Exotic Orange Cake

[oli]

FWED, do you have a picture of the cake with the mandarin oranges you used for decoration? I am curious what that looked like.

Did everbody who made this cake have little black specks from the vanilla bean, in their gelee, or did someone find a way to remove vanilla bean specks?

Edited August 17, 2006 by oli (log)

[alanamoana]

why would you want to remove the vanilla bean specks?

if you don't like them, use vanilla extract.

[chefpeon]

why would you want to remove the vanilla bean specks?

Yeah man....vanilla bean specks are cool!

They say, "Hey, I'm a real vanilla bean, and I'm in this dessert! Neener neener."

[oli]

why would you want to remove the vanilla bean specks?

Yeah man....vanilla bean specks are cool!

They say, "Hey, I'm a real vanilla bean, and I'm in this dessert! Neener neener."

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Some people will ask, "what are those black specks?". Doesn't bother me, but I was thinking of a cleaner look.

[kaneel]

I want to try the cake but cannot use nuts for this customer any of you have a suggestion of another cake base. Would an orange cake be to too much. For the ones that have made the cake what flavor did the caek have ...more orange or mango ? The lady wnats a mango mousse flavored cake and i thought this thread as my starting point

Thanks so much

[Tweety69bird]

I am attempting this cake for the first time and am making the components over a few days. Last night, I made the caramel cremeux layer, it came out quite bitter. I followed the instructions as given. I think that there are 2 steps that may have given me the bitter flavour: either I over caramelized my sugar (it was just a touch over the perfect dark amber colour and didn't smell burnt before I added the cream) or the vanilla that I (silly move) added before putting the yolks in and returning the pot to the heat. I am unsure, and thought that even maybe the fact that I tasted the mixture while it was still quite warm may have enhanced the bitter flavour. It set up quite nicely in the fridge overnight, and I think I might taste a piece of it later on to see if it tastes different now that it's cooled down and set. Any advice?

[Patrick S]

I am attempting this cake for the first time and am making the components over a few days. Last night, I made the caramel cremeux layer, it came out quite bitter. I followed the instructions as given. I think that there are 2 steps that may have given me the bitter flavour: either I over caramelized my sugar (it was just a touch over the perfect dark amber colour and didn't smell burnt before I added the cream) or the vanilla that I (silly move) added before putting the yolks in and returning the pot to the heat.

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You slightly overcaramelized the sugar. Cooking the vanilla wouldn't do it. All the sweetness in the cremeux comes from the caramelized sugar (or which there is not much to begin with), and sugar looses its sweetness rapidly as it caramelizes. I already decided that when I make the cremeux next time, I will be replacing some of the cream with syrup to sweeten it up a little.

[Tweety69bird]

You slightly overcaramelized the sugar. Cooking the vanilla wouldn't do it. All the sweetness in the cremeux comes from the caramelized sugar (or which there is not much to begin with), and sugar looses its sweetness rapidly as it caramelizes. I already decided that when I make the cremeux next time, I will be replacing some of the cream with syrup to sweeten it up a little.

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Thanks Patrick, it makes sense. I'm home now, so I'm going to give the one I made a taste to see how it is, but i'm going to remake it regardless. I dont want to regret it later on when it's too late.

[alanamoana]

i think you could easily make this with a plain sponge or genoise and add orange zest to it if you want to boost the flavor.

the nuts and honey certainly add something to the cake, but if they don't know what's missing, it won't matter too much.

I want to try the cake but cannot use nuts for this customer any of you have a suggestion of another cake base. Would an orange cake be to too much. For the ones that have made the cake what flavor did the caek have ...more orange or mango ? The lady wnats a mango mousse flavored cake and i thought this thread as my starting point 

Thanks so much

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[Tweety69bird]

So I finally completed the Exotic Orange Cake!

Here is it, I'm so pleased with how it came out. I took it to work to hand out samples and the reviews were great! As Patrick had mentionned, the vanilla cremeux (which I remade after the bitter version that I wrote about earlier, and this time it was very nice.) is not too sweet at all. I didn't modify the recipe to sweeten it up, as I wanted to taste it first to see, and I'm glad I didn't. The majority of the comments I received were that the cake wasn't too sweet, and that they liked it like that. I couldn't find passionfruit puree anywhere, so I just used mango puree for the gelle layer, and maybe this balanced better with the non sweet cremeux as it didn't have the tart edge of the passionfruit.

