|
Mandarin Sauce
½ cup Mandarin Orange Juice (6 small mandarins)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Zest from one mandarin
- Cut mandarin oranges in half and juice like regular oranges.
Put juice in a small nonstick frying pan. Add
sugar, cornstarch and
zest.
- Whisk over medium heat until thickened. Cool until room
temperature. Strain and put in a small resealable plastic
bag. Keep at room temperature until needed or
refrigerate it making a day ahead.
Chocolate Cake
¼ cup buttermilk
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose
flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon Fleur de Sel, crushed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
1. Butter and flour a
small cake pan. A 7 x 2-inch baking pan is what I normally use. In
a medium-sized
bowl whisk together the buttermilk, egg yolk and vanilla. Mix the
chocolate chips with melted butter
making sure all chocolate chips are melted.
2. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together
the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda Fleur de Sel and granulated
sugar.
3. Whisk together the dry
and liquid ingredients. Use a spatula to scoop out batter and
spread evenly in cake pan.
Bake
for 25-30 minutes.
4. When cake is nearly
cooled run a knife around edges and invert on cooling rack. Then
place a large plate on
top
of cake and turn the cooling rack upside down so cake is on
plate.
5. Use a biscuit cutter to
cut out four cake rounds.
Icing
2 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted in
microwave
2 tablespoons heavy whip cream or more
as needed
1 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup Confectioners' sugar
1. Using
a spatula, blend together melted chocolate chips and whip cream,
heating again slightly in
microwave if needed.
2. Stir in cocoa
powder and confectioners' sugar. Sometimes more cream is needed to
get the right consistency.
Add very little cream at a time.
3. Cut a small section
of the corner of a large resealable plastic bag. Insert a number
22 star tip and secure
on the outside with packaging tape. Or if you have a pastry bag
use that instead. I just like to use a
disposable bag as cleanup is easier. Keep
at room temperature until needed or refrigerate if making a day
ahead.
To put cake together:
1. Cut the corner of the plastic bag
containing the mandarin sauce. Make a design on the serving
plate
with the sauce. Top with one
round of cake. Pipe icing onto top of cake. Top with another
cake round. Pipe
icing onto top of second cake round. Make it decorative
as you wish. I like to spiral the icing on like a
snail's
shell.
2. Make
sugar decorations by heating two tablespoons sugar with one half
tablespoon of water.
Cook over medium heat until sugar starts to caramelize. This can
happen very quickly so watch carefully. The
minute the sugar turns color remove from
heat. Use a metal spoon to
scoop up sugar syrup and make spirals and
lightening bolts.
If you do this on parchment paper they will be easy to remove.
When
cool use to decorate cakes.
Hint: Refrigerate until an hour before serving
time. This cake tastes best at room
temperature.
|
