mandarin – Sweet Tooth Experiments

Mandarin and Curd Lamingtons

Posted on January 13, 2018 Posted in Cakes .

Mandarin and Curd Lamingtons


I recently made a trifle that featured an orange curd and though the trifle was nothing special I really quite enjoyed the curd and idea of a curd that was not a standard lemon. On top of this I saw a recipe for lamingtons where instead of milk chocolate they used white, in which I though was interesting and got me thinking of lamingtons with no chocolate at all (very taboo of my Australian heritage I know).

As I wanted to do some lamington experimenting outside of chocolate and also wanted to make another fruit flavored curd I decided to combine both of these experimental baking sessions into one.



The experiment for the day; a Grapefruit curd lamingtons and a Mandarin curd lamington.









The curd would replace the jam component of the lamington as well as provide a solid flavour boost then incorporated into the sponge batter as well as the icing that holds the coconut in place.

As grapefruit is such a strong and zingy taste it was a bit too overwhelming in this instance, but the mandarin lamington was absolutely delicious and addictive, thus has made it to this website.

Ingredients:

Curd:

2 eggs
2 egg yolks
160g sugar
2 mandarins (you will need 2 tsn zest and 160ml juice)
80g butter

Cake:

150g butter
220g sugar
2 eggs
200g self raising flour
20g corn flour
300g sour cream
40g desiccated coconut
160g mandarin curd (as made earlier)
3 mandarins (you will need 1+ 1/2 tbsn zest and 160ml juice, 100ml juice kept aside for the icing)

Icing:

350g icing sugar
50g mandarin curd (as made earlier)
20g butter
100ml mandarin juice (left over from earlier)

Extra:

200g shredded coconut
50g mandarin curd (as made earlier)

Method:

Place the 2 eggs and the 2 yolks into a bowl with the sugar and whisk with a hand whisk until the mix becomes light and airy.
Zest and juice the 2 mandarins and pour into the egg mix, whisk until just combine.
Pour the egg mix into a saucepan along with the butter on a low heat and continuously whisk with a hand whisk until the mix thickens to a custard like consistencies and thickness.
Leave the curd aside to cool completely (this recipe will yield 360ml of curd).
Meanwhile, make the cake by pre-heating the oven to 180c degrees and line a 20cm x 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
Whisk the butter and sugar in a bowl with electric beaters for 5 minutes of until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between each addition until fluffy and silky.
Sieve the flours into the egg mix, then add in the sour cream, coconut and mandarin curd.
Lastly zest and juice the 2 mandarins, placing all the zest and 60ml of the juice into the egg mix.
Fold the ingredients with a spatula until half combined.
Whisk the mix with electric beaters on low until only just combine.
Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.
Lastly make the icing by placing all the icing ingredients including the 100ml of juice saved from earlier into a saucepan on medium.
Whisking the icing with a hand whisk until the sugar is dissolved and the mix is smooth and glossy.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer into a deep bowl, leave aside until at room temperature.
To assemble the lamingtons pour the extra coconut into a bowl.
Cut the cooled cake into 16 even square pieces.
Cut the squares in half horizontally and top the bottom pieces with the extra 50g of curd.
Place the top lamington piece on top of the curd, sandwiching the lamington in place.
Softly place a lamington on a folk and dip the folk into the icing mix until the lamington is completely covered in icing.
Allow excess icing to drip off the lamington then drop the lamington gently into the bowl of coconut.
Use a spoon to ensure the lamington is completely covered in coconut and place the lamington on a plate.
Repeat the icing and coconut steps with the remaining 15 lamingtons.
Leave the laminations in the fridge for 30 minutes to completely set, then enjoying!


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Mixed Bag Truffles

Posted on September 9, 2017 Posted in Truffles .

Mixed Bag Truffles

I do love a good chocolate truffle and after eating some the other day I thought that the truffle base ingredients of chocolate and cream leave open a massive opportunity to play with different flavor combos into the plain chocolate mix.

