Orange Creme Cake

The Art.
    I'm proud to present this light, summery cake to you, because I think we can all use more orange desserts in our lives. I spent the last couple months developing this recipe, and what it has taught me is that I am an absolute food snob. I tried to get inspiration from other recipes online, but I was horrified at what popped up when I searched for "orange creamsicle cake." All of the recipes were disgusting combinations of instant desserts layered into a pile of Diabetes and Regret. I was not about to feed any of that sludge to anybody. Why do people bother with these things when you can whip up a beautiful whipped cream in 5 minutes? So, instead of Cool Whip, pudding, Jell-O, or any other variety of distasteful fillings, I set out to make a wholesome orange mousse for the cake. I layered this with my newly developed white cake that I debuted with the Cadbury Cupakes as the most moist, fluffy cake in the world. That may be an exaggeration, but you'll see where I'm coming from once you taste it yourself. Besides, who can resist a cake garnished with pretty orange slices?

The Science.
    Like most of my recipes, this one took quite a bit of R&D to get it just right. The first time I made the orange mousse, I used a recipe that combined a creamy orange custard with beaten egg whites [1]. This mousse had a wonderful, creamy flavor, but wouldn't hold up at room temperature and slid out the sides of the cake when I cut it. I decided that I needed a fluffier, more sturdy mousse to go between my cake layers. Then I found a recipe from America's Test Kitchen for a Greek yogurt lemon mousse [2]. This recipe seemed promising for two reasons: 1) the egg whites were beaten over a double boiler, making them more stable by forming bonds between the egg proteins, and 2) it used more gelatin. I replaced the Greek yogurt with whipped cream and the lemon flavor with orange, and it was almost perfect. The next time I made it, I whipped some cornstarch into the whipped cream to hold things together. Corn starch interacts with both the water and the fat in the cream, holding them in suspension and preventing a watery separation from forming. I also added more gelatin, bloomed in the orange juice, to give the mousse a firmer texture and help it stand up to the cake layers.

The Recipe.

Orange Creme Mousse:
1/3 cup juice from 1 orange
1 1/2 teaspoons gelatin
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest

    Combine orange juice and gelatin in a small bowl to bloom. Beat the cream on medium speed in a large bowl. To keep the cream cold, set the bowl over an ice bath, and use chilled beaters. When soft peaks form, beat in the cornstarch and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Place whipped cream in fridge.
    In another bowl, combine salt, egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and vanilla. Add orange juice/gelatin mixture. Set over a saucepan with 1 inch of simmering water to create a double boiler, so you can gently cook the egg whites as you whip them. Beat mixture over the double boiler for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and beat until cool, about 2 minutes. Fold in orange zest and the whipped cream, then refrigerate while making the cake.

White Cake:
6 egg whites, divided
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
2 1/4 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup salted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/3 cup buttermilk

    Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 3 8-inch round pans with baking spray and line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, beat three egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Set aside. Sift together flour and baking powder in another bowl. In a large bowl, beat together remaining cup sugar, butter, remaining egg whites, and vanilla. Alternately add one third of the flour mixture and buttermilk, beating between each addition just until combined. Fold in beaten egg whites with a spatula. Spoon batter into pans and smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake on center rack for 20 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

Stabilized Whipped Icing:
Make a half batch of the whipped icing from the Oreo Ice Cream Cake post.

Assembly:
    Place one cake layer upside down on a cardboard cake round. Cover with 1/2 of the orange mousse, spreading to the edges with a spatula. Place the second cake layer on top, then cover with the rest of the mousse. Top with the last cake layer, and spread the whipped icing on top. Run a spatula around the edges of the cake to smooth out the mousse. Garnish with an orange slice and refrigerate until serving.

1. http://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/470269_recipe4.html
2. Editors at America's Test Kitchen. The Best of America's Test Kitchen, 2011. Brookline, MA: America's Test Kitchen, 2010.

Blueberry Cake Batter Pancakes

The Art.
    Breakfast food is hands down my most favorite food of all. I think I could give Ron Swanson a pretty good run for his money when it comes to loving eggs and sausage. Of course, pancakes and waffles have a special place in my heart, too. But if we're being perfectly honest, I have always been disappointed with the texture of the pancakes I make at home, compared to the amazing pancakes you can get at a diner. They somehow manage to simultaneously be fluffy, dense, and moist all at the same time. None of that rubbery stuff that you flip in your frying pan at home. I so desperately wanted to make a pancake of the hometown diner caliber, I sank into one of my Baking Depressions. Then, I had an epiphany: what if I used my fluffy cake batter to make pancakes? If it makes such a wonderfully light, moist cake, shouldn't it make a great pancake? And indeed, this was the case. I know for sure I'll never make any other pancakes again. These cake batter pancakes have the perfect, fluffy texture I was after, and are delightfully sweet when topped with a fresh blueberry compote.

