Orange Cake with Crème Fraiche Frosting
Jaine Mackievicz’s winning recipe on “The Julia Child Challenge”
(Including a few of my own adaptations)
Cake:
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
(1 tsp Chinese Five-Spice Powder – my addition)
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 medium navel oranges (I used three Clementines)
½ cup almond flour
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I browned mine adding an additional 1 Tbsp butter)
Frosting:
1 cup crème fraiche (I used 1 cup heavy cream and 2 Tbsp sour cream)
3/4 cup confectionery sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract (I used 1 tsp vanilla paste)
1) Center a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and lightly dust it with flour.
2) Sift together the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder and set aside.
3) Put the 1 cup sugar in a large bowl and zest the oranges on top of the sugar. Using your fingertips, rub the sugar and zest together until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Reserve two Tbsp of the zested sugar to later stabilize the egg whites
4) Squeeze the juice from the oranges and set aside.
5) Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly. (I browned and cooled mine)
6) Separate the eggs, putting the yolks in the bowl with the zested sugar and putting the whites in the bowl of a standing mixer. Use a whisk to mix the zested sugar and yolks. Add in the orange juice and whisk to combine. Add the almond flour and whisk to combine. Add the flour mixture and use a spatula to fold the mix together. Add the melted butter and fold until the batter comes together.
7) In the standing mixer, whisk the whites until they have doubled in volume. Add the reserved zested sugar, a little at a time, and continue mixing on medium-high until they have tripled in volume and form glossy, stiff peaks.
8) Using a spatula, fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter. When they are incorporated, gently fold in the remaining whites. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with the spatula.
9) Bake for 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan and then turn onto your serving platter.
10) In the standing mixer, whip the crème fraiche with the confectionery sugar and vanilla until it becomes voluminous, about three to four minutes.
11) Spoon the whipped crème fraiche on top of the cake and casually spread it so it falls to the sides. Cut the cake into deliciously large slices to serve.
