In recent weeks I have been working with boiled citrus and lecithin. Both have given good baking results separately. There are a lot of lecithin in chocolate powder (for mixing in cold milk), and I have utilized this in various contexts, both here on the blog and the book, “Free cakes (Frie kaker)” . After seeing that lecithin does wonders in cakes with gluten free flour and water, I wanted to pick up again the idea of using chocolate powder as source of lecithin. So far I have not used it in cakes without eggs. It is definitely less lecithin in chocolate powder than when I can add it directly from the box with lecithin, but maybe there is still enough to provide a finer cake crumb. It’s the still the “Orange cake” and “Crazy Cake” from “Frie kaker“, which are the starting points. The recipe will give a cake of 18cm in diameter, which is enough for 8-10 people. The cake was brought to a dinner party with eight guests, and it was very well received. On a scale of 1-10 grade, the cake got the grade 12, and there were no cake leftovers when I came home.
Orange puree: You need about 400 g orange (one very large or two smaller). Rub well with oranges dish soap, to remove the wax coating of the shell. Put the entire fruit in a saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Let the pan simmer on low heat for two hours, until the fruit feels quite tender to the touch. Pour off the water and put the fruit in a bowl. Blend the fruit with a hand blender (or use blender). Do you have leftover puré, it can be frozen for later use.
Orange Chocolate Cake
200 g orange puree
165 g chocolate powder ( Nesquick or similar, containing sugar, cocoa and lecithin )
1/2 teaspoon salt
80 g canola oil
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120 g fine gluten free flour mixture (here Shär mix C)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Orange Cake
100 g orange puree
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar 7%
65 g sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
40 g canola oil
–
65 g fine gluten free flour mixture (here Shär mix C)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda or baking powder
The cake is made in two stages. Grease a small cake pan, 18 cm diameter with oil. Preheat the oven to 180 gC. First make the orange chocolate cake: Weigh orange puree ( see recipe above), chocolate powder and oil in the flask of a blender. Reset weight between additions. Add salt and run the blender until you have a nice and smooth cream. Weigh the flour mixture in a separate bowl, add baking soda and mix well. Pour over the orange puree and fold gently together. Bubbles will very quickly form in the dough, because baking soda reacts with the acid in the puree. You want to keep this air in the dough, so it’s important not to stir too much. Pour the dough into the cake pan, and bake the cake for 35-40 minutes at 180 gC or until a knife comes out clean the cake. Do not open the oven door until the cake has been in the oven for about 30 minutes. Let the cake cool before removing it from the mold. Then proceed to make orange cake in the same way, but substitute chocolate powder with the sugar. This cake only ned to cook for 20-25 minutes, because it is thinner than the first.
Orange Cream :
200 g milk-free margarine or cake butter (see comment below)
200g icing sugar
2 teaspoons Certo freeze powder (powder to make non-cook jams, contains 50% xanthan )
1/4 teaspoon salt
60 g orange puree
60 g white wine, apple juice or water
Whip margarine, powdered sugar, salt and Certo freeze powder (or xanthan) light and fluffy. Stir in the orange puree and continue to whisk until it is well mixed with the fat. Whisk finally the white wine, apple juice or water. If you have enough orange puree, you can replace some or all of the white wine / apple juice with orange puree .
Assembling the cake: Divide the chocolate cake in half. Put one section on a cake stand. Put pieces of waxed paper underneath the cake all the way around, so you avoid spill of cream on the plate. Apply a thin layer of cream over the cake and down the sides. Put the orange cake on top. Apply a thin layer of cream over the cake, and down the sides of the cake. Put the second piece of chocolate cake on top. Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of cream . Fill the rest of the cream in a plastic bag fitted with a small tip and pipe it neatly on top and the sides of cake.
Comment: If you use baking soda as a raising agent in orange cake the crumb will get a darker color than if you use baking powder. This is because baking soda promotes Maillardreactions, reactions between carbohydrates and proteins. It is these reactions that provide everything baked with a brown crust and a distinctive taste.
Comment II: Cake butter can be made by mixing salt water with Crisco till final concentration of water is 20%. Salt water is made by dissolving 1 ts salt in 75 g water. Thus: 350 Crisco and 75g salt water whipped together makes 425 g cake butter
This cake is milk-free , eggfree and gluten free. It is thus also vegan. If you tolerate gluten, you can substitute gluten flour mixture with wheat flour. If you tolerate milk, you can replace milk-free margarine with softened butter.
Blogpost by Anne Spurkland , published on 16 February 2014