I didn't add the white chocolate spray either, but will have to look into how I make some sort of spray tool for that. I have a vague recollection of us doing some sort of class with spray bottles and chocolate/cocoa butter mix in school.

[Ling]

^Great job!

I really enjoyed this cake when I had it, and think the combination of flavours are incredible. However, I did find it too sweet and would like to scale back on the sugar when I make it, if possible. Does anyone foresee any problems if I scaled back the sugar by 1/4 or 1/3 the amount?

[K8memphis]

Tweety, it's beauuutiful!!

Ling, the sugar in the which part?? Overall??

[Ling]

Yes, I ate all the components in each bite. It is actually one of the sweeter desserts I had in recent memory, though most of the desserts I eat are from home and made according to my taste. If I were to cut the sugar, which parts of the recipe should I do it? In each and every part? Or in one or two parts? TIA, I do love the cake very much and can't wait to make it soon!

Edited September 10, 2006 by Ling (log)

[K8memphis]

I would say, not the sugar in the cremeux. Maybe cut a bit out of the bavaroise. I would say cut a quarter of the sugar in the fruit stuff--no problemo.

Is it the honey flavor that sweetifies too much for you maybe?? There's 135 gr sugar in the cake (60 in the cake and 75 in the meringue) and 60 g honey. Hmm. How 'bout lop off the 35 gr sugar & that leaves 100 gr. So like 40 in the cake and 60 g in the meringue ~~ and maybe cut back on the honey to 40-45 grams. That shouldn't mess anything up too much do you think?

Edited September 10, 2006 by K8memphis (log)

[Ling]

I love the taste of honey, and wonder honey contributes more to the texture of the cake than sugar does..I could be wrong! I usually cut the sugar down in a cake recipe with no ill effects, so perhaps I could just reduce the amount of sugar in the cake, and in the fruit puree, and leave the cremeux and bavaroise as is. Thank-you!

[trishg]

This is a wonderful cake and in reality doesn't take all that long to prepare and can certainly be done over a period of days before its needed.  The cake actually consists of just a sponge, a Bavarian cream, a pastry cream, and a jelly top.  It took me about 45 minutes to assemble the cake once the component's were made.  Spraying it took a little longer since it was the first time that I had used the sprayer or done any chocolate spraying.  Once it is sprayed and unfrozen and thawed however it should be eaten.  Thats not usually a problem.   

Abra:   

Yes a 1/2 sheet pan is OK and there probably will be batter left over.  As to spraying well I used a virgin Wagner Paint sprayer (49$ at Home Depot) and 1/2 lb of melted tempered white chocolate and 1/2 lb of melted cocoa butter and 9gm of titanium oxide.  Other options to spraying would be to use thin squares or circles of white chocolate on the outside.  You could even incorporate designs off of transfer sheets. Or you could leave the chocolate off all together although it does have a nice textural component.

Smgarsh:

Yes, I melted 60gm of sugar in a pan and when it reached the desired color I took it off the heat and added the hot cream and vanilla.  As to glucose it is available at most cake decorating and candy supply shops.  I understand it is available at some Micheal's craft stores.  If you choose to use corn syrup you may have to increase the amount of gelatin to get the right consistency.  You want a jelly that just holds its shape and isn't rubbery.

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Hi, Awsome recipe - I can't wait to try it, but what is the purpose of the titanium oxide in the white chocolate spray?

Trish

[K8memphis]

Hi, Awsome recipe - I can't wait to try it, but what is the purpose of the titanium oxide in the white chocolate spray?

Trish

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I'd venture a guess that it's to whiten the chocolate. White chocolate can be very yellow to very off white.

[Tweety69bird]

^Great job! 

I really enjoyed this cake when I had it, and think the combination of flavours are incredible. However, I did find it too sweet and would like to scale back on the sugar when I make it, if possible. Does anyone foresee any problems if I scaled back the sugar by 1/4 or 1/3 the amount?

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Thanks!!

I agree with K8, I would leave the cremeux alone, since the small amount of sugar in there is really for the caramel flavour and the end result isn't sweet.

I think you could modify the gelee layer and the bavaroise without any problems at all. And I'm sure if you reduced the sugar in the cake too you'd be ok...