Orange Choc Swirl Cake

This is a wonderfully flavoured and cottony soft cake. I used concentrated orange juice and orange zest to get the orange taste, smell and flavour.

Ingredients:-

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 240g (1 cup) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• juice of 1/2 an orange (make up about 1/3 cup orange juice)
• zest of 1/2 an orange or more
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder 

Methods:-

1. Pre heat oven to 160 degree celcius. Grease or line baking tin with baking paper. 
2. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then add butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy using electric mixer over high speed.
3. Add milk and fold in flour alternately in 3 times, starting and ending with flour. Only add after each addition is well combine.
4. Divide mixture into two equally. In first batch of mixture, add orange juice and orange zest and mix well. Into second bath mixture, add cocoa powder and mix well. 
5. Pour the mixture into baking tin. This part is totally up to you. You can pour the one with orange mixture and then cocoa powder mixture and gently stir with skewer to get a marble effect OR pour then alternately in 2 batches for each mixture then stir gently with skewer for marble effect. 
6. Then, pop into preheated oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes for cupcake size and 30 minutes for large size cake or bake until the tester comes out clean. 
7. Allow to cool before transering to wire rack.

Caramelized Orange Upside-Down Cake

Presentation: This is a one pretty cake. No worries on glazing or frosting or decor.
Taste: pleasant and fresh due to the caramel and orangy flavour.

Ingredients:-

Caramelized Orange Topping

• 2 oranges,  thinnly sliced crosswise
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water

For the Cake 

• 150g butter, softened
• 3/4 - 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, room tempreture
• 1 cup self raising
• 1/4 cup cornflour
• 1/4 cup orange juice

Instructions:-

1. To make caramelised orange topping: Rinse 2 oranges. Cut off and discard ends. then cut crosswise into thin slices. Place sugar and water in frying pan or saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the oranges and simmer until liquid is almost gone and oranges are slightly caramelised. This will take about 10 - 15 minutes. Transfer to round baking pan, slightly overlap orange slices in concentric circle over syrup and chill until thickened.
2. Preheat oven at 180 degree celcius.
3. In the mean time, prepare the cake batter. Cream butter and sugar until its light and fluffy. Start beating on low speed the gradually increase the speed. Once the butter mixture is light and fluffy, add in egg one at a time. Beat until smooth. Then,  stir in corn flour and half of self raising flour until just incorporated. Stir in orange juice then remaining self raising flour until just incorporated. Carefully scrape batter over orange slices in baking pan and spread level. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until cooked when tested with skewer. Remove from oven and let it stand for 5 minutes. 
4. Run thin knife between pan sides and cake (this step may not be necessary because chances are the cake may pull away from pan side when its cook). Hold a flat plate over baking pan and invert to release cake.
5. Serve warm or cold.

Tips:-

• Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream
• Preheat oven for at least 15 minutes before you put in cake batter. It will help your cake to rise further.

Ganache (All about, well, almost all)

Let's start with the meaning of Ganache.  Ganache is a smooth mixture of thickened cream and chocolate. You can use dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate.Dark chocolate gives superb colour and rich flavour. Butter that is added into the chocoloate mixture will result in shinier glaze. The taste and quality of ganache is very much dependant on the chocolate you use. It is also possible to add liquor, liqueur, gourmet flovouring oil, fresh or canned fruit puree, frozen fruits concentrate and nut butter .

The word 'Ganache' sounds really scary. It give me this impression that it is a very complicated stuff. I even came across a forum saying that amateur baker shouldn't try making ganache. Emmm.... Well, after all the research and experiment, I could summarize Ganache in 3 words... 'thickened/heavy cream, chocolate and tempreture'.

Room tempreture maybe vary depending to where you are and season. If you are in warm climate or season, your room tempreture maybe higher, which means, if you keep your ganache in room tempreture it takes longer time to cool off or thicken. So putting in refrigerator or soak you ganache bowl in a bucket of ice maybe a great option to let it reach or stay at the consistency you wanted. Vice versa, if you are at the colder climate or season, your room tempreture maybe be lower, therefore, your ganache may reach colder or thicker consistency at faster rate. Of course you can refrigerate them too if you want. If you want to maintain your ganache consistency in coller climate you may sit the ganache bowl on a small saucepan half full of simmering water or hot water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water.

To make ganache, hot cream is pour over chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth. The rule of thumb to make ganache is an equal proportion of thickened cream and chocolate.However, the proportion of chocolate and cream very much is depending on its use.

Uses of Ganache:

1. Glaze or coat: one part cream & two parts chocolate; pour liquid ganache over cake when it is barely warm because at this point the ganache will not be too runny or too thick, if you want harder glazing/coating you should have higher chocolate ratio to cream
2. Filling: one part cream & one part chocolate; pop in refrigerator for 25 to 30 minutes to get spreading consistency/ thicken before spreading it over the cake. For fluffier consistency whipped them just like how you whipped whip cream.
3. Fluffy Frosting: one part cream & one part chocolate; refrigerated until thicken, ganache is ready for frosting or whipped when you are able to spoon the ganache and the texture hold, whipped just like how you whipped whip cream for fluffier texture and pipe it.
4. Decorative Piping: one part cream & one part chocolate; refrigerated until thicken or until when you are able to spoon the ganache and the texture holds, dark smooth piping mixture good for piping words or outlines on the cake.
5. Truffles: one part cream & two parts chocolate (less cream more chocolate harder texture); refrigerated until well thicken. Make make it into small balls.
6. Chocolate mousse: two parts cream & one part chocolate (more cream less chocolate for lighter texture)
7. Chocolates sauce for ice cream: cool until it is pourable or at the consistency you like
8. Dips for fruits 
9. Hot chocolate: Heat up milk and add as much ganache as you like
10. Toppings/Spread for pancakes, muffins, bread

How to cover/glaze/ frost cake with ganache:-

Brush any loose crumb from cake, place cake on wire rack and pace wire rack on baking sheet or large plates for easy cleaning purposes. Then, we should crumb coat the cake in order to got smooth finished. Use about 3 tablesppon of ganache to cover the the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate for 5 minutes to set the crumb coat. To cover cake, pour remaining ganache or enough ganache on the centre of the cake and work outward quickly.

