Blue and Yellow Kitchen

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Peaches and Cream Torte



This is a recipe I got from Dorothy Ferreria's first cookbook. It is the cake I make when I'm craving for something light, fruity and refreshing. The house is filled with the scent or fresh oranges after I take the cake out of the oven. I only wish I had doubled the recipe for the frosting, since I wanted more fillings between the cake layers. The cream cheese in the frosting adds zing to the cake. The slightly salty but creamy flavor of the cream cheese goes so well with the orange cake layers. I think you can also substitute mangoes for the peaches. I haven't tried it yet, but will post it when I do.

Ingredients:

Orange chiffon cake:

1 cup plus 2 T sifted cake flour
1/2 c granulated white sugar for egg yolks
1 1/2 t sifted baking powder
1/4 c corn oil
3 egg yolks
1/2 t pure orange extract
1/3 c water
1/2 t fine salt
1/2 c egg whites
1/4 t cream of tartar
1/4 c granulated white sugar for egg whites

Frosting:
1/2 of a 225 gram bar cream cheese
1 cup whipping cream
1/3 c sifted powdered sugar
1/2 of an 822 gram-can sliced peaches in heavy syrup

Garnishing:
finely chopped walnuts
white chocolate leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of an 8 inch round cake pan, 3 inches high, with wax paper. Set aside.

2. In a bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, corn oil, egg yolks, flavoring, water and salt. Beat with a wire whisk until smooth.

3. In another mixing bowl, pour in the egg whites and the cream of tartar. Beat with an electric mixer until frothy. Gradually add the remaining sugar while continuing to beat at medium speed. After adding all of the sugar, increase the speed of the mixer to the highest speed and continue to beat the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry.

4. Carefully fold the egg yolk mixture into the beaten egg whites. Pour the batter onto the prepared baking pan and bake for at least 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

5. Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes in a wire rack in an upside down position. Unmold the cake from the pan and position it right side up n a cooling rack to cool completely.

6. To prepare the frosting, in a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. So as not to overwork you mixer, make sure that the cream cheese is at room temperature before beating. Add the cream and the sugar and increase the speed of the mixer. Beat until it thickens and doubles in volume. (I learned from school that paddles are used for beating cream cheese and butter, while whisks are for eggs and cream. In this case, I switched from paddle to whisk before whipping the cream.)

7. Divide the cake horizontally into 3 or 4 equal layers, depending on how skilled you are with a finely serrated cake knife. Slice the peaches as thinly as possible. Spread some prepared frosting over the first layer of the cake. Top with sliced peaches. Place the second layer of cake over the first layer and again spread some prepared frosting and top with peaches. Continue in the same manner until all cake layers have been utilized.

8. Completely cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Garnish the top surface of the cake with more peaches. Garnish the sides with finely chopped walnuts and white choclate leaves. Pipe out some frosting in the lower edge of the iced cake, if desired, for a dressed up look.

9. To prepare the white chocolate leaves, melt about 100 grams of white chocolate over low heat in a thick saucepan. Using a butter knife or metal spatula, spread some melted chocolate in the underside of washed and dried leaves such as rose, alugbati and dayap. Arrange the leaves in a plate and freeze briefly to set. Apply another coat of melted chocolate and freeze until the chocolates lose their sheen. Carefully peel off the real leaf from the chocolate leaf and use immediately for garnishing.

**SM's home department sells this gadget which helps me divide my cakes into horizontal layers beautifully. They come cheap (at less than P300 I think.

Happy eating!!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home