Brown butter & orange cakes

Method

Orange Compote

1. Cut the oranges into quarters and remove the segments from the peel.

2. Cut the segments into chunks and add the required amount into a saucepan.

• • 330g Orange Segments

3. Cut the peels into small chunks and add this into the pan.

• • 80g Orange Peel

4. Place it onto a medium heat.

5. Meanwhile, whisk together the sugar and pectin and set it aside.

• • 100g Caster/White Sugar
  • 5g Pectin NH

6. Cook the orange mixture for about 3-5 minutes, until the segments have started to break down. 

7. Whisk in the sugar mixture and cook it for a further 1-2 minutes, ensuring it reaches a boil.

8. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.

• • 5g Lemon Juice

9. Pour the entire mixture into a large food processor and blend briefly.

10. Pass the mixture through a sieve, onto a baking tray, scraping the bottom of the sieve to catch all of the compote.

11. Press a sheet of clingfilm on the surface and chill for 2-3 hours or overnight. 

55% Chocolate Cremeux

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and add this into a tall measuring jug.

• • 200g 55% Dark Chocolate

2. Into a medium bowl, add the cream, milk and eggs. Place this over a pan of gently simmering water.

• • 120g Whole Eggs
  • 150g Whole Milk
  • 150g Double/Heavy Cream

3. Whisk the mixture constantly until it reaches around 82C/179F on a digital thermometer. 

4. Immediately remove it from the heat and pass it through a sieve, over the chocolate. 

5. Let it sit for 2 minutes, then blend with a hand blender until smooth. Add in a big pinch of the flaked sea salt and stir it through.

• • Flaked Sea Salt

6. Pour the mixture onto a baking tray and cover the surface with cling film. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours until it is a more pipeable consistency. If chilled for longer, it might need to sit at room temperature to warm up slightly before being used.

Brown Butter Sponge

1. Preheat your oven to 190C/375F non-fan assisted. Lightly grease a 39x27cm baking tray and line it with parchment paper. Set this to one side.

2. Place the butter into a saucepan and melt it over a medium heat. Cook it for 3-5 minutes, whisking occasionally until it reaches a deep nutty colour and smells very fragrant.

• • 120g Unsalted Butter

3. Immediately remove it from the heat, and pour it into a clean bowl, set on a tared scale. Take the weight of butter and add whisk in enough warm water to bring the weight back up to 120g. It will be roughly 20-30g of warm water. Don’t use cold water or it will cause chunks of the butter to solidify. Allow this to cool for 10 minutes. 

4. In a large bowl, add the sugar and massage through the orange zest for a minute with your fingertips.  

• • 205g Caster/Superfine Sugar
  • 4g Orange Zest

5. Sift in the remaining dry ingredients and whisk to combine.

• • 2g Fine Sea Salt
  • 205g Cake or Plain/All-Purpose Flour
  • 13g Baking Powder

6. In a separate jug, whisk together the eggs, oil & milk. Then, while whisking the dry ingredients, pour in the wet mixture. Mix everything until the wet & dry ingredients are evenly combined, scraping down the bowl to ensure everything is mixed in. Be careful not to overbeat the mixture. 

• • 205g Whole Eggs
  • 95g Vegetable Oil
  • 70g Whole Milk

7. Finally, pour in the cooled brown butter and mix the batter slowly until everything is evenly combined. 

8. Pour the cake batter into the lined tray, and bake in the centre of the oven. Bake for around 20 minutes, or until the sponge is an even golden brown colour.

9. Remove the sponge from the oven and allow it to cool for 30 minutes.

Assembly Part 1

1. Flip it out of the tray and onto a large piece of parchment or a silicon mat.

2. Cut the sponge into 3 even rectangles using a sharp serrated knife. You can probably get 4 rectangles, but I prefer to do 3 smaller rectangles and keep the rest to snack on, otherwise the cake is too tall. 

3. Lift the sponges onto a baking tray lined with parchment.

4. Remove the chocolate cremeux from the fridge and add it into a piping bag. It should be a nice pipeable texture.

5. On two of the sponges, pipe a border of the cremeux, then pipe two parallel lines down the centre, leaving two gaps for the compote.

6. Remove the compote from the fridge and add this into a piping bag.

7. Fill the gaps with the compote. The cremeux will act as a border to keep the compote in place. Place the sponges into the freezer for 30 minutes so the cremeux firms up slightly so that it has more strength once you stack it.

8. Once chilled, stack the filled sponges, then top with the final unfilled sponge, golden side up. Fill in any gaps where the sponges have been stacked with the remaining cremeux, using a palette knife to smooth it. Place the entire cake back in the freezer while you make the meringue. 

Orange Blossom Meringue

1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites and whisk on a medium low speed.

• • 125g Egg Whites

2. Meanwhile, add the water and sugar to a small saucepan and place it over a medium heat.

• • 80g Water
  • 345g Caster/White Sugar

3. Continue to cook the sugar syrup until it reaches 118C/244F on a digital thermometer. Immediately remove it from the heat and slowly pour it over the whisking egg whites (increase to medium speed), which at this point, should be foamy.

4. Once you have added all of the sugar syrup, whisk on medium high speed for 5-7 minutes, or until the meringue is stiff and the bowl is cool to the touch.

5. Finally, add in the orange blossom and fresh vanilla beans, and whisk to incorporate. Taste it to see if you want more orange blossom.

• • ½ Tsp Orange Blossom
  • Beans From ½ Fresh Vanilla Pod

6. Add the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a 789 basket weave nozzle.

7. Remove the cake from the freezer and lift it onto a tray with two ring molds underneath (or anything to prop it up).

8. Pipe the meringue in a wavy pattern all over the cake so that it is completely covered.

9. Finally, blow torch the meringue to finish. Carefully lift it off of the ring molds with a large palette knife and onto your serving plate. Allow it to come to room temperature for 30-60 minutes before serving.