Orange Chiffon Cake

Orange Chiffon Cake

Makes: 12 servings

Prep: 30 minutes

Chill: 1 hour

Bake: 30 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes

Ingredients

3 oranges
2 egg whites

1-1/2 cups sugar

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup cooking oil
2 egg yolks
Orange Fluff Frosting (see recipe below)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease and flour two 9x1-1/2-inch round cake pans; set aside. Finely shred 1 tablespoon of peel from 1 orange. Squeeze juice from 2 oranges to measure 1/2 cup juice. Section remaining orange. In a large mixing bowl beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar, beating to stiff peaks. In another large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1 cup sugar.

2. Add milk and oil. Beat on low speed of electric mixer until combined. Add orange juice and egg yolks; beat 1 minute. Gently fold in egg white mixture until combined. Fold in orange peel. Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the centers comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks; remove from pans. Frost with Orange Fluff Frosting. Top with reserved orange sections. Makes 12 servings.

Orange Fluff Frosting: Finely shred 2 tablespoons orange peel; set aside. In small saucepan stir together 1/3 cup sugar and 4 teaspoons cornstarch. Stir in 1/2 cup orange juice. Cook over medium low heat, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens; cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat; stir in the reserved orange peel. Cover; chill 1 hour. Beat 2 cups whipping cream to stiff peaks; fold into chilled mixture

Recipe Link: http://www.bhg.com/recipes/printRecipe.jsp?recipeId=R050907&catref=rcbhg1

Caribbean Rum Punch

Hello web world.  Are you still with us?  We have still been having our dinner clubs all these years but had gotten lazy about posting the recipes we used with each theme.  Sadly, we recently lost 2 couples to relocation but on the bright side, found 2 more couple friends to join in the fun.  Yesterday we kicked off Dinner Club Part 2 with a Pirate Party theme at my house.  Everyone did a great job with their interpretation of the theme which required a little more creative thinking than normal.  

Here's to hoping everyone gets their recipes up and we get back to sharing again :).

I'll kick us off with the signature drink for the night, Caribbean Rum Punch.  Squeezing all those limes was not so fun so next time, I'm being lazy and using the bottled stuff lol.  I made 1.5x the recipe which used nearly an entire liter of The Captain in it but you couldn't taste a darn thing.  Deadly and delicious!

Caribbean Rum Punch

Yields: 20- 4 oz servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 cups simple syrup
• 3 cups amber rum (used spiced Captain Morgan's)
• 4 cups orange juice
• 4 dashes bitters (omitted)
• freshly grated nutmeg (omitted)

Directions

1. To make the simple syrup, combine 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan.  Heat until sugar is fully dissolved then set aside to cool.
2. In a pitcher, combine lime juice, simple syrup, rum, and orange juice.  Add a few dashes of bitters and some grated nutmeg to taste.  Serve chilled over ice.

Source: All Recipes

Strawberry Topping

This Strawberry Topping was made for our March Breakfast Themed Dinner Club as part of our Make Your Own Belgian Waffle Bar.  It was rediculously simple to make and tasted very fresh.  I added some lemon juice to brighten up the flavor.  Excellent on waffles, pancakes, ice cream, or cheesecake!

Strawberry Topping
Printer-Friendly Version

Prep Time: 15 Min
Cook Time: 5 Min
Ready In: 35 Min
Yields: 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 pint strawberries, cleaned and stemmed
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

1. Cut about 1/3 of the strawberries in half.
2. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine uncut strawberries, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice. Cook, stirring occasionally and smashing strawberries with spoon as they soften, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Add remaining 1/3 of cut strawberries into cooked mixture. Store in refrigerator to cool before serving over waffles, pancakes, ice cream, or cheesecake.

 Source: Slightly modified from All Recipes

Fresh Fruit Tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream

Ingredients:

For the tart dough:

1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes


For the pastry cream:
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch salt
5 large egg yolks
3 tbsp. cornstarch
4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the topping:
You can use whatever fruit you want as topping.
I used:
8 large strawberries, sliced
2 large kiwis, peeled, and sliced
1/2-1 cup blueberries
Apple jelly, for glazing

Directions:

To make the tart shell:
Whisk together the egg yolk, cream and vanilla in a small bowl; set aside. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor.

