Orange Cake with Mascarpone Creme


I have many of Susan Branch‘s wonderful hand-written books.  Most are cookbooks, but a few are something you sit down with to peruse and reminisce about over a cup of coffee or tea.  They’re cozy little books that happen to have great recipes in them that always turn out.  Always.  The sweetest book — literally — is Sweets to the Sweet, which is a collection of desserts compiled into one tiny book.  If you know someone who needs a sweet gift — you have to get this book.

For Mother’s Day this year, I made the Orange Cake.  I’ve had my eye on it for a couple of years, and haven’t gotten around to it.  I know.  But I have a tendency to make food more than dessert.  Don’t even argue about whether dessert is food.  I’m one of those people who could routinely skip the food — well, except for salad.  I’ve wondered about this and pretty much think that it’s because dessert comes at the end of a meal that is also planned and cooked, and it’s just one more thing to plan for.  I usually end up making dessert only for special occasions, or when I want to try something new.  Oh, and there’s the issue of the calories.  I never need those.  And for some reason, my guys don’t eat dessert.  What’s wrong with them?  They eat it when it’s new and part of the meal, but the minute it goes in the refrigerator, forget it.  I’m the one who has to eat it.  And I can’t afford to do that if I want to fit in my car and shower, and, well, you get the idea.  Neighbors?  Around here, they’d probably look at me like I was nuts if I showed up on their porch with a treat.  Like it was laced with some hallucinogen or something.  I used to be able to count on my mother to take any and all leftovers.  She’d package them up in sandwich baggies and freeze individual pieces to savor later, but she’s geographically undesirable right now, so that doesn’t work any more.  So much for dessert around here.

But the Orange Cake finally had its day.  And yes — as usual, I made some adjustments.  I believe my addition truly made this an exceptional cake.  See what you think, but don’t wait a couple of years to try it like I did.

Orange Cake with Mascarpone Creme

For the Filling…

6 T sugar
1-1/2 T cornstarch
pinch of salt
1/2 water
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 c. fresh orange juice
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
1 T butter, melted
1/2 c. crushed pineapple, slightly drained

In the top pan of a double boiler and over boiling water, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Gradually add water, orange peel, and juice — then egg yolk.  Cook, stirring until smooth and thick — about 7 min or so.  Fold in the butter and the pineapple.  Chill.

For the Cake…
4 T butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, separated
1-1/2 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 c. fresh orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter 2 8″ cake pans.  Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Add egg yolks and beat until thick and light lemon in color.  In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients well, and then add them to the egg mixture, alternating with the orange juice.  Whip the egg whites until stiff and glossy and fold them into the batter mixture.  Pour evenly between the two prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes.  Cool completely on racks before removing from the pans.

For the Orange Icing…
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange
1-1/2 powdered sugar
1 tsp Gran Marnier
unsweetened coconut
Additional 1 T. grated orange peel

Lightly grate rind of orange and bring it and the juice to a bowl.  Strain the juice and add as much of the powdered sugar into is as needed to create the consistency you desire for the spreading.  Stir in the Gran Marnier.  The goal would be to get the icing to the consistency that would allow it to dribble down the sides of the cake.  Mine was too thick, so barely made it to the edge of the cake.

For the Cream Filling…
8 oz. heavy cream
4 oz. mascarpone
1 T. powdered sugar

Whip cream until stable peaks form.  Add powdered sugar to mix.  Fold in mascarpone carefully until cream thickens.  Chill until cake is ready to assemble.

To Assemble the Cake…
Spread orange filling over one layer of the cake.  Add cream filling over the top of the orange filling, spreading carefully to avoid mixing.  Make sure both layers are spread to the edges of the cake.
Top with second layer.  Pour icing over top of cake, pushing it to the edges.  Mix 1 T. grated orange peel with unsweetened coconut.  Sprinkle mixture liberally over the icing.  Chill until ready to serve.

Notes:

  • The original recipe called for rum, and maybe next time I’ll try the coconut rum.  But the gran marnier was fine.
  • The creme filling was my idea as well.  I couldn’t get the idea of a fifty-fifty ice cream bar out of my head, so this just made sense.  Plus, who doesn’t need a bit more cream on Mother’s Day, right?  On the count of three, ladies, slap that flab….
  • And I love coconut — but not really the sweetened variety.  I was looking for the shaved variety which I believe would have been absolutely beautiful, but I felt fortunate to have found unsweetened bits and happily added those.  Everyone love it.
  • I served it with Homemade Creme Fraiche ice cream which has a kind of cheesecake taste and consistency to it.  The combination was fabulous. I shouldn’t have waited so long to make this cake.
  • I’m thinking there’s potential to turn this into a Pina Colada Cake.  Yum.  I’ll keep you posted.
  • Isn’t it nice that the Honeysuckle was blooming just for my cake?  How sweet is that?