Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

Thanks everyone for all the congratulations on our engagement. =) Very sweet of you all! We're still trying to pick a date, which is kind of hard to do with my school schedule but I'm sure we'll figure something out soon.

I seem to be making a lot of bundt cakes recently - which I think means that I'm justified in buying another bundt pan like the rose shaped Nordic Ware one, don't you agree? This cake turned out quite soft, so for me it wasn't perfect (I prefer dense cakes to fluffy ones) but everyone else loved it. The cake tastes like a Terry's chocolate orange so if you like those you will definitely like this! The cake itself has orange juice and zest, as well as chocolate chunks. (I hate when I forget to zest the orange before juicing it and then have to try to zest a squashed rind.) Then it has an orange syrup that's put on shortly after coming out of the oven (which soaks into the cake) and then a chocolate ganache is spooned on top. It's quite the cake!

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Orange Cream Cheese Muffins
Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake
Orange Berry Muffins
Lemon Lust Cake

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties!

2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs, room temperature
Zest from 4 large oranges
3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (I used 420 g.)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks

Syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Ganache
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.

2. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the orange zest.

3. Sift together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chunks with 2 tablespoons flour and add to the batter. Pour into the pan, smooth the top, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the sugar with the orange juice until the sugar dissolves. Remove the cake from the pan, set it on a rack over a tray, and spoon the orange syrup over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely.

5. For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Whole Wheat Orange Spice Muffins

First off, I want to let you guys know that Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs has an extremely awesome baking book, Sweet Freedom, that will be released on May 15. All of the recipes are made without wheat, dairy and refined sugar. Some of you might remember when I was a lucky tester for her cookbook and posted about some of the recipes. And I'll be doing another post in a few weeks to feature some more delicious things from her book. (Which are fast becoming some of my favourite treats!) Anyway, Ricki is generously giving away three paper copies and five electronic copies of her book. Check out her post about it here and see how you can enter to win (and learn how you can order it)!

Now onto some yummy muffins I made! I used to make healthy muffins almost every week but then for a while I was just baking whatever muffins/scones I wanted. Now I'm back to healthy muffins again and these were a great reintroduction. I loved the combination of orange, spice, and walnuts. There are a bunch of other muffins I want to try from Pinch My Salt, in particular the Double Dark Chocolate Beet Muffins mmm.

Other healthy muffins I've made:
Applesauce-Oat Bran Muffins
Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins
Banana Bran Muffins

Whole Wheat Orange Spice Muffins
Adapted from Pinch My Salt

My adaptations were to use less sugar (1/2 cup instead of 3/4) and to use Sucanat instead of brown sugar, to use light soy milk + vinegar instead of buttermilk, and to use twice as much vanilla.

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (Ashley note: I used 342 g.)
1/2 cup flax seed meal (ground flax seeds)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tbsp vinegar + 1/2 cup light soy milk
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange zest
1/3 cup neutral flavored oil such as canola, vegetable or grapeseed
1/2 cup Sucanat
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees; grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper baking cups. Zest and juice 2 or 3 medium oranges, measure out juice and zest; set aside. Chop and measure walnuts; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, flax seed meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Using a wire whisk, blend ingredients together very well. This is your dry mixture. Set it aside.

3. In a separate bowl, combine beaten eggs, buttermilk, orange juice and zest, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. This is your wet mixture.

4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just until all the flour has been incorporated. Make sure to scrape up all the flour from the bottom of the bowl as you are mixing. Once you no longer see any pockets of flour remaining, gently fold in the walnuts.

5. Using a large spoon or an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin cup almost to the top. Divide any remaining batter between the cups so that they are somewhat equal. Put the muffins in a preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check to see if they are done by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin. If the toothpick comes out clean, they are done. If not, let the muffins bake an additional 2 minutes and check again. When muffins are done, let cool on a wire rack for five minutes then remove muffins from pan and let cool completely on the wire rack.

