Saturday 1 June 2013

Orange curd

This didn't seem too sweet....

6 egg yolks


1/2 cup sugar

1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, zest reserved

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, but into pieces

Over a double boiler whisk together the yolks, sugar and orange over low heat. Whisk continuously until the curd thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Stir in the cold butter into the curd a few pieces at a time until the butter has melted and incorporated in to the curd. Gently fold in the zest taking care to not break the curd. Cool completely to room temperature before refrigerating. It will last about a month.



Potentially gluten-free chocolate torte

225 g 70% dark chocolate


175 g unsalted butter , chopped, diced

1 tsp orange zest

100 g toasted almonds

3 T plain flour or gluten free flour

1/2 tsp salt

5 eggs

140 g sugar

Heat oven to 325 F/160 C. Oil and line a 8 inch cake pan and set aside.

Melt the chocolate and butter. Stir in the orange zest and let it steep. Meanwhile, grind the almonds as fine as you can without letting it become a paste. Add flour and salt, and transfer to a bowl.

Whisk the eggs until doubled pale and frothy. Slowly add the sugar, whisk for 1 min more. Fold in the cooled chocolate mixture until just combined. Sprinkle over half the flour mixture and fold in, then the other half. The mixture will be rather runny.

Pour into the prepare pan and bake for about 20 mins until a skewer comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool for a few minutes in tin, then turn out onto a wire rack. Wait until completely cooled before you frost with anything.