Daring Bakers’ October Challenge

This is my first Daring Bakers’ challenge. For those who haven’t heard of the Daring Bakers, we are a group of baking fanatics from around the world who, once a month, all have to bake the same item and share our results. Group members take it in turns to set the challenge and this month Mary of Alpineberry picked Bostini Cream Pie.
I have to confess to being a little concerned when I read the recipe as I’m not a huge fan of chocolate and orange together. However, I sense this is why the DB Challenges work – you get to make something you’d ignore in a recipe book – and sometimes with surprising results.
The chiffon cakes were the most interesting part of this recipe for me; I make a lot of sponge based cakes yet had never come across chiffon cake. The mix was a particularly appealing colour; sunshine in a bowl:

This was partly because of the orange juice, but also because the only canola oil I could buy was a canola and red palm oil mix. The oil replaces butter in the recipe and the lightness comes from egg whites. Here’s my beautiful kitchenaid earning its keep:

I decided to stick to the recipe and make the cakes individually as I wasn’t sure how much extra baking time it would take to make one large cake. Plus, I think they look very cute when they’re baking. This is the mix about to go into the oven – as the recipe stated, I filled the tins almost to the top.

What I wasn’t expecting was for them to puff up quite so much. Stupid really – what else would they do with that much whipped egg white in them?

Beautiful though they looked, I was concerned that the shape wouldn’t be neat enough to pour the chocolate sauce over and get a nice smooth finish. So I tidied them up with a biscuit cutter. Much neater!

When plated up it makes a substantial dessert. I only served 5 of my 8 cakes but used all the custard and chocolate – probably very greedy but what can I say? It seemed so right at the time!

I love this photo – my ten year old nephew took a very careful spoonful out of his cake to make a good picture – he’ll be a fine Daring Baker one day! It shows the beautiful dense, but not heavy, texture of the chiffon cake and the glorious colour contrasts between the sauces and cake.

My chocolate sauce was a half and half of plain and milk chocolate to make it more child friendly. Having eaten the dessert though I don’t think it was necessary as the custard makes the chocolate creamier.
I am wondering why it has taken me until now to realise what a dream combination cold custard and hot chocolate is – how come no one has told me this before? Hurrah for the Daring Bakers!
The challenge required the chiffon cake to be flavoured orange. While I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed the delicately flavoured sponge, I have to admit that if I made this under non-challenge rules I would probably make a vanilla sponge instead but that is only because I’m a vanillaholic.

So – my first challenge met and enjoyed. Roll on November!

Bostini Cream Pie
(from Donna Scala & Kurtis Baguley of Bistro Don Giovanni and Scala's Bistro)

Makes 8 generous servings

INGREDIENTS:

Where ingredients are known by different names in the UK I’ve put this in brackets)

Custard:

3/4 cup whole milk
2 3/4 tablespoons cornstarch (cornstarch is the same as cornflour)

1 whole egg, beaten

9 egg yolks, beaten

3 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream (double or whipping cream)

1/2 vanilla bean (vanilla extract is okay)

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar

Chiffon Cake:

1 1/2 cups cake flour (If you can’t find cake flour you can make a substitute: 1 cup cake flour = plain flour and cornflour. Take a cup of plain flour and remove 2 tablespoons of it. Add 2 tablespoons of cornflour)

3/4 cup superfine sugar (caster sugar)

1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup beaten egg yolks (3 to 4 yolks)

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup egg whites (about 8 large)

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Chocolate Glaze:

8 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate

8 ounces unsalted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

To prepare the custard:

Combine the milk and cornstarch in a bowl; blend until smooth. Whisk in the whole egg and yolks, beating until smooth. Combine the cream, vanilla bean and sugar in a saucepan and carefully bring to a boil. When the mixture just boils, whisk a ladleful into the egg mixture to temper it, then whisk this back into the cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the custard and pour into 8 large custard cups. Refrigerate to chill.

To prepare the chiffon cakes:

Preheat the oven to 325°F (170 degrees, 150 degrees fan oven). Spray 8 moulds with non-stick cooking spray. You may use 7-ounce custard cups, ovenproof wide mugs or even large foil cups. Whatever you use should be the same size as the custard cups. Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the oil, egg yolks, orange juice, zest and vanilla. Stir until smooth, but do not overbeat. Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold the beaten whites into the orange batter. Fill the sprayed moulds nearly to the top with the batter. Bake approximately 25 minutes, until the cakes bounce back when lightly pressed with your fingertip. Do not overbake. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, remove the cakes from the moulds. Cover the cakes to keep them moist.

To prepare the glaze:

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place the butter in a saucepan and heat until it is just about to bubble. Remove from the heat; add the chocolate and stir to melt. Pour through a strainer and keep warm. To assemble: Cut a thin slice from the top of each cake to create a flat surface. Place a cake flat-side down on top of each custard. Cover the tops with warm chocolate glaze. Serve immediately.