If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice on hand, you can make your own: 1 t. cinnamon, 1/2 t. ground ginger, 1/4 t. ground nutmeg and 1/4 t. ground cloves. Mix it together then scoop out one heaping teaspoon to use in the recipe. Mandarins, tangerines, or other sweet citrus may be used in place of standard oranges.

Orange Cream Cheese Muffins (with Pepita Crunch)

This orange cream cheese muffin is absolute muffin perfection. The cream cheese flavour is prominent, and the muffin is so so perfectly dense and deliciously yummy. I'm even going so far as to say it's one of my favourite things I've ever baked. It's like cheesecake meets a perfect moist dense white cake. I wasn't a fan of the pepita crunch though so next time I'll just sprinkle coarse sugar on top instead (or nothing at all). My pepitas were over toasted and had kind of a weird taste that really took away from the muffin. While I've loved almost everything I've made from Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More, the overly complicated instructions still kind of bother me. But considering how well most things turn out, they must be worth it!

I just got Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions (and wow are there some exciting interesting things in it! Can't wait to try the recipes.) I was reading about what she considers room temperature butter, and it's quite different from what I've always done. So I'm just curious - what do you use for softened/room temperature butter? How soft do you let it get? I think I let mine soften a bit too much.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Lemon Cheesecake
Caramel Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Orange Berry Muffins
Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Orange Cream Cheese Muffins (with Pepita Crunch)
Adapted from Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More

I halved the recipe. For my halved version I used 150 g of flour, and I used 1 large egg yolk (plus 1 egg) instead of 1/2 an egg yolk (plus 1 egg).

Pepita Crunch
1 large egg white (reserve yolk)
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

Muffins
1/2 small navel orange, cut into 6 to 8 pieces (zest, pith and flesh)
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature, broken into 3 to 4 pieces
2 cups all purpose flour, spooned in and leveled
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly firm
1 cup superfine sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk (reserved from pepita crunch)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Make the pepita crunch:
2. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white and 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar. Add the pumpkin seeds, tossing to coat well with the egg/sugar mixture. Pour into the prepared cookie sheet and spread evenly in a single layer. Sprinkle 1 more tablespoon of the sugar over the pepitas. Bake for 3 to 4 minutes, stir the pepitas with a fork, and bake for another 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Break up any clusters with your fingertips and set aside.

Make the batter:
3. Increase the oven temperature to 375F. Line fourteen muffin cups with paper or foil cupcake liners. I halved the recipe and it made 5 muffins so if you don't want to take out an additional muffin tray just fill your tray up a bit more.

4. Add the orange pieces to the food processor and process until finely chopped. Measure 1/4 cup pulp and return it to the processor bowl. (Discard any remaining orange.) Add the cream cheese and process in three 10-second intervals, scraping down the side of the bowl after each process. The mixture should retain some orange texture.

5. In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

6. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the machine and add the cream cheese/orange mixture, then mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the superfine sugar in a steady stream, then blend in the eggs, the reserved yolk, and the vanilla.

7. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing just until blended after each addition.

Bake the muffins:
8. Portion level scoops of the batter into the prepared pans using a no. 16 ice cream scoop (1/4 cup capacity). Sprinkle the top of each muffin with 1 tablespoon of the pepita crunch. Be sure to use any sugar the remains in the pan.

9. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and the tops are springy to the touch. To ensure even baking, toward the end of baking time, rotate the pans top to bottom and front to back. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.

(Orange) Dreamsicle Tart

That is quite the blob of whipped cream I put on top, making this tart not look as awesome as it actually is.

This dreamsicle tart was the first thing I baked from Caprial's Desserts and oh what an introduction to this lovely baking book it was. There are so many yummy looking things to try in this cookbook (caramel pear tart with a graham shortbread crust for one) and I love how they offer up interesting modifications to many of the recipes - this tart is a modification of their lemon cream tart.

