chocolate – Peach Pear Plum Cafe

With just a few tweaks I made my grandmothers chocolate pound cake with a bit of a Florida twist. Florida oranges with a delicious chocolate cake, so good. You just can’t go wrong with a chocolate cake and orange glaze. It’s sweet yet tangy all in one bite. Another refreshing recipe just for you. I’m so grateful for a grandmother who shares her recipes, and this is one for the books. The recipe book that is.

Ingredients

Pound Cake:

3 sticks of unsalted butter (room temp)

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp. cocoa powder

1 cup of gran. sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Orange Glaze:

1 tbsp. fresh orange juice

1 tsp. orange extract

1 – 2 cups of confectioners sugar

Candied Orange Peel

1 Orange

1 cup of water

1 cup whole milk

Instructions

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add in eggs one at a time and beat well after each egg.

3. Sift the rest of the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

4. Scoop and dump in sifted dry ingredients (a cup at a time) and pour in milk (1/4 cup at a time) by alternating them. Blend well after each addition.

end result of dry ingredients and milk mixing

5. Add vanilla extract and beat well.

6. Grease tube pan or bundt pan with butter (or shortening) and if you’d like, dust it with cocoa powder (or flour).

buttered pan

butter and cocoa powder on pan

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

8. Add in the blended ingredients using a spatula and bake for 70 to 75 minutes.

9. While the cake is baking, peel the skin off of an orange. Slice the peel into thin strips.

10. Heat 1 cup of water in a pot on the stove. Add in sliced orange peel and simmer for about 15 minutes.

11. Add in a little more than 3/4 cup of sugar and stir. Continue to let simmer on medium low heat until the sugar dissolves. Stir occasionally so that it stays a simple syrup instead of caramel.

12. Drain the orange peels using a metal strainer and spread the peels out onto parchment paper on a pan.

13. Sprinkle the orange peels with the remainder of the sugar.

14. When the cake is finished baking, let it stand and cool before removing it from the pan.

15. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place orange peels in the oven for one hour. The candied orange slices should be hard and dry when finished baking (set them aside for later).

16. Whip together the orange extract, orange juice and confectioners sugar until you get a nice smooth glaze that is easy to pour but thick enough to not run off the cake.

17. Cut off the end/bottom of the pound cake so that it sits perfectly on the cake stand or large dish and let it finish cooling. Then carefully drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.

18. Sprinkle candied orange peel over the top of the cake.

19. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Hope you enjoy a Florida twist on an Alabama favorite family recipe. What is your all time favorite recipe from grandma?

Katie

Thanks for sharing your delicious chocolate pound cake recipe Bigmama! I love that family recipes can be passed down from generation to generation.

I’m not big on telling some whimsical story before we get to the good stuff – the recipe. So here is, a tasty sweet treat that can be challenging to make if you don’t use the tips and tricks learned by others. Enjoy!

Chocolate Macarons with Strawberry Cheesecake Filling

Chocolate Macaron Batter

(Makes about 13 sandwiched macarons)

Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar

½ cup powdered almonds/almond meal

3 tbsp cocoa powder

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

Pinch of salt

1 tsp Cream of tartar

5 tbsp granulated sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (to make it easier you may want to use a sharpie on the back of the parchment paper to draw a one inch circle for each macaron shell) and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about ½ inch) ready.
Sift the powdered sugar, almond powder and cocoa powder (so there are no lumps) into a medium bowl and discard the larger lumps. Add cream of tartar and salt. Set to the side until step 5.
Using a mixer, beat the egg whites (if eggs were not at room temp, place eggs in glass of warm water for 2 mins) until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm peaks form, about 2 minutes.
Fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula. When the mixture is smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps).
Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1 inch circles evenly spaced one inch apart (follow the circles that you drew earlier).
Tap the baking sheet/pan a few times firmly on the countertop to flatten the macarons, and to remove the air bubbles. Allow the macarons to sit for 20 to 30 minutes until a “skin” forms and they are no longer wet when lightly touched.
Bake (one tray at a time) for 10 to 15 minutes. Once done baking, let macaron shells cool completely.
Once cooled, begin to flip and match like sized macaron shells so they are ready for the strawberry cheesecake filling.

Strawberry Cheesecake Macaron Filling

Ingredients

4 oz of strawberry cream cheese (room temp)

1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp powdered sugar

½ tsp of vanilla extract (optional)

¼ cup strawberry jam (¼ cup sugar, 5 – 8 strawberries chopped, and 1 tbsp lemon juice)

Directions

Place chopped strawberries in a pot on the stove. Smash strawberries with a masher and put stove on medium heat.
Add lemon juice, when it starts to simmer add sugar and stir until melted
Remove jam from heat and pour 1/4 cup over the cream cheese in a glass dish. Add a few drops of food coloring. After it is mixed well, place in the refrigerator until step 5 (save the rest of the strawberry jam for drizzling over the top of the macarons).
In a medium bowl, whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.
Using a rubber spatula, slowly fold in the strawberry jam cream cheese mixture.
Place blended filling in the fridge to chill for a few minutes, let cool completely before piping. While you wait for it to cool, have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2 inch – so pieces of strawberry will fit through the hole) ready.
Pipe a small amount of filling (about a ½ inch mound) on the inside of the macaron shells and then gently sandwich them together.

Macaron Decoration Options:

Dip ⅓ of the macaron into melted chocolate and then dip into crushed almonds.
Drizzle the melted chocolate over macarons and then sprinkle crushed almonds on top and lastly, add a small drop of leftover strawberry jam on the tippy top.

Let macarons stand for one day before serving, to meld the flavors (don’t worry I ate mine immediately and they were delicious). Serve macarons at room temperature, but store in the refrigerator.

Click on my YouTube video link for the visual recipe instructions:

Sweet Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons

Here are some items you can find on Amazon that were used during the making of this recipe. I will receive compensation if you click and purchase any of the follow products below:

Pipping Bags Wilton Disposable 16-Inch Decorating Bags, 12 Pack

Icing Tips Wilton 418-1703 Round Star Icing Tip Set, Large

Sifter Cuisinart Set of 3 Fine Mesh Stainless Steel Strainers

Parchment Paper Reynolds Premium Parchment Paper (Non-Stick, 75 Square Foot Roll, 2 count)

Rubber Spatulas Farberware Set of 2 Scraper Spatulas, Red

Handheld Mixer Black And Decker Hand Mixer, MX400B

Cream of TartarMcCormick Cream of Tartar, 1.5 oz

Almond Powder Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour, 16 Ounce Packages (Pack of 4)

Cocoa Powder Nestle Toll House Cocoa, 8 Ounce

This link was very helpful when learning tips and tricks to making macarons – Please check out Beth’s YouTube Video https://youtu.be/xJ636Y8N6E8