Tuesdays with Dorie: Swedish Visiting Cake

I was so happy Nancy of The Dogs Eat The Crumbs chose the Swedish Visiting Cake! This recipe has been on my to-do list since I first opened Baking.

There's a lovely story in the book about the origins of this cake and that appeals to me as much as the recipe does. It is so quick to make you could probably have this ready in 5 minutes for those last minute guests.

I made a half recipe in a 6 inch pan and ended up with a really flat little cake. The texture was a little strange but I'm sure that was because of the substitutions I made. I'd run out of sliced almonds (and I detest almond essence) so I used some ground almonds in with the flour.

I checked it after 20 minutes and it seemed cooked - crackled on top but firm. Maybe it could have used another 5 minutes though?

The taste test ...

I loved this! Really frangrant with almond, lemon and vanilla. The texture reminded me of a lemon delicious pudding. I'm sure it was the ground almonds which gave it the dense, slightly chewy texture. It was very buttery though and VERY sweet. I think next time I would cut back on both butter and sugar and it would still be fantastic.

Thanks for a great pick Nancy! I will definitely be making this again. You can find the recipe on Nancy's blog.

On another note we are now on the countdown to Oscar's birthday. Yep, my baby turns 1 next week! We are having a bbq/party for him on the weekend with around 40 guests (insansity!) and I will post a full round-up of the day and the food on Monday.

Daring Bakers March - Orange Tian

Have you heard of a tian? I hadn't either but what a lovely dessert this turned out to be!

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

This dessert involved making several components including a citrus caramel, whipped cream filling and biscuit base, but the one that had me really excited was the marmalade. Yep, we had to make our own marmalade for this challenge!

I love jam and making it has been on my to-do list for years. I think the fact you need to sterilise jars and so on has scared me away but really, you can just make a small amount to store in the fridge and eat within a couple of weeks.

Almost everything for the tian came together really easily and I prepared all the components in one day. I opted to make just one small (4") tian as were in dessert overload that week.

In the end the only element I struggled with was the marmalade. I wasn't sure where to get pectin from but I had seen a jam setting sugar at the supermarket in the past so I went hunting for that. Once I had the sugar I needed oranges (obviously) and chose some lovely looking navel oranges. Now I think these were the wrong type to get because the pith was about 1cm thick on all of them. I blanched the oranges 5 times to hopefully remove any bitterness and it turned out fine. My issue was with the final taste. For some reason this tasted like jam that had been sitting around in a cupboard for too long. The sugar was still 1 year within the use-by date but I am not convinced. I still don't know whether it was the sugar or the oranges that gave the marmalade its strange aftertaste BUT I do know I am no longer scared of making jam!

The taste test ...

Surprisingly light! Lovely contrast between the crunchy base, smooth cream filling and fresh orange segments. I did add the citrus caramel after I took the photo but I think it was unnecessary and really dialled up the sweetness into excess.

This would be a wonderful dinner party desssert as not only does it look and taste spectacular, it can be totally prepared in advance.

Thank you Jennifer for a wonderful challenge!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Honey-Wheat Cookies

Oh Dorie, I do love it when you surprise me! The lovely Michelle of Flourchild chose Dorie's Honey-Wheat Cookies this week and I admit I wasn't expecting much. This is one of those recipes I have flipped past many times without taking too much notice.

I made a few slight changes to the recipe, first using raw sugar instead of white for a richer flavour, and also upping the citrus. I used the zest of a whole lemon and a whole orange and let me tell you, the aroma wafting up from that bowl of zest and sugar was divine!

I left the dough in the fridge overnight before baking these up first thing in the morning. Dorie said the recipe makes 36 and usually I'm nowhere near it. So this time I actually weighed the dough (yes, apparently I do have too much time on my hands!). My cookies averaged 20g each and I got 35. Close enough.

The taste test ...

Unexpectedly delicious! These have a really well balanced flavour with the honey, citrus and wheat germ shining through. Perfect with a cup of tea. I ate 4 before stopping myself. I froze most of the batch but I have a feeling these will taste great great frozen as well!

Thank you Michelle for a wonderful pick this week! It was a lovely break from all the chocolate this month and I will definitely be baking these again. You can find the recipe on Michelle's blog.