Social Kitchen

This is, by far, the tallest thing that has ever come out of my kitchen.  It was tall, people.  Like over a foot tall.  But that’s enough about the height of the cake.  It was also delicious!  Two layers of chocolate orange cake, with chocolate chip french macaron layers to fill in.  Pretty amazing.  The taste was as good as the cake was high.  Yep, tall.

This cake was actually another product of my sister’s birthday.  Sure, her birthday used to be a an occassion where she just got to pick her own dessert.  But it’s turned into a challenge for me to outdo whatever I created the year before.  And if last year’s was a monster, then this year’s was a beast.  If you consider beasts to be bigger than monsters, that is.

But there is much more to this story than this: we had a party for my sister’s birthday.  A Michael Jackson themed party.  Alas, there was no time to take beautiful photos to show just how scrumptious this cake was between the karaoke and the moonwalking!  So you don’t even get to see the true tallness of this cake!  I know, such a tease.  But you will see the Thriller glove sugar cookies that I made.  And I certainly hope that makes up for it.

Chocolate Orange Macaron Layer Cake

Considering how impressive this cake looks, it was surprisingly easy to put together.  It was frosted, and ready to be eaten all in a morning’s time.  I love the chocolate orange combo, and so does my sister (and so does Michael Jackson, we’d like to believe), but the fruit/chocolate combo is obviously endless.  Or you can make it pure chocolate.  I have to say that the chocolate was a bit too much for me (but I’m a cinnamon and fruit flavored dessert girl, after all), so next time I would probably omit the chocolate chips from the macaron layers.  The aforementioned tall thing is pretty important considering serving sizes – with this four layer cake, we were able to feed about 40 people with satisfying slices.

Chocolate Orange Macaron Layer Cake (all components adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Chocolate Layers

2 cups cake flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 sticks butter, room temperature

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup freshly brewed coffee or freshly made instant coffee, cooled to room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla

1 orange, zested

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter two 9 inch round cake pans.  Line with parchment paper and butter the parchment paper.

In a bowl of a standing mixer, combine all dry ingredients, through the salt.  Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds until everything is well combined.  Add butter and buttermilk and blend, starting on low speed, increasing as it starts to become well combined.  Beat for 2-3 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, coffee, vanilla and orange zest.  With the mixer running, blend in the coffee mixture in 3 additions.  When well blended, take a spatula and stir, scraping the bottom, ensuring that all of the dry ingredients have been thoroughly mixed in.

Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.  Bake for 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.  Let cool on a wire rack, in their pans until cool enough to handle, then turn out of pans and let the layers cool completely on the wire rack.

Macaron Layers

2.5 cups, or 10.5 oz. ground almonds

1 cup sugar

2 large pinches salt

2  tsp. vanilla (or 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste, or 1 vanilla bean)

6 large egg whites

Set the oven racks in the top third and bottom third of oven.  Preheat the oven to 325.  Spray two 9 inch cake pans with cooking spray.  Line with parchment paper, and spray again.  Set aside.

In a bowl, mix together the almonds, sugar and salt.  With a mixer, whip egg whites until soft peaks form.  With the mixer running, slowly add in the vanilla and remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar.  Beat until the egg whites are stiff but not dry.  Gently fold in the egg white mixture into the almond mixture until well combined.  Add mini chocolate chips and stir.  Divide evenly among the two pans, spreading to make sure that it covers all sides.

Bake macaron layers until golden and almost firm to the touch, rotating the pans half way through the baking.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Take out of oven and let cool, in the pan, on a wire rack until cool enough to handle.  Carefully take the layers out of the pans and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Fudge Frosting

6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

4 cups powdered sugar

3 sticks butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup half and half

1 tablespoon vanilla

Place everything in a blender and blend until well combined.  Add more half and half if needed for a better consistency.

To Assemble

1 jar good orange marmalade

On a plate, place a chocolate cake layer upside down.  Spread with about 2 tablespoons of orange marmalade, or enough to cover the surface of the cake.  Place a macaron layer on top of the marmalade.  Spread a layer of the chocolate frosting on top.  Place another layer of the chocolate cake layer on top of the frosting.  Spread more orange marmalade on the cake layer.  Repeat with macaron layer.  Place the remainder of the frosting on top, covering the top and sides.  Place in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

One of my cousins from India always requests certain American-found food items whenever I visit.  Double-stuffed Oreos usually make the list, she has a thing for Cool(er) Ranch Doritos, and she always sends an entire list of chocolates for me to bring.  But without fail, every single time, I must bring her Nutella (the quintessential American treat?).

