It's time for another Daring Bakers challenge. This month the challenge took advantage of the citrus fruits widely available right now. We were asked to make a Orange Tian, a dessert I have never heard of before. You start with a pate sablee topped with orange marmalade, whipped cream and segmented oranges, and served with an orange caramel sauce.
I decided to make a blood orange - kumquat marmalade, as I have just discovered to use kumquats recently. I also added a layer of génoise, because my cake rings are pretty tall, and I thought the whipped cream alone would be just too much compared to the other levels. The original recipe added gelatin to the whipped cream, which I don't find necessary. If your heavy cream has a high percentage (about 33%), it will be stable enough on its own.
The orange tian was a pretty little dessert and also quite tasty. Trough the citrus taste it was not too sweet and very refreshing. After 10 minutes in the freezer it was easy to unmold and kept its form very well. All in all it was a very good challenge.
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.
Orange Tian with Blood Orange-Kumquat Jam
makes about 6 portions
For the Pate Sablee:
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
80g granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
100g unsalted butter, ice cold, cubed
1 pinch of salt
200g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180° Celsius).
Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.
Using your cake rings or cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.
For the Génoise:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons hot water
75g sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanille extract
50g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50g corn starch
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and put your cake rings on top. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180° Celsius).
Mix the eggs with the hot water on high speed for about one minute until foamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and keep beating for 2 more minutes.
Sieve the flour together with the cornstarch into the mixture and slowly fold it in. Fill the dough into the cake rings about ¾ high and bake for about 20-25 minutes.
Let cool in the rings for a few minutes then remove them and put on a cooling rack. When the cakes are cooled cut them in half.
For the Marmalade:
makes about 5-6 glasses
125g kumquats
900g "preserving sugar" 1:1
600ml fresh pressed blood orange juice (approx. 6-7 oranges)
4cl Cointreau (orange liquor)
Wash the kumquats under hot water, cut them in thin stripes, and remove the seeds. Weigh the kumquats, put in a tall pot, and add an equal amount of the preserving sugar. Let stand over night with the cover on.
Next day press the oranges and add the juice to the kumquats. Also add the remaining 800g of preserving sugar. Bring to boil and let boil for about 5-10 minutes, until marmalade thickens. Add the cointreau at the end.
Fill the marmalade in hot rinsed jam glasses and close immediately. Turn the glasses up-side-down for about 5 minutes.
For the Orange Segments:
For this step you will need 8 oranges.
Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.
Let sit overnight together with the caramel.
For the Caramel:
200g granulated sugar
350ml orange juice
Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.
Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.
Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.
For the Whipped Cream:
200ml heavy whipping cream (minimum 33%)
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
1-2 tablespoons of the orange marmalade (see recipe above)
Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.
Assembling the Dessert:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.
Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cake/ dessert rings onto the parchment paper/silicone.
Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
Have the marmalade, whipped cream, génoise and baked circles of dough ready to use.
Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cake ring. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cake ring, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cake ring in an even layer.
Place a half of the génoise on top of each cake ring.
Place a half of the génoise on top of each cake ring.
Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. (Mine came out easily without going around with a knife) Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.
Enjoy and Guten Appetit!