And what is a dreamsicle tart? Well basically an orange creamsicle in tart form mmmm. So it's an orange custard/cream topped with whipped cream - and don't be tempted to sweeten the whipped cream even a tiny bit as the custard is quite sweet on its own. The tart is supposed to be made using their "three-nut crust" but I thought a shortbread tart would be yummier. (Actually I've yet to try a nut crust for a pie and should do that.) Anyway, the shortbread crust was also amazing. It was just like a shortbread cookie, with the perfect texture.

I halved the recipe and made little tartlets - if you decide to go this route make sure you don't put the dough too thick in the tartlet pans because it puffs up a lot and you won't have any room for the filling! Also - I recommend taking the crust out of the tartlet pans before filling them otherwise they might be hard to remove (which is why mine are still in their shells in the pictures!)

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Key Lime Pie
Raspberry and White Chocolate Pie
The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart
Coconut Cream Pie

Dreamsicle Tart
Adapted from Caprial's Desserts

Shortbread Crust
2 cups flour (250 g)
1/2 cup powdered (confectioner's) sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter, diced

Filling
2 1/3 cups milk
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
5 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
zest of 1 orange
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups whipped cream

Shortbread Crust
Place the flour, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. With the motor running, slowly add the butter and process until the dough forms a ball on top of the blade. Remove the dough from the food processor; if it's too soft to work with, refrigerate until it's easier to handle. Press the dough into either a buttered 10 inch tart pan or buttered mini tart shells. If using mini tart shells, make sure not to use too much dough (and/or use pie weights) otherwise the dough will puff up and you won't have much room for the filling. (The easiest way to this is to first press it into the sides of the pan, then finish with the bottom of the pan.) Refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat a standard oven to 375F. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes (check earlier if using mini tart shells); let cool completely.

Filling
To prepare the filling, place the milk in a saucepan over medium heat and bring just to a boil. Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Slowly whisk 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the hot milk into the egg mixture to temper it, or bring it up to the same temperature. Whisk in the remaining milk, pour the mixture back into the saucepan, and again cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and is very thick, about 2 minutes; remove the pan form the heat. Add the butter, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla, let sit for 2 minutes, and then stir until the butter is completely melted. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, and then pour it into the baked shell. Refrigerate until completely chilled, about 2 hours.

White Chocolate Whalers

Alright enough of that healthy stuff eh? Forget about the spinach balls I just posted about (though they were yummy too) and let's get back to the baked goods!!

I think what drew me to these cookies is that there's rice krispies in them. I was really curious as to how they would turn out. The first time I made them I used puffed brown rice (no sugar) - and while the cookies were good, they weren't quite right and they looked really weird with all these giant pieces of puffed rice sticking out. So I finally made them for a second time with rice krispies, and opted not to roll the cookies in the rice krispies this time. The cookie is definitely better with real rice krispies. Unfortunately no the rice krispies don't stay very crispy, so perhaps it's more of a novelty thing.

The flavour of the cookies however is outstanding. White chocolate + orange + soft cookie = yumyumyum. These cookies are supposed to be giant but the second time I made them I made tiny ones - so really the size is up to you. On a somewhat related note, I'm enjoying my journey through Carole Walter's Great Cookies. So far I've only made pecan tassies and these and they've both been really good.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Orange Berry Muffins
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lemon Cheesecake

White Chocolate Whalers
Adapted from Great Cookies

Makes 18 4-inch cookies (or more if you make them smaller)

If you decide to make your cookies smaller, check them around 10 minutes instead of leaving them for the recommended 16 to 18 for larger cookies.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 tbsp grated orange zest
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 large egg yolks
4 large egg whites
1 cup superfine sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups crispy rice cereal
10.5 oz white chocolate, chopped, or 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

1. Position the shelves in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Heat the oven to 325F. Line the cookie sheets with parchment or silpat.

2. Melt the butter with the orange zest over low heat. Set aside to cool to tepid.

3. Combine the flour and salt. Set aside.

4. In the large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the egg yolks and whites on medium speed until thick and lightened in colour. Add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until well blended, about 1 minute more. Slowly pour in the butter-zest mixture, then add the vanilla. Mix for 1 minute longer to combine, scraping down the bowl as needed. The mixture will thicken as it is beaten.