This is a pretty understandable request – Nutella tastes amazing on just about everything: graham crackers, apples, cookies.  But my cousin does not spread this on anything.  She instead mixes it into her milk, kind of like chocolate syrup, but much more difficult to mix in.  I’ve tried – I stirred for a long time without getting anywhere.  She ends up with mildly flavored chocolate hazelnut flavored milk with globs of Nutella at the bottom.  This, she says, is her favorite part.  She tips her cup all the way back for the milky Nutella to slide down, and when that usually does not happen, she takes a seat with the mug and spoon in hand.  This is all pretty gross, you may think.  But  I think that it’s brilliant!

Globs of nutella, at a bottom of a mug or otherwise, are probably the most delicious globs you can find.  I do not know of one person that would not enjoy a glob of Nutella deliciousness.  So when I was going to India around her birthday, I knew exactly what to bake for her to incorporate her favorite type of glob.  I swirled in Nutella into my favorite eggless cake recipe.

It sank a bit – Nutella is a bit heavy, I realize now.  But that just made the globs all the more apparent and delicious.  This cake was very yummy, it traveled well, and though everyone else loved this pound cakey-cake, my cousin picked out all of the Nutella from the cake and ate just that.  I was only slightly offended.

Eggless Nutella Swirl Cake

I don’t quite remember where I first found this dessert, but if you type in “eggless condensed milk cake” into Google, there are like thousands of results that pop up.  Swirl in Nutella or swirl in jam, or make the whole thing chocolate or peanut butter, there are recipes for all.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 (400gm) can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup orange juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray.  Sift together the all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda into a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, orange juice, melted butter and vanilla until well blended.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour the blended wet ingredients.  Using a wooden spoon, mix until well incorporated.  Pour into prepared pans.  Using a tablespoon, evenly glob the Nutella on top of the cakes.  Using a butter knife, cut into globs and swirl the Nutella into the batter.

Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for about 15 minutes, remove from the pan and cool on a rack.

Did you hear about the wedding last week??  It was pretty big, you might have seen.  Did you see the dress?  Did you see the kiss?  Did you hear about the cake?!

I do have a mild obsession with the British monarchy, it’s true.  But this is neither the time nor the place to discuss this.  This, my friends, is about another obsession of mine: no bake desserts (especially those involving biscuits).  It may be a pretty specific category, but they’re pretty awesome – creating a full-fledged delicious dessert, using nothing but a couple ingredients and never turning on the oven!  So easy, so simple, so delicious.  They are a wonder to me.

Which is why I was surprised to learn that the groom’s cake at the Royal Wedding was a chocolate biscuit cake – a no bake “cake” using simply British tea biscuits, chocolate and condensed milk.  Amazing.  And that was all that was needed to serve such a regal crowd!  You know you have to try this one.

So it turns out that  you don’t need to crash a royal wedding in order to eat like the royals!  No, no.  You just need a few ingredients and a refrigerator.  And a fancy hat.  But only if you feel like it.

Chocolate Biscuit Cake (adapted from Tea and Sympathy via Daily Candy)

14 oz (400 grams) digestive biscuits, rich tea biscuits or graham crackers, crumbled into pieces

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

1/2 cup dried cherries

1 stick butter

1 can condensed milk

5 oz. dark chocolate

5 oz. milk chocolate

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Grease a pie plate, 8 inch square dish, or any dish of a similar size.  Line with parchment paper and then grease the parchment paper.  Set aside.

2. Stir together the crushed biscuits with nuts and dried cherries in a large bowl.  Set aside.

3. Over medium heat, in a double boiler, melt together the 5 oz. of dark chocolate, 5 oz. milk chocolate, butter and condensed milk until completely melted and thick.

4. Pour chocolate mixture over the biscuits and stir together until everything is coated.  Pour into prepared dish and pat down to ensure that the cake will take the shape of the plate.  Refrigerate for 2 hours.

5. Melt the dark chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals.  Stir after every interval until the chips are melted.

6. Unmold the cake and remove the parchment paper.  Pour the melted chocolate in the center of the cake and spread so it will run down the sides of the cake.  Let the chocolate set for about 15 minutes and then slice.