Orange Exotic Cake

[gfron1]

I'm going to make the US Pastry Team's winning Orange Exotic cake this weekend. In a few steps it calls for using gelatin, and in the explanation it says to add melted gelatin. They use the term "melted" v. "dissolved." I've heard of but never seen or used gelatin sheets. Does anyone know if they are talking about gelatin sheets, or are they saying take gelatin powder and add hot water?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Tweety69bird]

My bet is it's gelatin sheets that they are using. If you don't have them handy, you can replace powdered gelatin at 2g/sheet. For the sheets, you would soften them in water, and then melt them over very low heat, or add them into a mixture that is hot enough to melt them, hence the "melting". For the powder, just follow regular procedure, dissolve in water, and then melt over low heat and add it into the mix at the point that the recipe tells you to add the melted gelatin. Good luck.

[SweetSide]

I was just putting this cake on my radar and looked at the recipe. The recipe calls for gelatin in grams.

My question, since it is already a weight, is a gram of sheet gelatin equal to a gram of powdered gelatin?

(aside -- I've got to get myself some sheets instead of powder...)

[Tweety69bird]

I was just putting this cake on my radar and looked at the recipe.  The recipe calls for gelatin in grams.

My question, since it is already a weight, is a gram of sheet gelatin equal to a gram of powdered gelatin?

(aside -- I've got to get myself some sheets instead of powder...)

←

Yes, powder to sheets is the same.

[gfron1]

Thanks Tweety! Cheryl, I'll be posting a pic when mine's done - I'd love to see yours as well. I'm probably going to do indiviudals instead of the 9" that it calls for. Have you seen a pic of the winning cake - I haven't been able to.

Rob

[SweetSide]

If you go to this thread CLICK and go to post #15, look at the first picture under the section that talks about the ENTREMETS.

The cake is the square white one on the left. In the discussions of the cake, I'm not sure if this was actually an actual entrant. The picture is the one that was done in one of the classes. I'd have to go back and read more.

I wish I had a square mold -- I do like it better square than round.

[gfron1]

Wow! Now I'm even more inspired! And I agree, the square mold is a nice look.

[duckduck]

Here is the original thread on it.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=48772&st=0

In class, Branlard used gelatin sheets, squeezed out the water and tossed them in the pot.

Edited March 24, 2006 by duckduck (log)

[gfron1]

Thanks again, I had briefly looked at the post which is where I found the recipe, but now having read the whole thread I can make the modifications.

One thing I'm playing with (because I don't feel knowledgeable about honeys) is different types of honey. We sell a mango blossom honey from Bali that is fantastically succulent. I think I'll use that in my honey cake.

[McDuff]

I was just putting this cake on my radar and looked at the recipe.  The recipe calls for gelatin in grams.

My question, since it is already a weight, is a gram of sheet gelatin equal to a gram of powdered gelatin?

(aside -- I've got to get myself some sheets instead of powder...)

←

Yes, powder to sheets is the same.

←

I wish I knew for sure if that were true. Knox gelatin is rated at something like 225 bloom strength. I have a silver box of sheets at work that says 160 bloom. It's more like 16 sheets to the ounce instead of 10. I wonder if the difference between the silver and gold is the weight of the individual sheets. I've been going on the assumption that I need to use a little more sheet gelatin by weight to get the same results that I would get from powdered.

I got mixed up in using mycryo, but the stuff drives me nuts. I switched one of my cakes to gelatin because I know I can just go ahead and make the filling and not worry if it's going to be ok. I want to do it to the rest of the mousse cakes but it's a lot of paperwork and people fretting about the use of gelatin.

[duckduck]

My understanding is that the difference in gelatin sheets is also strength or bloom not just weight. One of the things discussed at the forum is the differences when they write recipes using what the instructors use in their country and then they come here and we have something different. I've wondered if anyone has tried it with the mycro. The recipe was originally written for it and we got a bag of it in class but then he used gelatin to make it. What kinds of problems did you have with it McDuff? And is it true that it makes a softer mousse? What are the differences in the final product when using it?

I've been on a bit of a honey kick lately, trying different kinds, so I'd love to hear what it's like when it's done, gfron1. I have some of the white Kaiwe honey but I'm afraid that something that delicate might get lost in the cake and not make a huge difference. It's pretty expensive stuff.

(Funny that this topic would pop up again, right when I just got done ordering mango and passionfruit purees this week with that very recipe in mind.)

Edited March 24, 2006 by duckduck (log)

[gfron1]

The honey I'm looking at is bold enough that I believe it will be noticed, not lost...Click HERE and go to PRODUCTS then HONEY for a description.

And, I've been jazzed about trying this recipe after playing with calimansi cremiuex posted in another thread (I'm always inspired by egulleter creativity). Its already warm down here in NM so I'm shifting into citrus season!

[SweetSide]

I was just putting this cake on my radar and looked at the recipe.  The recipe calls for gelatin in grams.

My question, since it is already a weight, is a gram of sheet gelatin equal to a gram of powdered gelatin?

(aside -- I've got to get myself some sheets instead of powder...)

←

Yes, powder to sheets is the same.

←

I wish I knew for sure if that were true. Knox gelatin is rated at something like 225 bloom strength. I have a silver box of sheets at work that says 160 bloom. It's more like 16 sheets to the ounce instead of 10. I wonder if the difference between the silver and gold is the weight of the individual sheets. I've been going on the assumption that I need to use a little more sheet gelatin by weight to get the same results that I would get from powdered.

