Here’s my “save”, a tangerine chiffon cake. Ever since I was little I have loved tangerines, so I decided to make the chiffon layer from RHC in a tangerine version. Unfortunately, I didn’t focus on using a non-stick springform pan, and despite being ungreased it pulled away from the sides and shrunk- a lot! But I remembered the time my chocolate chiffon fell out of the pan and how I had actually liked the squashed part better for its density/ flavor and decided to go ahead with the cake in its shrunken state. I’m glad I did, because our store is no longer stocking tangerines and it was actually quite good. Unlike genoise, which is almost tough when it bakes up short, this was still quite spongy and tender.
I made some tangerine marmalade for the filling using low-sugar pectin, and loved it. But the real star of this cake was the tangerine oil from Boyajian, it really made all the components sing. I appreciated it all the more because the zest of my fruit wasn’t that good.
The other star of this cake was the marmalade whipped cream. I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but with the homemade marmalade (amped up by the oil) it was very, very good. I’ll make it again.
I also syruped the cake with some lightly sweetened, fresh squeezed tangerine juice. Editing to say, I used 1/3 cup of juice with 1T sugar.
My mouth is watering Julie. If I close my eyes, I could almost taste the tangerine. I am so glad you were able to use your “squashed” cake, and that it tasted wonderful. What a great save! I am hoping to make my citrus cake this weekend, I just haven’t had the time to do it yet. Your cake has definitely inspired me.
I love the idea of using lightly sweetened fresh squeezed juice to moisten the cake. If you don’t mind, I would like to try that with my cake. Do you remember how much you used? I am making the golden genoise.
Thanks, everyone! I was surprised by how well it turned out, despite having shrunk down so much. I was worried that the texture would be too firm, and though it wasn’t as perfectly tender as “Rose” cakes normally are, it was still soft enough to be enjoyable.
Jenn, glad you like the piping, I love french tips for whipped cream.
Darm, there’s a piece with your name on it
Liza, thanks for the kind words. For the syrup I used about 1/3 cup juice sweetened with one tablespoon sugar. Looking forward to your genoise, hope you’re able to make it.
Julie, you are a wizard. I cannot believe you took that poor little cake in that pan and made something so beautiful (and obviously delicious) out of it!
Here are a few more pics that fit this month’s theme, all renditions of the golden almond lemon cake from RHC, paired with the vanilla bean buttercream from the golden dream wedding cake. I didn’t get a pic of the slices with the first cake, which was a teacher gift back in December, or of the whole cake with the second pic. The third I think I’ve posted before, but thought I’d throw it in here as well. It’s topped with glazed fresh blueberries.
Julie, I LOVE all these takes of the golden lemon cake in the high fluted pan. It’s absolutely gorgeous! Looks like a pie but it’s not . Did you have to make any adjustment in the recipe (leavening) for the change of pan? I might copy your idea at some point, if you don’t mind! Those fresh blueberries made me drool. Can I have a piece?
Did you have to make any adjustment in the recipe (leavening) for the change of pan?
No, but I scaled the wedding cake recipe (for the 6-9” layers) so that the leavening would be right for the 9” pans.
I might copy your idea at some point, if you don’t mind! Those fresh blueberries made me drool. Can I have a piece?
Copy away! I’d like a slice about now, too, but I made this for a friend’s birthday in August, when local blueberries were available. It may be my favorite rendition of this cake, the blueberries were nice with it.
Julie:
The all look BEAUTIFUL. I haven’t had a lot of success with Chiffon cakes…the always seem to fall out of the pan…I think I underbake slightly. This is inspiring me to give it another try
Julie, I am so proud of you. seems that your designs and flavor choices are something I would do myself. tangerine on chiffon, great! now you gave me the idea to chiffonize the many citrus we grow in Hawaii.
if passion fruit can be considered a citrus, I am entering Zach’s La Bomba, taken with passion fruit instead of blackberries.
Hector, thanks so much, praise means a lot coming from one as accomplished as you are!
Dar, the smooth shells on the two golden lemon almond cakes were both piped with a large plain tip, I used the Ateco 806 but any large or medium-large plain round tip would do. Just start with the outer edge and work your way in to the center in concentric circles. For the blueberry topped cake, there was only one row to hold the berries (it also tasted good, I was glad to have included it even though it was a small amount).
For the tangerine chiffon, I used a french tip (or petite four tip) from Matfer, PF16, but any large french tip or star tip would work. I started with the middle row, piping a line of shells, then rotated the cake 180 degrees and piped a row on either side of the first, placing the row so that the widest/rounded part of the shell fit into the narrow part of the row next to it. For that cake, the shells in the middle are lovely, but as I moved towards the edges the whipped cream became too warm and isn’t as smooth. I should have chilled the bag for a while before finishing.
