3*52 Orange & White Chocolate Cake

White Chocolate has totally grown on me in the last couple of years.
Not really sure why (not that it matters...).

And white chocolate and oranges is an excellent combination (at least in my imagination) so I finally had to make this cake which I had pinned on my Pinterest baking board a while ago...

Orange & White Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Bobbie's Baking Blog

Cake:

235 g (1 1/2 cups) flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pintch fo salt

113 g (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature

300g (1 1/2 cups) sugar

115 g (1/2 cup) heavy cream

50 g (1/2 cup) sour creme

116 g (1/2 cup) mascarpone

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon orange zest

200 g (7/8 cup) white chocolate chunks

Glaze:

powdered sugar

orange juice

• Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F)
• Beat butter and sugar until well blended. Add orange zest. Add cream, sour cream, and mascarpone and mix well.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla extract. Alternating, add both mixes to the cream-sugar mix. Fold in the white chocolate chunks.
• Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes. Let cool.
• For the glaze, combine powdered sugar and orange juice. Pour over the cake and allow to set. 

My modifications:

I used packaged orange zest (and just regular orange zest not blood orange zest). Because I was a bit lazy and because I couldn't find organic blood oranges. I also used 2 packages of the zest because I am usually disappointed that something doesn't taste as intense as I imagined it to be so I took precautions...

The also invented my own glaze with orange juice because I thought it would go well with the cake.

The taste:

I really don't know what's wrong with me... Not enough orange flavor - again... But otherwise pretty good. Even though the white chocolate might be a bit too much (maybe I would cut the amount in half next time?).

Any flavor that you never really taste in the goodies you bake or cook?

34/52 Almond-Orange Shortbread

I wanted to bake something this week that

a) I could easily bring to my mom and grandma (who live 330 kilometers away),

b) would be quick to make, and

c) wouldn't melt or go bad in the heat.

That's why I chose this recipe from my recipe collection on Pinterest:

Almond-Orange Shortbread

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Makes about 45

225 g (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

150 g (1 cup) powdered sugar

3/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

300 g (2 cups) flour

grated zest of 1 orange (about 2 teaspoons)

55 g (3/4 cup) sliced almonds

• Beat together butter, sugar, almond extract, and salt until smooth. On low speed, add flour and orange zest. Mix in almonds using your hands or a wooden spoon.
• On a piece of wax paper, roll dough into log about 12 inches long, 2 1/2 in wide and 1 in thick. Roll into paper and freeze for at least one hour. Wrap in plastic wrap if you want to freeze it for a longer period of time (up to 3 months).

• With a sharp knife, cut slices about 1/4 in thick and place on baking sheet. (If dough has been frozen longer, let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before cutting to avoid crumbling.)

• Bake at 160°C (325°F) for 15 minutes or until edges start to turn a light brown. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack for complete cooling.

My modifications:

None. I only froze the dough for an hour and it worked very well. 

The taste:

I love them! I realized that sometimes you just need a little shortbread in your (culinary) life...

They could be a little more orangy for my taste but that's easy to adjust.

Do you like shortbread? Any special recipes to share?

2/52 Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

I loooove the combination of chocolate and orange. And I love Joy the Baker.

So it makes total sense to try the Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake from Joy's website, right?
Glad you agree.

To me, chocolate and orange is a perfect combination for wintery days. But then again, it's a very summery combination as well. I guess it's that sweet freshness, or fresh sweetness, that is appealing year-round.

And that very 70s brown-orange color combo which immediately comes to mind when thinking about chocolate and oranges makes me feel all warm inside. Probably because it's the decade I was born in...

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake

Adapted from Joy the Baker (who adapted it from - but didn't link to - the Gourmet Cookbook)

• 565 g (3 1/2 cups) flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 226 g (2 sticks or 1/2 pound) butter at room temperature
• 430 g (2 cups) sugar
• 4 large eggs, left at room temperature for 30 minutes
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 450 g (2 cups) sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
• zest of 1 large orange
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 100 g (1/2 cup) chocolate chips

My modifications:
To reduce my consumption of sugar just a little bit, I reduced it by 45 g (a little less than 1/4 cup) which means that I used 385 g (or about 1 3/4 cups).

Instead of orange extract, I used 100 ml (a little over 3 oz) Cinzano Orancio, an orange flavored Vermouth. Just because I wanted to try that.

My batter turned out a little too thick, so I added orange juice to both batters, 200 ml (a little over 6.5 oz) each. I figured that a little orange flavor wouldn't hurt the chocolate batter.

I used chocolate cubes instead of chips simply because you cannot buy chocolate chips in Switzerland or Germany (or I just haven't seen them...). It's either tiny cubes or so-called 'drops'. Not a huge difference when used for baking though...

• Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F).  
• Combine sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Beat together butter and sugar at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  
• Add one egg at a time, beating well after each, then beat in vanilla.  
• At low speed, mix in half of the flour mixture until just blended.  Add sour cream, mixing until just combined, then add remaining flour mixture and mix until smooth.
• Divide the batter evenly into two bowls. Stir in orange extract and orange zest in one bowl, cocoa powder and chocolate chips in the other bowl.
• Pour the orange batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Pour the chocolate batter on top of the orange batter. Swirl together if you want to.

• Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour (depending on the 'wooden stick test').
• Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for about 30 minutes. Let it cool completely on a cooling rack, removed from the pan. 

Just like last week, I had to bake this cake a little longer: 80 minutes total. This might be due to two reasons: I think that the Bundt cake pan I used (a silicone one) is not perfect and requires longer baking. This happened to me before when using this pan, I am not even sure if I will use it again. Another reason might be that my oven is not heating accurately. I have never used an oven thermometer until now but will buy one tomorrow. Should be an inexpensive but important addition to my kitchen tools.

But back to the cake: the orange flavor was not as strong as I would have wanted it to be, so if I make it again, I will definitely use more orange zest/extract/juice.

What is your favorite combination of flavors? 

And what are your experiences with baking times & oven temperatures?