The Science.
    There are several factors that contribute to the wonderful texture of these pancakes. First, they are made with cake flour which gives a finer, lighter texture. Second, they have a large amount of baking powder, which reacts with the acidity in the buttermilk to create lots of bubbles. And finally, the stiffly beaten egg whites lighten the batter and make the pancakes spongey, rather than dense. Compare this to most pancakes--which are made up of mostly all-purpose flour and baking soda--and it's no mystery why they are worlds apart. This recipe does have one caveat, however: since the cake flour and butter make the pancakes so soft, they are very difficult to flip without breaking. Thus, it is best to make "dollar" pancakes that are smaller, so you can turn them over easily.

The Recipe.

Blueberry Compote:
1 pint fresh blueberries, washed
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch salt

    Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue simmering on low heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until reduced to 3/4 cup in volume.

Pancakes:
3 egg whites, divided
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons salted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup buttermilk

    In a small bowl, beat 2 egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form, then set aside. Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat together butter, remaining egg white, sugar, and vanilla. Alternately beat in the flour mixture and the buttermilk until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Fold in the beaten egg whites.
    Heat a griddle or frying pan on medium low heat, and very lightly spray with cooking spray. Pour out 1/4 cup batter to make 4 inch diameter pancakes. When the edges of the batter are covered in bubbles, carefully flip with a spatula and cook 2 minutes longer. Top pancakes with blueberry compote and serve piping hot.

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

The Art.
    Last summer I attempted to make my very first ice cream cake, which resulted in a literal and metaphorical meltdown that I never want to experience again. As I was standing in the middle of my kitchen frantically scooping up icing that was sliding down the sides of the melting cake, I told myself that there must be a better way. And I'm proud to say that I have found it: I present to you the new and improved Oreo Ice Cream Cake! By baking the chocolate cake layer in a springform pan, then layering the ice cream on top, the cake is manageable and easy to cut. The cake is then covered with a stabilized whipped icing that is simultaneously tasty and insulates the ice cream, and Oreo cookies act as crunchy garnish.

The Science.
    The main problem with the first ice cream cake attempt was that I bought cheap ice cream. Ideally, ice cream should have 10% milk fat in the liquid solution, and once it is frozen it should be 50% air, 30% ice, 15% sugar solution, and 5% fat [1]. Both the milk fat and the air act to insulate the ice cream temperature [2]. The store brand ice cream that I purchased was made with skim milk, stabilizers, and additives that gave the final product a creamy texture and mouthfeel, without having any cream in it. However, without milk fat, this ice cream had a very low melting temperature and would start melting quickly. When making an ice cream cake, you want to use an ice cream that has a high melting temperature, so that it will stay solid longer while you're working with it. For this cake, I perused the frozen dairy isle at the grocery store for the ice cream brand that had the most cream. I was shocked to find that several name brands were actually not ice cream, but "frozen dairy dessert." Most others were made with skim milk, like the one I had previously bought. I finally settled on Blue Bunny, because it had whole milk and cream as the first two ingredients. It was definitely worth taking the time to read the labels, because making and decorating this cake went so much smoother with the high fat ice cream.

The Recipe.

Ice Cream Cake:
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup cocoa
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 gallon Blue Bunny Cookies & Cream ice cream
10 Oreo cookies, crushed

    Preheat oven to 350^oF and adjust rack to center position. Coat a 10"x 3" springform pan with baking spray. Combine sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, dissolve cocoa in boiling water to allow it to "bloom." In a large bowl, beat together egg, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in bloomed cocoa. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake 30 minutes. Cake may be a little soft in the center--this is what makes it easy to cut when frozen. If the cake is crowned, press it flat with a damp paper towel as I showed here. Cool in pan for 2 hours, until room temperature.
    When the cake is cool, thaw the ice cream at room temperature for 15-20 minutes. You want it to be soft enough to spread on top of the cake, but not completely melted. Spread the entire tub of ice cream over the cake, and smooth out with a spatula. Place the cake in the freezer for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Stabilized Whipped Icing:
2 cups 40% heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar

    Pre-chill a large metal mixing bowl and your mixer's beating blades in the freezer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make an ice bath in a pie plate. Place the bowl on top of the ice bath, and beat the cream in the bowl on medium speed until soft peaks form. Beat in the cornstarch and powdered sugar, and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to whip the cream too fast or too long, or your icing will curdle. The cornstarch acts as a stabilizer and will absorb the water in the cream, so the icing will stay whipped in the refrigerator for several days.

Assembly:
     Take the frozen cake out of the freezer. Run a knife along the edges of the pan to loosen the ice cream, then remove the sides. If your cake layer pulled away from the sides of the pan after it baked, you will have some ice cream that dripped all the way down to the bottom. This is ok, you will still see the layers when you cut the cake.

    With a spatula, spread an even layer of whipped icing all over the top and sides of the cake. Spread the crushed cookies on top. If desired, pipe a border of whipped icing and place a cookie in the center for garnish. Place the cake back in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to set. Let cake sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

1. Gillies, D and Greenley, K. "ESR/Spin Probe Study of Ice Cream." Journal of Agri. and Food Chem, 2006. Vol. 54 (14), pp 4943–4947.
2. Galvin, Lori et al. Test Kitchen Favorites. Brookline, MA: America's Test Kitchen, 2006.