5. Using an oversized rubber spatula, fold in the crispy rice cereal. Strain the dry ingredients over the batter, folding gently with the rubber spatula, until just combined. Fold in the chocolate pieces.

6. Place the remaining crispy rice cereal in a flat dish (a pie plate works well). Using a #16 ice cream scoop, drop mounds of dough on the cookie sheet (6 per sheet, spacing them about 3 inches apart). Using the hell of your hand, flatten into 3 inch disks.

7. Bake 16 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. To ensure even browning, two-thirds of the way through baking rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Let rest for 10 minutes, or until firm enough to handle, before loosening with a large metal spatula. Transfer to cooling racks.

TWD: Orange Berry Muffins

Jaime from Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats invited me a few days ago to join Tuesdays With Dorie! Tuesdays with Dorie is a group of 6 people now (Jaime as mentioned, Quirky Cupcake, Sugar & Spice, Abby Sweets, Crazy Delicious and Queen of the Marginally Bright) who choose one recipe a week and all make the same thing from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. Such a great idea as I really love this cookbook and haven't made nearly enough things out of it. So this was my first week with them and we made orange berry muffins!

I wasn't sure that I was going to make them as I was trying to be healthier this week with my whole wheat blueberry muffins. But when I found out that today was a snow day and my school was closed, I had to make them! And I'm really glad I did. They're such soft, fluffy and tender muffins. And so beautiful looking too! I went all out and even buttered the muffin tin instead of using muffin cups, making for nice crispy muffin edges all around, mmm. I didn't have any buttermilk, so I used milk with a bit of vinegar and it seemed to work fine (my first time using a buttermilk substitution).

The blueberry and orange flavours were perfectly balanced and the muffins were just the right sweetness. The muffins were very easy to put together and I love that the recipe uses melted butter instead of room temperature butter, meaning you can bake them on a whim! Thanks ladies for welcoming me to your group. Go check out the others' blogs to see their yummy muffins!

Other muffins I've made:
Almond Coconut
Snickerdoodle
Lemon Poppyseed
Healthy Banana Bran
Healthy Pumpkin Banana

Orange Berry Muffins
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours (Dorie Greenspan)

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
1/2 tbsp vinegar + 3/4 cup milk, mixed (or 3/4 cup buttermilk)
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons honey
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Orange Yogurt Hotcakes

Another recipe from my favourite cookbook, Rebar. There are so many yummy sounding recipes in this cookbook (every single one actually, ex. roasted yam pierogi with smoked gouda, leeks and caraway). A good portion of them are fairly time consuming so it will take me a while to get through them all, but I will - happily munching all the way. These pancakes had a really wonderful orange flavour, and I like the use of yogurt in them. The big problem though is that they're not light and fluffy pancakes. In fact, the middle part of the pancake remains at least somewhat gooey, even when the pancake is cooked for a long time. I tried to make really thin pancakes and that didn't seem to help much. Not sure if that's just the way these pancakes are, or if there was something I could've done to make them fluffy inside. The taste is really good though so I would make them again.

I don't make pancakes very often, and I really shouldn't make them for dinner when they're the only thing that I'll be eating, but it takes eating a few pancakes to remember that and by then it's too late. Mental note to self about pancakes. Anyway, I ended up freezing a lot of these ones, and they taste really good reheated in the toaster oven.

Orange Yogurt Hotcakes
(Adapted from the Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook)
Serves 3-4

1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
zest of 1 orange, minced
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tbsp oil for cooking

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the liquid ingredients to the eggs and stir well to combine. Add the wet mix to the dry mix and gently fold them together. Put a pan on the stove and turn the heat to medium. Let the batter rest for a few minutes as your pan heats up.

Brush the pan with a light coat of oil and use a 1/3 cup measure to ladle the batter onto the pan. Cook until small bubbles appear on the uncooked surface and the edges begin to dry. Flip the cakes over and cook a few minutes more.