As truffles are super easy to make and the variety of flavor combos and alternative ingredients to use are endless I went experimenting craziness.

Jelly crystals, oils, essences, lollies, candy, zest, dried fruit, jams, purees, cordial, spreads…basically anything I could think of that would add a unique flavor I tried and tested in a standard truffle recipe.

Out of the many many truffle recipes I made up, 3 were significant standouts. These being Peppermint, Mandarin and Pineapple Coconut flavors.

My easy, quick and super tasty recipes below 🙂

Ingredients:

Peppermint Truffles:

1/8 tsn peppermint oil
30ml thickened cream
125g white chocolate

Mandarin Truffles:

½ tsn mandarin zest
30ml thickened cream
125g white chocolate

Tic-Tac Truffles:

34g Tic-tac’s (pineapple coconut flavor)
40ml thickened cream
90g white chocolate

Extra:

35g desiccated coconut
35g orange sprinkles
35g green sprinkles

Method:

To make the peppermint truffles place the ingredients into a bowl and heat on medium in the microwave for 90 seconds or until the cream just starts to steam.
Allow mix to sit for 2 minutes then stir until well combined and smooth, place in the fridge to set for 3 hours.
To make the mandarin truffles zest a whole mandarin until you get ½ tsn in volume.
Add the mandarin zest, cream and chocolate into a bowl and heat on medium in the microwave for 90 seconds or until the cream just starts to steam.
Allow mix to sit for 2 minutes then stir until well combined and smooth, place in the fridge to set for 3 hours.
To make the tic-tac truffles, place the box of tic-tacs into a saucepan on medium heat with the cream and using the back of a metal spoon squash and breakup the tic-tacs into the cream.
Stir the tic-tac mix until all the tic-tacs have disintegrated and combine with the cream.
Add the chocolate and stir until the mix is smooth and well combine.
Place the mix into a small bowl and into the fridge for 3 hours to set.
Meanwhile place the desiccated coconut into a bowl, the orange sprinkles into a 2nd bowl and the green sprinkles into a 3rd bowl.
Once the mixes are firm scoop out a 15g piece of peppermint mix, rolling in your palms to create the truffle ball.
Place the truffle ball in the green sprinkle bowl and shake the bowl to coat the ball in sprinkles completely. Place onto a clean plate.
Continue with all the peppermint truffle mix and sprinkles.
Scoop out a 15g piece of the mandarin mix rolling in your palms to create a truffle ball.
Place the truffle ball in the orange sprinkle bowl and shake the bowl to coat the ball in sprinkles completely. Place onto a clean plate.
Continue with all the mandarin truffle mix and sprinkles.
Lastly, scoop out a 15g piece of the tic-tac mix rolling in your palms to create a truffle ball.
Place the truffle ball in the coconut bowl and shake the bowl to coat the ball in coconut completely. Place onto a clean plate.
Continue with all tic-tac truffle mix and coconut.
Place the plates in the fridge until ready to serve by arranging neatly on a plate or as desired. Enjoy!

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NOTE: If you don’t have green sprinkles you can blitz icing sugar and green food coloring in a food processor and roll the balls into the mix.

Mixed Bag Truffles recipe

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Mandarin Cupcakes

Posted on November 13, 2016 Posted in Cupcakes .

I’m not really a big fan of mandarins, they are ok but I’d much prefer an orange over mandarins any day. However as this fruit is not common in baking I of course had to create a recipe that not only included this fruit as an ingredient but “heroed” the fruit and had to tasted bloody delicious. For this reason this recipe makes it to my blog – I was super surprised at how amazingly tasty these cupcakes are.

