Moroccan Orange Cake

I may have mentioned before that D took a cooking camp this summer at a wonderful cooking school in Frederick, Maryland called The Cooking Studio Frederick.  The camp was called Culinary World Tour. The kids were introduced to Moroccan food as well as several other yummy cusines.  D loved the Moroccan Orange Cake.   The camp instructor put on a simple orange glaze on the cake which is probably what he really loved most.  I don't have the recipe for it but it is just powdered sugar and orange juice.  This cake is quick and easy to make and very delicious.   I squeezed my own juice but I'm sure you could also use orange juice from the grocery store.  If you are using store-bought o.j., you can also sometimes find orange zest in the baking aisle of your grocery store with the spices. 

Moroccan Orange Cake
by http://www.about.com/

Prep Time:  10 mins.
Cook Time: 40 mins.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder (WOW)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
zest from 1 or 2 oranges
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a tube pan.  If using fresh oranges, zest and juice them.
• With an electric mixer or by hand, beat together the eggs and sugar until thick.  Gradually beat in the oil.
• Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt, and then the orange juice.  Beat until smooth, and then mix in the zest and vanilla.
• Pour the batter into your prepared pan, and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake tests done.
• Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 7 to 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

The Creative Cook

Chocolate Ice Cream Duo

I tried another chocolate ice cream recipe.  This time it comes from Laurent Schott's Seven Sins of Chocolate cookbook.  I tried the Dark Chocolate Ice Cream.  I'm sure the Milk Chocolate Ice Cream is great, too.  The only thing I'll mention here is that this recipe does not include any "cognac" or vanilla.  Because of that, the ice cream gets hard pretty fast.  The alcohol content of the cognac or vanilla keeps the ice cream from freezing too hard.  Just keep that in mind.  His comments in the book say that the ice cream is best eaten just after churning and I bet that is why.  Each recipe makes about 1-1/2 pints of ice cream. 

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

5 oz. bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
5 large egg yolks
Milk Chocolate Ice Cream


3/4 cup milk chocolate, chopped
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 large egg yolks

For Each Flavor:

• Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
• Bring the milk, cream, and half the sugar to a boil in a saucepan
• Whisk the egg yolks in a heatproof bowl with the remaining sugar until the mixture lightens in color, then whisk in the boiling milk.
• Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir over low heat until it thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Strain through a wire sieve over the chopped chocolate and whisk until all the chocolate has melted.
• Refrigerate, stirring from time to time until chilled.  Churn each custard individually in an ice-cream maker.
• Transfer to airtight containers and freeze for up to 3 days.

Enjoy!

The Creative Cook