Daring Bakers Challenge: Orange Tian

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Orange what? That was my first thought as well. Every Daring Bakers challenge introduces me to a new treat. Whether it’s a treat that I know well but have never made from scratch, or a treat like this month’s orange tian that I’ve never even heard of before.

Here in southern California, it’s not difficult to find fresh oranges. I can smell the fragrant orange blossoms when I walk by the small grove of orange trees downtown. The small citrus tree in my backyard is blooming and it smells heavenly. I suspect that it’s a lemon tree, but since this is my first year in my new house I have yet to find out. The farmer’s markets are stocked with crates and crates of fresh citrus. I was thrilled to be able to use some of the local bounty for this month’s challenge!

But back to my first question. As you can see above, a tian is a dish prepared with layered ingredients. It can be made hot or cold, small or large, sweet or savory. It’s all about a beautiful and fun way to showcase the ingredients.

The orange tian consists of four layers: pate sablee (another “what the heck is that?” moment for me), orange marmalade, stabilized whipped cream, and segmented oranges. I was worried after reading the challenge because the only item on the list that sounded familiar to me was whipped cream. But, hey, it’s something. I knew about segmenting an orange, but due to fears of slicing my fingers off I had never attempted it.

The best way to conquer these challenges is always to jump right in (after a week or two of nervous anticipation). I started out with the orange marmalade. The recipe called for pectin, but some of the other daring bakers mentioned that it’s not actually necessary to include pectin in the marmalade. I figured that I’d test this theory. I learned that the seeds of the oranges are rich in natural pectin, so I decided to put some orange seeds into a tea ball and boil it with the marmalade. I also substituted blood oranges for half of the oranges, since I just love the color.

After 30 minutes of boiling, the jam seemed like it was thick enough to set. Having never made jam before, this was just a guess. But it sure did set up beautifully in the fridge overnight!

The rest of the prep work went pretty smoothly, until I attempted the stabilized whipped cream. The whipped cream needs to be stabilized so that it won’t separate and become runny in the final dessert. In most cases, gelatin is used to stabilize the cream. I prefer not to use gelatin, so I decided to use agar powder.

I failed at my first attempt. I had tried to heat and dissolve the agar according to package directions, but it became lumpy when it cooled, and made the whipped cream lumpy. I did a bit more research and decided to just add the agar powder straight to the whipped cream along with the powdered sugar. This method worked better. The whipped cream came out perfectly smooth, and it seemed to hold up very well.

The epic recipe is below, including my substitutions. Give it a try if you’re looking for a challenge!

The 2010 March Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Orange Marmalade:

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 large orange, for orange slices
cold water to blanch orange slices
granulated sugar: use the same volume as the orange slices after they have been blanched

Slice the orange as thin as possible. Place the slices in a medium pot filled with cold water. Simmer the orange slices for 10 minutes. Discard the water, refill the pot, and simmer the orange slices for another 10 minutes. Repeat once more, for a total of three times.

Drain the slices and let them cool. Mince the slices by hand, or use a food processor. Measure the volume of orange slices, and use the same amount of granulated sugar. I had approximately 1 cup of minced orange.

Add the minced orange, granulated sugar, and orange juice to a medium pot. If you’d like to use pectin, add it as well. I used some of the seeds from the oranges, placed inside a tea ball, in hopes of emulating pectin.

Cook the mixture until it thickens. The recipe isn’t very specific, so I cooked mine for about 30 minutes. Let the mixture cool a bit, transfer it to a covered jar, and place in the fridge.

Pate Sablee:

2 egg yolks, room temperature
6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut the cold butter into cubes, and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and granulated sugar. Beat until the mixture turns pale.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture, blending just until the dough comes together. If the dough is too crumbly to form a ball, mix in a few drops of water.

Shape the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°. After the dough has chilled, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/4″ thick. Cut the dough into the shape of the pan you will be using to assemble the dessert. Place dough pieces on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until the dough begins to turn golden.

Orange Segments:

Cut 8 oranges into segments over a bowl, making sure to save the juice. Soak the oranges in their juice together with the caramel (recipe below) overnight.

Here’s an excellent video showing how to segment an orange:

Caramel:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Warning: boiling sugar is extremely hot! Make sure you have a bowl of ice water ready in case you get a burn.

Place the sugar and 1/4 cup of the orange juice in a pan and heat over medium heat. Once the mixture starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the remainder of the orange juice. Continue heating until the mixture just starts to boil.

Remove from heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments. Place the other half in a small bowl and refrigerate until the tian has been prepared.

Heat the sauce over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon. Drizzle it over the tian just before serving.

Stabilized Whipped Cream:

1 cup organic heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon agar powder
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon orange marmalade

Place your mixing bowl and beater in the fridge for about 20 minutes before whipping the cream.

Whip the cream with an electric mixer until the cream starts to thicken. Add the agar and powdered sugar and continue to beat until the cream is light and fluffy, forming soft peaks. Fold in the orange marmalade.

Assembling the tian:

You’ll need enough space in your freezer to fit the pan that you’ll be using for the tian.

Line your pan with waxed paper, making the paper as smooth as possible. Leave some extra paper hanging over the edges to facilitate easier removal from the pan later.

Place the orange segments on a kitchen towel to drain. Get out the marmalade, whipped cream, and pate sablee. Trim the pate sablee to match the size of the pan, in case it grew during baking.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of the pan. Place them close together, overlapping slightly, and make sure there are no gaps. This will be the top of your dessert, so arrange them as you would like the top to look.

Spoon the whipped cream over the orange slices, and gently spread it to form an even layer.

Spread a thin layer of marmalade over the pate sablee, and carefully invert it over the whipped cream so that the marmalade-covered side touches the whipped cream. Gently press to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the dessert in the freezer to set for at least 10 minutes. I let mine set for a few hours before serving, and it firmed up nicely.

When ready to serve, invert the pan over a serving plate. Hold down the waxed paper and gently remove the pan. Peel off the waxed paper and drizzle the caramel sauce over the tian.