pull the peels out and set aside. Rinse the pan out and then add 4 ½ cups sugar and 1 ½ cups water then add the peels to this. Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer for about 45 minutes. In a separate bowl add some sugar and once the peels are done simmering add them to the sugar and toss.