Orange Layer Cake with Orange Bavarian Cream for Diwali

Diwali fireworks are bursting around us as I type. We have all been sitting in the balcony with the little one who is enjoying the pretty starbursts with his great-grandmother, my Ammama. Although he does not like the noise too much and is now sitting on her lap with his fingers in his ears, staring at the sky! Ammama looks so happy, she has come to my parents home here in Coimbatore all the way from her beloved farm in Kerala, just to be with our little monkey. This moment is such a blessing.
  

Hope my Indian friends are having a wonderful Diwali filled with love and laughter and great food of course! 

Diwali is a Hindu religious festival celebrating the return of Rama and Sita after years of exile and is spread over five days. It is great that I was able to be in India during this time.You just cannot help getting caught up in the excitement. I enjoy the fireworks, beautifully bedecked women in their finest saris, jewelry and with jasmine in their hair, but most of all - sweets! It just would not be Diwali without the mandatory boxes of ghee and cardamom scented sweets that would arrive from friends. 

Cake is not typical to Diwali but I was inspired to make this cake yesterday- layers of soft, airy sponge with a touch of citrus zest and just sweet enough orange Bavarian cream with segments of fresh orange that burst as you bite them-citrus fireworks in your mouth!

The sponge cake is made with a lot of eggs but no butter. It is quite dry and slightly eggy-smelling on its own. But it absorbed the simple syrup I made with orange juice and sugar like a...well, like a sponge and becomes moist and tender with a filling and frosting. So for a layer cake, do not look past this simple sponge cake which is also quite easy to make and very easy to remember. If you are looking for a plain tea cake to eat on it's own, check out these instead. I was itching to add a dash of cardamom powder which  think would have been perfect with the orange but my kid brother (no longer a kid really) does not like cardamom too much so I controlled myself. Besides Diwali brings about a cardamom overdose anyway!Which ever way you try it -with or without the cardamom and for whatever reason you find to bake it, you will love it! Even if your Bavarian Cream does not set like me -I don't know why :( and is a little runny, it still tastes really, really good! 

Tweet

whipped cream cake- soft airy and cloud-like!

I am totally enjoying having my mom here. Whenever I am with her I hardly even enter the kitchen and happily relax and enjoy her delicious cooking. Everything -even things that I make all the time like dal and even coffee tastes better when mom makes it for me. Mothers have some extra special kaipunyam or magic touch, don't you think?
But I am always game to make the dessert so when she said she felt like eating cake, I happily obliged with this treasure from Rose Levy Beranbaum who is considered the Queen of cakes. This cake is apparently one of her most popular and with good reason. It is tender, airy and cloud-like. Perfect as a simple tea cake or as a layer cake underneath oodles of frosting and it is my current and absolute favourite- a definite must try for all cake lovers! 

Here is a close up shot so you can see how tender it is! Similar to an angel food cake in texture but minus all those eggs and so much easier to make! 

The main fat comes from heavy whipping cream and not butter. Yes you read that right, this unusual cake contains no butter, instead using cream. I am dying to buy a carton of cream and make this again with some simple whipped cream frosting or my favourite chocolate nutella ganache frosting with the leftover cream, or maybe slathered in some dulce de leche , or with some juicy fruit? Mmmm the possibilities! Since we practically inhaled this cake though, you can guess that it's pretty awesome on its own! 

Tweet

Flourless Orange Cardamom Almond cake (Dairy-free, Gluten-free)

..a walk through a sunny orange orchard, breathing the zesty air!

It was a very special blessing to live so close to an orange orchard since I love all things citrus. The sight of all those bright sunny oranges never failed to cheer me up and truly California is sunnier with all those orange and lemon trees everywhere!

You would have seen many citrus desserts on this blog, but nothing quite like this cake, made with whole oranges, boiled in their thick orange skin and flour less and butter less to boot! Sounds pretty crazy right? I thought so too!

I was introduced to these at that bakesale we had taken part in. There was a sea of colorful baked goodies- iced sugar cookies in all shapes, gorgeous layer cakes under glass domes, cupcakes piled high with frosting.....but what caught my eye were these tiny clementine mini muffins with a very intriguing ingredient list: Whole clementines, eggs, almonds, sugar, baking powder. No flour? No butter?! Curious, I bought a bunch to share with friends and wow! was I rewarded! 

Each little bite was  incredibly tender and moist, more like pudding than cake, with a heady citrussy flavor and fragrance. I loved them so much I had to have the recipe which the lovely Andrea who baked for the sale, mailed to me. They are made in the food processor or mixie and are quite easy to make too. 

They are perfect to nibble on with a cup of tea or strong coffee ( in my case) and simply perfect for the Mad Tea Party today. What could be madder than a flour less, butter less cake I say ?!

Tweet

Scrambled Egg Curry: Quick dinner and Easy way to use up yolks or egg whites!