Ingredients:

180g butter
1 cup white sugar
1 tsn vanilla essence
2 mandarins (2 zest and juice)
3 eggs
2 cups self raising four
¾ cup yoghurt

Icing:

250g cream cheese
2 + 1/3 cups icing sugar
1 mandarin (zest for icing and segments for decoration)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180c degrees and line a 16 hole cupcake pan with patty cases.
Beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla and zest until pale and smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time.
Squeeze the 2 mandarins with a juicer for the juice.
Fold through the flour, yoghurt and juice until the batter is well combined.
Spoon batter into cupcake patties until 2/3 full.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool on cooling tray.
To make the icing beat together ingredients for 5 minutes until smooth and creamy .
Pipe icing on top of the cupcakes and top with half a mandarin segment.

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Mandarin and Rosemary Cake

Posted on March 23, 2015 Posted in Cakes .

Mandarin and Rosemary Cake

Though it sounds bazaar to have a cake featuring a pairing of 2 conflicting flavors and textures this cake surprises and delights.

I do have to admit I was a little skeptical as to if this would turn out to be a successful flavour combo. I knew this experiment of flavours would be interesting, but you don’t know how successful a made up flavour combo will pair until you actually create the cake and taste.

Why this was so surprising, the favors blended together and created the most amazing flavour. The rosemary seems to add a salty but sweet twist, while the mandarin provides the freshness and citrus flavour foundation.

Definitely a new favorite sweet treat!

Ingredients:

Cake:

170g butter
140g sugar
300g cake flour
2 tsn dried rosemary
1 tbsn mandarin zest
1 tsn vanilla essence
2 tbsn mandarin juice
170g milk
6 eggs
Pinch cream of tartar
Pinch salt
40g sugar

Icing:

160g butter
4 cups icing sugar
4 tbsn mandarin juice
2 tsn mandarin zest
2 tsn dried rosemary

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 175c degrees and line a 23cm cake tin with baking paper.
Using electric beaters whisk the sugar and butter for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
Add the flour, rosemary, zest, essence, juice and milk to the butter mix.
Beat until the mix is creamy and fluffy.
In another bowl beat the eggwhites until soft peaks form.
Add the salt, tartar and sugar to the eggwhite mix and beat until peaks form.
Fold a quarter of the eggwhite mix into the batter to loosen the batter up.
Fold the remaining eggwhites into the mix.
Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Leave the cake in the tin for 10 minutes to cool, then place on a cooling rack until cold.
To make the icing beat the butter and icing sugar with electric beaters until creamy and smooth.
Add the juice, zest and rosemary to the mix and beat until well combine.
Cut the cooled cake in half horizontally.
Place 1 cake half on a plate, spread with 1/3^rd of the icing.
Place the 2^nd cake half on top of the icing then spread the remainder of the icing on the sides and top of the cake.
Enjoy!

Note:

I used 4 mandarins for this recipe.

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Mandarin and Polenta Syrup Cake

Posted on October 13, 2014 Posted in Cakes .

Mandarin and Polenta Syrup Cake

Mandarins at the moment are so moorish, just asking me to bake something with them!

After making the Semolina and Orange Blossom Cake a few weeks back I decided to take inspiration from the earthy influence and create a new recipe with a similar texture using another unusual base ingredient.

Polenta is quite similar to semolina that is derived from corn instead of wheat with comparable denseness and unique texture (therefore making it gluten free).

For flavour I decided to take advantage if the juicy and sweet mandarins which brought me to the end result of a Polenta and Mandarin Syrup Cake.