I got mixed up in using mycryo, but the stuff drives me nuts. I switched one of my cakes to gelatin because I know I can just go ahead and make the filling and not worry if it's going to be ok. I want to do it to the rest of the mousse cakes but it's a lot of paperwork and people fretting about the use of gelatin.

←

Hmmm, then should I assume that if the powder is a 225 and the silver is a 160, if the recipe assumes 10 grams of gelatin (assuming sheet), I would need like 7 grams of powder ( 160 bloom sheet / 225 bloom powder x 10 grams of sheet gelatin = # of grams of powder gelatin)?

I would use that as a starting point for a test batch on the gelee first. The last thing I want is a rubber frisbee sitting on top of a cake...

[McDuff]

I've wondered if anyone has tried it with the mycro. The recipe was originally written for it and we got a bag of it in class but then he used gelatin to make it. What kinds of problems did you have with it McDuff? And is it true that it makes a softer mousse? What are the differences in the final product when using it?

←

I talked with a guy at Barry Callebaut about this stuff and came out by the same door where in I went. It's supposed to be used at such and such a percentage, but different if it's a thick puree, like raspberry, or thin, like passionfruit. So I used what I call a building block approach because products I come up with need to be accessible to pastry people of different skill levels at the earthy crunchy groceria.

I use one third puree, one third pastry cream and one third lightly whipped cream. I heat part of the puree, dissolve the mycryo in that, then add the rest of the puree to the pastry cream, then the warm puree, which drops the temperature of it down to the recommended whatever it is, and then fold in the cream. I find if you overfold, it gets grainy. And sometimes it doesn't set the way I want. When it does, it's wonderful. It has a nice smooth mouthfeel. Now that I think of it, when I have the time I should try to work more with this stuff, but Bailey's Irish cream mousse I made two weeks ago just refused to set up.

Here's some mousse cups we made for a benefit last spring...passionfruit, raspberry,blackcurrant, and Bailey's mousse. There's also some ganache tarts and lemon curd tarts in there. We're doing this same benefit this year and I was going to go nuts with the French Cookie book, but no way will I have time. Looks like champagne fingers, almond macs, and matzoh crunch.

Edited March 25, 2006 by McDuff (log)

[gfron1]

Well, the moment of truth is almost here. After weeks of mental build-up ("Can I make such an esteemed dessert?"), weeks of hunting down ingredients (I should have just made my own purees), and tension over gelatin translations (sheet v powder)...my Orange Exotic Cake is complete, and just in time for the in-laws!

I did not have access to passion fruit, so I went a different direction on the gelee - mango and key lime. Everything else is by the book, except of course the gelatin which we've bantered over on this thread.

Ultimately I used Knox individual packets using the feedback above and some comments from the Le Courdon "Professional Baking" book. I got very scared when my gelatin set up before I was ready to use it, but I plunged in and dropped that clear jello-disc right into my bavaroise fearing lumps. It dissolved just fine which made me very happy.

My cakes were made in a 9" springform, and I used a 10" springform lined with transfer paper for the final mold.

I made my top/bottom discs out of floral foam wrapped in saran which allowed me to be more artsy. (A note when you see the pic in a few days - I know that by being artsy, the gelee will be unevenly distributed the guests...tough break! I chose fashion over function today!)

The honey cake was made with (as promised) Balinese Mango Honey, which has a really rich taste. I gave some of the cake trimmings to a friend who thought there was orange in the cake, so that's an encouraging sign for the final product.

The in-laws arrive tomorrow afternoon, and this will be the welcome the Silver City cake...we eat like this every day

I'll post a pic as soon as I can, but I want to wait until I cut it. Thanks to all for the help, especially the EGers above.

[gfron1]

Here are the pics:

You can see the my cremieux didn't set up - I'm really struggling to adjust for the altitude here. You can also see that my artsy attempt on top turned out looking like Mickey Mouse.

And here's the slice. The gelee was a bit thick, but no one minded - very tasty. I didn't have Passion Fruit, so I did mango and key lime.

Overall it was very yummy. I need to fix my cremieux dilemma, but other than that it was super. My honey cake was made with Balinese Mango Blossom honey which shined, but not overpowered the citrus taste...I'll definitely make this again.

[duckduck]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing pics. Makin' me hungry.

[oli]

Here are the pics:

You can see the my cremieux didn't set up - I'm really struggling to adjust for the altitude here.  You can also see that my artsy attempt on top turned out looking like Mickey Mouse.

And here's the slice.  The gelee was a bit thick, but no one minded - very tasty.  I didn't have Passion Fruit, so I did mango and key lime.

Overall it was very yummy.  I need to fix my cremieux dilemma, but other than that it was super.  My honey cake was made with Balinese Mango Blossom honey which shined, but not overpowered the citrus taste...I'll definitely make this again.

←

Can you find passion fruit puree and mango puree in the market?

Is the hot heavy cream boiling or just before?

Thanks

O

Edited April 5, 2006 by oli (log)

[gfron1]

Can you find passion fruit puree and mango  puree in the market?

Is the hot heavy cream boiling or just before?

Thanks

O

←

Well...I own the specialty food market in our little town and we don't have the purees. I got the mango puree up in Albuquerque, but they didn't have the passion fruit. And I read the instruction about getting the cream very hot - it didn't say boiling, and then I added it and then heated it in a double boiler. It seems the problem is boiling point at 6,000' elevation.

[CanadianBakin']

What a lot of work, it looks delicious! Thanks for posting pics.