I am really excited that my article on Kerala Cooking is up over at The Daring Kitchen :) Go check it out! Come back quick for this awesomely easy, creamy scrambled egg curry in coconut milk, Kerala style!

Tweet

Chocolate Nutella Macarons

It's been a while since my macaron making classes and I have been dying to try making them all by my self at home. I just assumed that since we made such beauties at the class, making them at home would be a breeze as well. How wrong I was!
First I had trouble finding almond meal so I ground up some almonds in my blender and had some delicious flat free form almond cookies, but no macarons since grinding nuts makes them oily and hence makes the batter too liquid-y. Note: if you are grinding the almonds yourself, check frequently to ensure you don't grind them so much they start releasing oils.
After T finally found almond meal at our local Trader Joe's (They are in the nut section in case you're looking-not in the baking section and ask for almond meal and not almond flour!)  I set about aging the eggwhites for a long 24 hours on my kitchen counter and had just a little more success. They weren't smooth and shiny on top, nor did they have the characteristic ruffle-like underside "feet", and they do look more like whoopie pies than macarons but sandwiched with a dollop of Nutella, they were delicious. ( Nutella makes anything better :) I think not sifting the rather coarse almond meal enough caused my downfall. Maybe I should have pulsed it in the food processor to make it finer.
Macaron pundits may have also raised an eyebrow when I eschewed the pastry bag in favour of a spritz cookie gun fitted with the icing tip. I had a mess last time after my overfull pastry bag started leaking from the other end and I must say I think the cookie gun is way easier to handle-using my free hand to guide the gun, making sure I was holding it at 90 degrees.
I used Namthip's recipe from class. It is very similar to the one posted on her site except halved.

Chocolate Macarons
Recipe source: Namthip of Bonbini

Ingredients:
Makes 80 shells (I halved the recipe)

For the shell

• 140 g almond flour
• 10 g cocoa powder, Dutch-processed 
• 200 g powdered sugar
• 45 g egg whites, aged
• 30 g sugar
• 55 g egg whites, aged

Method for the shell
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift almond flour, cocoa powder and powdered sugar together in a big bowl, discard the solids.
(If the almond flour or meal is too coarse, pulse in your food processor until fine and powdery- but careful! don't over grind or you'll make it oily)
3. Create “Mass” by folding almond flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar and 45 g of egg whites together with a big spoon. The mass will look lumpy. That's ok
4. To make French meringue: whip egg whites in a mixer on medium speed to soft peaks. Slowly pour sugar in three additions, continue whipping to medium peaks. Basically the peak should stand up at 90 degrees. Another way to test us to carefully turn the bowl upside down. If the whites stay in the bowl without falling out that mean's they're done.
5. Fold in 25% of meringue into “Mass” to lighten the mixture.
6. Fold in the rest of meringue carefully in circular motions, cutting the batter to incorporate the whites well, until the batter has a "magma' like consistency- basically if you put a drop of the batter on a plate, it should sink into itself and not have a peak. If it has a peak, fold a little more. Don't overfold or it'll be too runny.
7. Place into a piping bag with plain tip # 3, pipe 1" diameter circles on sheet pan lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. ( I used a spritz cookie gun fitted with the icing tip since I haven't quite mastered double ended squirty icing bags)
8. Rap the tray on the counter to get rid of air bubbles.Rest for an hour to form skins.
9. Place another baking tray under the tray with the batter (doubling the tray-this helps to ensure the underside of the macs don't get overbaked) Lower the oven temperature to 320 degrees, bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the trays half way through.
10. Let them cool on a silicone baking mat, then remove and sandwich them with the filling.
( If you are having trouble removing the parchment paper from the tray, keep it in the freezer for a few mins and then you should be able to peel the parchment paper off easily)

I was thinking of making a Nutella ganache but then decided I couldn't wait so just spooned a dab of Nutella and sandwiched my macs. Although this kind of overpowered the delicate flavour of the almond flour shells, I can't say I regret it. Who can resist the chocolate-hazelnut combination and creamy texture of Nutella?It's a firm favourite right through from childhood. We didn't bother to spread it on anything but licked spoonfuls with sheer delight. Well not much has changed! I have been wanting to make a Nutella filled macaron for ages. I would like to try a hazelnut macaron the next time though, after I have had a little more success with the basic recipe!

Although a failure, I'm sending my feetless, pockmarked macs to this month's Macattack hosted by the amazing Deeba and Jamie at the Mactweets blog.

Mad about macarons? Meet others who are obsessed and hear what they have to say about Technique and Macronnage and those blasted feet!

Helen's inspiring recipes
David Lebowitz's recipes and links for further reading
Coco's tips and pics
Duncan's exhaustive notes and step by step photos
Meeta's quick notes and tips
Deeba's macaron adventures

Tweet