Process briefly to combine.

Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture.

Process to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses.

With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together, about 12 seconds.

Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 6-inch dish.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. (If refrigerated for more than an hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable.)

Unwrap and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 13-inch round.

Transfer the dough to a 9-inch tart pan.

Mold the dough to the sides of the tart pan and remove the excess off the top.

Set the dough-lined tart pan on a large plate and freeze for 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to middle position.

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Set the dough-lined tart pan on a baking sheet, press a 12-inch square of foil into the frozen shell and over the edge, and fill with pie weights.

Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time.

Remove from the oven and carefully remove the foil and weights.

Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 5-8 minutes longer.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.


To make the pastry cream
Heat the half-and-half, 6 tablespoons of the sugar, and the salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat until simmering, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl

Whisk until the sugar has begun to dissolve and the mixture is creamy, about 15 seconds.

Whisk in the cornstarch until combined and the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 30 seconds.
When the half-and-half mixture has reached a simmer, slowly add it to the egg yolk mixture to temper, whisking constantly.

Return the mixture to the saucepan, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Return the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a few bubbles burst on the surface and the mixture is thickened and glossy, about 30 seconds.

Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla.

Strain the pastry cream through a fine mesh sieve set over a medium bowl.

Press plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

Refrigerate until cold and set, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days.

NOTE: Vanilla pudding also works well as a subsititute to the pastry cream. I found this out the hard way when the pastry cream didn't set in time..


To assemble the tart
Spread the cold pastry cream evenly over the bottom of the tart shell.

Arrange the fruit on top of the pastry cream as desired.

Heat the jelly in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, just until slightly melted and easy to stir. Using a pastry brush, paint a light layer of jelly over the fresh fruit.



Source: Modified as seen on Annie's Eats and originally from Baking Illustrated

Fruit Bruschetta

Ingredients:

16 ½-inch-thick slices crusty Italian or French bread

2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

1½ tablespoons sugar

1½ tablespoons cinnamon, or to taste

1 peach, peeled, pitted, and cut into fine dice

½ banana, cut into fine dice

8 large strawberries, cut into fine dice

3 to 4 tablespoons plain yogurt (I used vanilla for added flavor)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Arrange bread slices in one layer in a shallow baking pan.

Bake in middle of oven until golden, about 10 minutes.

Brush toasts with butter on one side.

1. In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.

2. Sprinkle mixture evenly over buttered side of each toast.

3. Broil toast about 5 inches from heat under preheated broiler 30 seconds, or until tops are bubbling.

4. Let the toast cool.

4. In a bowl, stir together prepared fruit.

5. Add remaining ½ tablespoon sugar and ½ tablespoon cinnamon to the fruit and stir.

6. Mound about 1 tablespoon of the fruit/sugar/cinnamon mixture on each toast.

7. Drizzle each toast with yogurt.

Source: Peach, Strawberry, and Banana Bruschetta from Gourmet August 1994; As seen on Crumbly Cookie.

Caramel Apple Ice Cream

Ingredients:

Apples
2 medium Granny Smith Apples
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Ice Cream Base
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Apples
Peel, core, and finely chop apples.
In a large saucepan, melt butter.
Add apples and sugar to the saucepan.
Stirring often, cook over medium-low to medium heat.
Cook approximately 15 minutes or until apples are have softened.
Remove from heat and stir in cinnamon. Cool completely.

Ice Cream Base

Beat eggs until they are light and fluffy. Set aside.
In a large heavy saucepan (important! saucepan must be large!), heat sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Continue to stir until sugar melts and turns into a golden brown liquid.
Remove from heat.
Gradually and very carefully, pour milk into saucepan with caramelized sugar.

Be careful - the mixture will splatter and the sugar will turn hard. Don't worry!
Stir mixture over low heat until sugar melts and the mixture becomes smooth again.
Pour in whipping cream and stir until mixture well blended.
Pour some of this mixture over the eggs, mixing well.
Pour egg mixture back into saucepan and continue cooking over low heat until it thickens.
Remove saucepan from heat and let cool.
Chill mixture in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Once mixture has chilled, pour into ice cream machine.
Churn 20-25 minutes or according to manufacturer's instructions.
Add cooled cinnamon apples to the ice cream.
Mix for 5 more minutes.