Flourless Chocolate Sponge Cake

I love the deep and bitter chocolate taste combined with the light airy chantilly cream, or with the sweet whipped milk chocolate ganache. No flour, but with a lot of eggs for sure hehehe…

Be careful when combining the wet and dry ingredients.

Flourless Chocolate Sponge 

9 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
250 g caster sugar
100 g cocoa powder
20 g cornstarch (maizena/cornflour)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius (moderate).

Shift the starch and cocoa together, about three times until fully combined. This will help the mixing process.

Beat the egg yolks with 100 g sugar until thick and creamy. The color should be very pale.

Beat the whites with the remaining sugar and cream of tartar until glossy and soft peaks form.

Mix carefully, a little at a time, the dry ingredients into the yolk mixture. Add a tablespoon or two of the whites if the batter is too thick. End the mixing process with about 1/3 of the whites. This will help to lighten up the final batter.

This recipe is actually fit two 25X30 jelly roll pan, or two 9 inch pan if you want a thicker cake. Line the pans with ungreased baking paper and bake for about 15 min.

 

Candied Oranges

Candied Oranges

You need:

some small oranges, thinly sliced, about 3-4 mm.
sugar and water
baking sheet, lined with foil or ’silpat’ mat (baking paper is not recomended)
oven, pre heated to 80-100 degrees Celcius.

Now for the simple syrup.

Boil 1 part of sugar and 1 part of water in a sauce pan (try 1/2 C sugar plus 1/2 C water, or more if you have a lot of oranges to bake).

After the sugar has dissolved, reduce the heat and let it boil for another 1-2 minutes without stirring it. Then reduce the heat to low to make it simmer verrrry gently.

Carefully put in the orange slices, try not to overlap them. If you have plenty of slices, cook in batches. Cook for about 2 minutes and then take them out, put the slices in a wire rack for a while, allowing the excess syrup to drip away…

Arrange the slices on the silpat/foil, and bake for about 1 H 30 M. The timing is just for guidance. Check the oranges at least every 20 minutes. Depends on your oven type, it is possible for the oranges to take lesser or slightly longer time to dry. Don’t let them burn.

And… Voila!

Start decorating your cakes, cheesecakes, cupcakes or whatever with this easy recipe gourmet-looking candied oranges!