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 mandarins
85g polenta
60g almond meal
½ tsn baking powder
3 eggs
110g sugar

Syrup:

125g sugar
1 tbsn + 1 tsn water
200ml mandarin juice (approx. 4 mandarins, juiced)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c and line a 20cm spring form baking cake tin with baking paper.
Place the mandarins in a small saucepan. Fill with water until the mandarins are covered and bring to the boil.
Boil on high for 30 minutes or until they are very very soft.
Remove from the saucepan and place, skin and all into a food processor and process until pureed with no lumps.
Place the polenta, almond meal and baking powder in a bowl and stir until combined.
With electric beaters beat the eggs and sugar for 10 minutes or until mix is thick, pale and tripled in size.
Fold very carefully half the polenta and puree mandarins, then add in the remainder of both the polenta and puree very carefully until combine.
Pour the mix into the cake tin and place in the oven for 40 minutes of until a skew comes out clean.
While the cake is cooking make the syrup by placing the water and sugar in a saucepan on high, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, then leave on medium for 8 minutes or until the syrup just started to caramelize and goes rich in colour. Swirl the pan every few minutes to stop the sugar crystals forming on the sides of the pan.
Now very careful not to burn yourself pour the mandarin syrup into the saucepan and using a whisk stir until the mix is combine, smooth and silky.
Using the cake skewer pierce the cake about 20 times to place little holes.
Now with a spoon pour the syrup over the cake evenly. Swirl the tin to make sure no syrup sits in the middle of the cake and leave to cool.
Once cooled take out of the tin and enjoy.

Notes: You can serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

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Multi-layer citrus cake

Posted on August 18, 2014 Posted in Cakes .

Multi-layer citrus cake

I have absolutely no idea where this recipe came from and what possessed me to go crazy experimenting with variations of citrus fruits in a cake.

I had been investigating to find the best possible buttercake recipe to be able to use as a base for some of my recipe experiments and after finally creating a recipe that I though was amazing I started to think of ingredients I could add.

As mentioned above I don’t know what made me think Citrus, however, I was on a run and came up with the concept of creating heaps of different citrus fruit layers for a cake using only zest and seeing what the taste outcome would be.

I did try many different layers, tangerine, lime, lemon, mandarin, orange, grapefruit and clementines. The outcome orange, lemon, mandarin and lime are the tastiest combination that packs a flavour punch in every bite!

Ingredients:

Cake:

260g butter
2 cups sugar
 4 eggs
1 + ½ cup cake flour
1 + ½ cup plain flour
1 tsn baking powder
½ tsn bicarbonate soda
1 cup milk
1 tsn vanilla essence
1 lime (you will need 2 tsn of zest)
1 mandarin (you will need 2 tsn of zest)
1 lemon (you will need 2 tsn of zest)
1 orange (you will need 2 tsn of zest)
Green, yellow and orange food coloring (optional)

Icing:

270g butter
3 cups icing sugar
1 tbsn milk

Method:

Grease and line 2 x 24cm cake tins and pre-heat the oven to175c.
Using electric beaters, cream butter and sugar for 5 mins until creamy and smooth.
Add eggs one at a time beating between each addition.
Sift in the flours, powder and soda. Add the milk and vanilla beat on slow until just combined (do not over beat).
Divide the batter equally into 4 bowls.
Add the lemon zest and yellow food coloring to one. Lime zest and green coloring to another bowl. Add mandarin zest and orange to another bowl and the orange zest to the last.
Pour 2 bowls batter into 2 tins and bake for 15mins until a skewer inserted come out clean.
Cool in the pan for 5 mins then place on a cooling rack.
Using the same tins pour the last 2 batters into the tins and bake for 15 mins.
Cool in ban for 5 mins then place on a cooling rack.
To make the icing beat the butter, sugar and milk for 10mins until fluffy and creamy.
Once the cakes are cooled place the orange layer onto a plate and spread a layer of icing on top. Add the lemon layer and top with icing. Add the mandarin layer and top with icing then the lime layer. Top with icing and using the remainder of the icing spread around the sides of the cake.

Notes:

I have made my site’s butter cream icing, however just tripled the quality.

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Sweet Tooth Experiments

Tag Archives: mandarin

Mandarin and Curd Lamingtons

Mixed Bag Truffles

Mandarin Cupcakes

Mandarin and Rosemary Cake

Mandarin and Polenta Syrup Cake

Multi-layer citrus cake

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