Orange Chiffon Cake

When I was in high school I thought that the worst thing ever, well not 'ever' but a pretty horrible thing in my juvenile mind, would be to get stuck in a rut. I can get bored pretty easily and I was worried that I'd get older and become stuck, stuck, stuck in a rut. In my mind at that time, a rut was a patterned behavior day in and day out that was so monotonous and dry. As an adult, I crave routine and wonder if my high school self would be baffled that I eat the same breakfast every single day. I don't wonder about it for too long because I love my breakfast smoothie.

My egg separation station.

But it is still a fear of mine, to wake up in 50 years and think I have taken what I deem to be the 'easy' road, without much adventure or challenge. I know that won't be the case, but I can still fret about it can't I? When I was recently planning a meal and needed to come up with a fabulous dessert, I realized that I'm stuck in a dessert rut. I make cookies. I make brownies. I make cupcakes. I make basic cakes. I decided it was time to get adventurous. What? Isn't making a new kind of cake what you think of as adventurous? Of course it is!

I diligently searched through my many baking cookbooks and came across this orange chiffon cake recipe. I read the list of ingredients and said "bingo! adventure, ho!"

Little did I know, that this was a crazy adventurous recipe (in my mind). I was thinking it would be easy peasy and while it was easy, it needed some serious attention and care. Something I sometimes lack. I had to whip egg whites into a meringue-like flurry, I had to fold said egg whites into a thick, orangey batter and I had to be gentle and kind to this delicate cake. I don't think of myself as someone with a gentle hand when it comes to cooking. I don't really do pretty stuff or plate things that nicely- I'm more about the taste than the look. This cake challenged me in many ways.

Be very quiet, I'm folding egg whites...

That being said, I want to make it again. Like, tomorrow. Or maybe today. It was killer. I can't remember ever having a cake as lovely as this. It was light and citrusy and it smelled so amazing. I want it right this very second. I will make this many, many times. I can tell.

Crumbly phase of the glaze

I love everything about this, including this fabulous nonstick pan I scored at Target.

I wish they made an 'orange chiffon cake' candle, because I miss this scent in my house already. 

Orange Chiffon Cake

From The Village Baker’s Wife

Ingredients

Cake:

2 ¼ cups cake flour

1 ½ cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

I teaspoon salt

½ cup vegetable oil

6 large egg yolks

¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons minced orange zest

8 large egg whites

Glaze (and who are we kidding, this was a frosting):

6 tablespoons salted butter

2 tablespoons minced orange zest

3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 and be sure your 10inch tube/bundt pan will fit in the center rack. Butter and flour your pan.

Start by sifting the flour, ¾ cup of the sugar, baking powder and salt into a big ol’ mixing bowl (you’ll be sorry if you use a medium sized bowl, trust me).

Before you move onto the next mixing step, get out your eggs. Set up an egg separating station with a bowl for the soon-to-be-whipped egg whites (mine went straight into the mixer bowl) and a bowl for the egg yolks and another bowl for the egg shells. Separate 6 eggs, put the yolks aside and separate 2 more but get rid of the yolks (since you need 8 egg whites and 6 yolks, toss those extra yolks out or use them some other way-I cooked mine up for my pup).

In a much smaller mixing bowl, whisk the vegetable oil, egg yolks, orange juice and zest.

Mix the oil mixture into the dry ingredients, use a wooden spoon to mix until nice and smooth. Set this aside while you work with the egg whites.

Beat the egg whites using an electric mixer or your amazing biceps until they are foamy. Once they are foamy add the ¾ cup of sugar and continue mixing until the egg whites form stiff peaks and are gorgeously glossy.

Now, gently fold 1/3 of this mixture in with the orange batter. Then, continue to gently fold in the rest of the egg white, or meringue, mixture into the batter. At this point, the batter should hold it’s shape but seem light and fluffy- not runny.

Pour the batter into your pan and smooth the top.

Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes,  do not do not do not open that oven for 45 minutes or the world will end. Or at least, the fluffiness and delightful airiness of this cake will end. Just don’t do it. Just ignore it. Or turn that light on and stare, but keep that oven closed.

Take the cake out and let it cool on a cooling rack for an hour while you make the glaze-frosting.

To make the glaze-frosting, cream the butter and zest then add the confectioners sugar and continue mixing slowly. This little mixture will be oddly crumbly, add the milk and vanilla and continue mixing.

After the cake has cooled you can spread the glaze stuff all around. If you have an older tube pan, you might need to be very very gentle when taking the cake out of the pan. If you have a nonstick pan, it will just slide out like butter. I just got one, it’s nonstick and I’m in love.

You can store this cake at room temperature for 3 days. It won’t last that long, but you can, and if you’re making this for company I’d suggest making it way ahead of time but letting it sit out and look pretty when guests arrive.

Enjoy!

-m  

Last Night

How long can a food coma last?


Last night, there were people in my kitchen and they were cooking. People= not me. Cooking= fabulous, from scratch, new recipes. And they let me watch.




They made this! Fried chicken, which none of us had attempted on our own before. It was a kick to see so many grown women jumping back from splashing oil and cheering when the pieces were flipped and revealed a gorgeous, golden crust. This has got to be the best fried chicken I've ever had, hands down. It was scrumptious. There were no leftovers.



Then they made this! Well, this is the beginning of something that I didn't get to photograph the end result of because.. we inhaled it before I had the chance. Any guess as to what you're looking at? If you said cheese sauce- then you are right and you may have a problem. You should look into that. This cheese sauce went over some rigatoni and was covered in breadcrumbs and tomatoes to create an entirely too pleasing mac n' cheese. Also, no leftovers. Super crowd pleaser.



And this. I think this dish was the underdog- it came up from behind, everyone dutifully put it on their plates. Most of us had not had greens before, so we were a little unsure about it. But boy oh boy, this was the surprise hit of the evening! So so so so good. It was a bit time consuming to prep and make, but for a big gathering like this it was worth it. It tasted so fresh- which was a great compliment to the mac n cheese and fried chicken!



Then there was this. The finisher, the closer of the meal.

We were gathering to discuss our recent book- "The Help" and if you've read it, then you can understand how we laughed as we ate this delicious pie. It was very hard not to.

As a side note- this was the first book we all actually read! I think that's a testament to either a) what a great read it was or b) how much more free time teachers/people have in the summer. Whichever it was, it was a fabulous book and made for some interesting discussions. I'm always amazed at how a question about the story can lead us to wonder about things in life or the news or pop culture. There are always so many connections and we often meander through the conversations until someone guides us back to the original question.


Most of the recipes came from Food and Wine magazine, they had a whole "The Help" themed menu. Lucky us!

The macaroni and cheese was a classic Ina Garten recipe. So good and gorgeous! The tomatoes were really the kicker there, don't omit them!

Give these a try! Enjoy!

-m