Orange Cream Cake - Orange #3

This recipe is from one of my cookbooks that I have to use with caution.
I like the idea of this cake and wondering how will the taste be like... with that amount of cornstarch.

Actually I used a combination of meyer lemons and orange for this cake. The meyer lemons had been with me for a very very long time and I am soooo sorry Alan, LOL. I finally used them up in this cake. I do find meyer lemons to taste similar to a sourish orange, that's why I combined them. The original recipe used orange only.

The cream in this recipe is not the usual cream. Taste pretty much like orange or lemon curd, without the eggs. And you can keep this cake in the fridge and reheat as you like in the microwave as the cream can withstand zapping and won't melt. It does taste similar to a curd made with egg yolks, but less rich. Good if you won't want to leave the whites behind

The recipe called for baking for 40 minutes, of which I doubted it will be enough as a cake with this amount of moisture takes up quite a long time to bake. So, I did it for 1 hour 15 mins of which, the skewer came out clean, but in the end, I still had a wet looking base. Maybe if the baking was split to 2 pans, it will be done in 40mins, but the recipe didn't say so. It said, 'a pan', and the cake was sliced to 2 rounds. So, if you like to try to bake this, either use 2 pans of which I highly recommend because it will also reduce the risk to crack, or bake longer than 1 hour 15 minutes. I reduced the temperature after 40 minutes as I saw my cake starting to crack.

Taste wise, the cake tasted moist and tender at room temp, and is quite a delight to eat. If you cannot finish it on the day itself, keep the cake chilled in a covered container and you can reheat each slice for 15-20 seconds in the microwave. Eating this cake cold will be a bit too firm as it contains butter, unless you enjoy eating it this way.

Orange Cream Cake
Source: Desserts by Page One

Cake
100gm butter
100gm sugar
3 egg yolks
250ml milk (I think reduce to 185ml will be better)
Zest of 2 oranges (plus some extra for garnish, if needed)

3 egg whites
50gm sugar

Sift together
50gm cornstarch
150gm plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

Cream
150ml orange juice (strained)
60-100gm sugar (taste to adjust)
25gm plain flour
40gm unsalted butter

Prepare the Cake
1. Grease the sides of a 8 inch round pan and line the base. (I recommend two shallow 8 inch pans)Preheat oven at 180C (fan off)
2. Sift flour, cornstarch and baking powder together and set aside.
3. Beat egg yolks with sugar until pale and fluffy. Add in butter and beat until smooth.
4. Put half the sifted flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until smooth.
5. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat on low speed until smooth.
6. Put in balance of the sifted flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until smooth.
7. Gradually pour in balance of milk and orange zest and beat on low speed until smooth.
8. Wash beater until no traces of oiliness is detected.
9. Beat egg whites until very foamy. Put in sugar and  beat until stiff.
10. Add in 1/4 of the  beated egg whites into the batter and with a balloon whisk, fold until no lumps  are seen. Repeat with another 1/4 of the egg whites.
11. Use a  spatula, and scrape the sides of the bowl. Fold in balance of egg whites.
12. Pour into the prepared pan, level the batter.
13. Bake at 180C for 40 minutes and lower the heat to 150C and bake for another  35 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. (of it doesn't crack, just let it go 180C all the way)
14. Let the cake  cool down in pan for 5 minutes, the sides should have detached from the pan,  then invert it onto a plate, and peel off the paper. Then invert the peeled side of the cake onto a cooling wire rack. Let the cake cool down totally.

Prepare Cream Filling
15. Combine flour and sugar together  in  a heavy based saucepan and mix until flour is free from lumps. Pour in orange juice and butter.
16. Cook the mixture on medium low heat until the mixture thickens and turns translucent.
17. Pour into a bowl and let it cool down before use.

Assembly (step 20-22 is optional)
18. Slice the cake horizontally into 2 layers.
19. Spread 80% (or all) of the filling onto one layer and top it with the other piece.
20. Sift some snow powder over the cake, as much as you prefer.
21. Put balance of orange cream into a small plastic bag, snip away one small corner.
22. Pipe orange cream over, whichever way you prefer. Sprinkle with some reserved orange zest.