I’m happy to be the one to start February Bake-Off thread. This is True Orange Genoise from RHC. I had some challenges making this cake. For one thing, the genoise turn out to be only 1 inch tall. I only made 1/2 the recipe (baked in an 6-inch pan) but I don’t think this is the cause of the flop because some other RHC bakers also have similar issue. I used Navel oranges b/c I couldn’t find Seville. My challenge came when making the ganache. I’ve always had challenges with ganache. I made 2/3 of the recipe and it was just enough to frost the cake and there’s nothing left to drizzle on the cake - I made 1/5 of the recipe and it didn’t turn out - it starts looking oily and odd. I was starting to feel sad when I remembered Annie’s advice last month of adding some cream to it. So I did and I saved the ganache. This was the highlight of my day! I’m still smiling from ear to ear now as I’m typing this. Thanks Annie for the tips!
You can check out my complete post here on my blog:
http://knittybaker.blogspot.com/2010/02/true-orange-genoise.html

It looks good to me…I want a slice.

It looks REALLY nice, Jenn!  Send a slice over please!!!!

Beautiful cake, Jenn!  And great save on the ganache, congratulations on both counts.  What did you think of the naval orange version? 

I also have had issues with Wondra genoise, I find it’s trickier to fold and with less room for error/ deflates more quickly than the flour/cornstarch version.  According to Bill, the wondra version does bake up shorter, mine was 1 3/8” high before removing crusts, versus 1 3/4” high with the flour/cornstarch. 

I have a blood orange charlotte coming up that also uses Wondra, I’ll post in a few days when I also have my Valentine’s cake ready.

I think it looks delicious…and I love when something goes wrong and then I save it…it is a great feeling!  Congrats!

Thanks CRenee, Julie, and Bill!
Julie - I’ve never used Seville oranges so I don’t have anything to compare too - but it sounds like it’s very tart and potently orange. The navel orange curd taste really good right after I made it, but once it’s inside the cake (eaten the next day) the orange flavor disappear a bit. Only then I realized that I had forgotten to reduce the orange juice (Rose put it on a note at the end of the recipe). The cake is still really good. For me I wish it has more orange taste. But my other half said that it’s excellent! So I guess the conclusion is: Rose’s recipe is excellent! 

Jenn, congrats for your beautiful genoise.
It will be my first cake from RHC when it arrives. Cause I just adore orange and chocolate.
And yours seems to have come out of the book!!

The cake looks great Jenn, you did a nice job.  Orange and chocolate is so yummy, but then again, I like chocolate with just about anything.

I have’t made this cake yet, but made the orange curd today, I’m going to use it to flavor some mouseline.  We never did find Seville oranges out in the nether lands (South Dakota), so I just got what ever they had, and reduced the juice.  I completely forgot about adding the zest, and used all the orange peel for ‘orange roses’ so I just put a drop of Boyajian’s orange oil to improve the flavor.

Jenn, it looks gorgeous and very tasty!!!!

Great job, and I’m happy to see it’s more citrus than chocolate since I was lobbying for citrus How did the Navel oranges work out?

Your cake looks so YUMMY Jenn! I’m glad the ganache worked out.

This is my contribution.

http://heavenlycakesenjoyedonearth.blogspot.com/2010/02/true-orange-genoise.html

Rozanne - 10 February 2010 10:42 AM

This is my contribution.

http://heavenlycakesenjoyedonearth.blogspot.com/2010/02/true-orange-genoise.html

Well I think you children did a fine job.

Thank you CRenee   I’ll tell them. They’ll be excited with the feedback.

LOL - I looked at it and thought it was a very creative decoration, that’s the style I do when everything else doesn’t want to come together! Isn’t the cake great?

I made ‘practice’ cakes for my daughters wedding, and three of them were in the citrus/chocolate theme.  I made 6” cakes for all four, but the themed cakes would be the Grand Marnier, the Chocolate Passion and the Golden Wedding Cake.  All the cakes were delicious, with the Chocolate Passion being the favorite.  That is such a good recipe, and we’ll use it for the Grooms Cake.  For the wedding cake, it will be a combination of the lemon cake, with cakes with and without lemon flavoring, and mousseline buttercream.  I did make both orange and lemon curd using them to add to the torted layers of the lemon cake, and the orange I mixed with mousseline and filled the GM cake.