Updated 26/08/10:  Dip spatula in hot water to clean off any crumbs or acumulation of frosting. Warmed spatula can also smooth and even out frosting.

How to make truffle:-

Form the well chilled ganache into small ball using hand or melon baller and rolled into cocoa powder. Place on baking paper to cool and solidify. Store in refrigerator but serve at room tempreture

How to make chocolate mousse:-

Spoon ganache into serving dish and refrigerate or whip the ganache until fluffy for light mousse texture before spooning into serving dish and chill

Let's add some twist to ganache!!!!

The following 'added' flavouring measurement is according to 2 cups thicken cream recipe

Adding liquor or liqueur
add 1/4 cup liquor or liqueur  = reduce thicken cream by 1/4 cup therefore its 1 3/4 cup thickened cream

Adding gourmet flovouring oil
Add a few drop and follow ther recipe measurement as it is

Adding fresh or canned fruits puree
if add 1/2 cup of puree = reduce thicken cream by 1/2 cup therefore its 1 1/2 cup thickened cream

Adding frozen fruit concentrate
if add 1/4 cup of concentrate  = reduce thicken cream by 1/4 cup therefore its 1 3/4 cup of thicken cream

Adding nut butter
Add 1/2 cup and follow the recipe measurement

A Big NO-NO:

• Never put them in freezer before whipping because it will comes out curdly
• Do not over whipped ganache or else it will be chocolate butter 
• If you decided to put chocolate bar in double boiler as well make sure the stainless steel bowl doesn't touch the simmering water because it will make the tempreture in the stainless steel bowl to high for chocolate thus 'spoilt' the chocolate i.e the chocolate will curdle/lumpy.

KEY POINTS:

• The coller it is the thicker the ganache and vice versa
• Fluffiness: Cool and thicken. Beat / Whipped = Lighter in colour and may increses the volume
• In warm wheather: keep ganache coated, frosted or fillied cake in refrigerator
• Less cream More chocolate = Harder ganache
• Lees chocolate More cream = Lighter ganache

 I hope this information is sufficient to ease your curiosity and difficulty in tackling ganache. Feel free to leave comments and/or additional information that I left out :)

Orange Cake with Marmalade Cream

Ingredients:-

Cake Mixture:

• 1 cup (150g) self raising flour
• 1/4 cup (35g) cornflour
• 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 125g butter, soften
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1-2 tsp orange rind (grated)

Breakfast Marmalade Cream

• 150ml thickened cream
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 2/3 cup Breakfast Marmalade Jam

Methods:-

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celcius (160 degree celcius fan forced). Grease a deep, 20 cm cake pan; line base with baking paper.
2. Place flour, cornflour, sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla essence and orange juice into a large mixing bowl. Use electric mixer to beat on slow speed untill all ingredients combine , then beat on medium speed for 4 minutes.
3. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until the tester comes out clean when insert into centre of the cake. 
4. Turn onto a wire rack, topside-up, to cool.
5. For the cream: beat thickened cream with electirc mixer until soft peak form. Mix in breakfast marmalade jam evenly. Split cake in half and join them with breakfast marmalade cream. 

TIPS:-

• Allow it to set before cut it to serve. If not it will get messy just like the picture above
• Dust top with sifted icing sugar or beat more crean with icing sugar and put them on top the cake
• You can prepare the cake one day ahead: remember to cool completely, chilled and wrapped well in plastic wrap

Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

SAUCE

• 1 cup water 
• 1 orange, squeezed juice / about 1/4 cup of concentrated orange juice
• 1 cup brown sugar

OR

• 11/2 bottled orange juice (no water needed to add)
• 1/4 brown sugar

AND

• 1/2 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 lemon, squeezed juice / 1/8 cup concentrated lemon juice
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp cornstarch mix with 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp orange zest (optional)
• a pinch cayenne pepper / chilli flakes (optional)
• 2 stalks green onion, finely sliced

CHICKEN

• 3 chicken thigh fillet, cut bite size/cubes (I used chicken wings cos i ran out of fillets)
• 2 tbsp shao xing wine/ chinese cooking wine (Optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups cooking oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• all purpose flour or cornstarch as needed

Steps:-

1. Marinade chicken with shao xing wine, salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Prepare ingredient for sauce: Mix water, orange juice, brown sugar, lemon juice, soy sauce, orange zest and cayenne pepper into a saucepan and bring to boil over medium high heat. Mix in garlic and stir. Bring to boil again. Mix together the cornstarch and little water, stir into the sauce. Reduce the heat to medium low. Let the sauce simmer and reduced to the amount and consistency you desire. Then sprinkle the spring onion onto the sauce.
3. Dip marinated chicken pieces in a bowl of beaten egg and coated the chicken pieces in a second bowl with all purpose flour. 
4. Once the oil in the wok is heated (medium heat) fried the chicken until it turns golden brown. Remove from wok.
5. Turn on the heat of the sauce you make earlier, let it simmer, transfer the fried chicken to the sauce pan, coat well with the sauce for a minutes (medium low heat).

 i should have reduce the sauce more, however it still taste good and appetising :)