Chocolate Orange Marble Loaf Cake and a Giveaway

 

I've been trying to stay away from baking all summer (that doesn't mean I haven't had my share of ice cream however). 

But when a new cookbook arrived and I started flipping through it, my resolve quickly dissolved.

The next day I baked this cake -- one of the most delicious cakes I've had in a long time, with rich chocolate and subtle orange flavor, a tender crumb and a luscious chocolate ganache topping.

Fortunately, later in the day I was meeting some board members from an Italian cultural institution I'm part of, who offered to lend with our annual mailing. 

I lure them each year by bringing food, and they happily stuffed envelopes and slapped on stamps, sustained by this cake from Jamie Schler's new cookbook, "Orange Appeal."  Several of them took slices home too, leaving me with just enough cake to give my dad the next day.

It's definitely a cake that will make appearance after appearance in my kitchen.

The photos are beautiful too, by Ilva Beretta, who also collaborated for two years with Jamie on the blog, Plated Stories. 

Jamie now lives in Chinon, France, from which she writes the blog "Life's A Feast," and where she also runs a hotel (Hotel Diderot) -- a place I'm longing to visit at some point.

With her busy life, I don't know how she found time to write a cookbook, but it contains a plethora of recipes that include oranges in some form or other -- not unexpected for someone who grew up in Florida.

I've made my share of candied oranges, but never tried orange powder, orange sugar, or orange salt. But with Jamie's instructions from the book, they'll be on my to-do list as soon as citrus season rolls in here in the Northeast U.S.

The book contains many savory recipes as well as sweet ones, and I'm really looking forward to trying the sweet-and-sour marmalade-glazed oven baked chicken next. 

I've also got my eyes fixed on the glazed blood orange yogurt loaf cake and many others too, but they'll have to wait until I make this chocolate orange marble loaf cake again, this time for my husband to try.

After you mix the batter, it gets divided in two parts. One is for the chocolate mixture, and into the other go the orange peel and orange juice. The raw batter was so delicious I had to restrain myself from licking too much off the spatula.

I swirled the chocolate batter into the white batter using a knife.

The kitchen smells divine while it's baking. Let it rest for a few minutes before removing it form the pan.

The recipe says the chocolate glaze is optional, but for me it was an absolute necessity (especially if you're using a Lindt chocolate bar that contains orange bits).

It's a good thing I had a meeting to take this to, or I'd have eaten half the cake myself.

I did have to eat one slice before taking it to the meeting (you know, quality control and all that stuff).

Now I'd like to offer one of you a free copy of "Orange Appeal" so you can try this and all the other recipes in the book. 

Just leave a comment at the bottom of the blog post (not in email), and a way for me to contact you if your name is chosen.

Want more Ciao Chow Linda? Check out my Instagram page here to see more of what I'm cooking up each day. 

You can also connect with Ciao Chow Linda here on Facebook, here for Pinterest or  here for Twitter.

Chocolate Orange Marble Loaf Cake

From "Orange Appeal" by Jamie Schler

printable recipe here

1 3/4 cups (8 ounces/230 g) all-purpose flour

2 Tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

12 tablespoons (6 ounces/175 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 1/8 cups (225 g) granulated white sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large orange, zested

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 packed tablespoons (18 g) unsweetened cocoa powder



Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).   Butter a standard 9 x 5 x 2 1/2 inch (23 x 13 x 6 1/2 cm) or 8 cup 2 l) loaf pan; fit a piece of parchment paper in the bottom.



Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.



Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, and then beat in the oil. Beat in the flour mixture until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl.



Divide the batter evenly between 2 bowls. Beat the zest and juice into 1 portion of the batter, and the milk, vanilla and cocoa into the other portion of batter until well-blended.



Spoon large dollops of each mixture, alternating the batters, into the prepared loaf pan. Drag a skewer or a long, sharp knife blade back and forth through the batter in swirls to create a marble pattern. Smooth the surface if necessary.



Bake for 55-60 minutes, until the cake is set in the center and just barely beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cover the top of the cake loosely with a sheet of foil for the last 5-10 minutes of baking time to over over browning, if necessary.



Allow to cool in pan for about 10 minutes before sliding a knife around the edges to loosen the cake and turning it out onto a cooling rack. Remove parchment paper from the bottom, allowing the cake to cool, top side up, on the rack. 



Drizzle chocolate orange ganache over the top. (recipe below)

Chocolate Orange Ganache 

3/4 cup (3 1/2 ounces/100 g) coarsely chopped orange-infused 70 percent dark chocolate, such as Lindt Excellence Orange intense

1/2 cup (125 ml) heavy cream



Place the chocolate into a medium heatproof mixing bowl. Slowly heat the cream in a small saucepan until it comes just to the boiling point. Pour the cream immediately over the chocolate and stir until it is smooth and creamy. Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, until thickened to a drizzling consistency before spooning over the sponge cake.

Eggplant Napoleons

It's been the summer of eggplants for us, with the purple vegetable growing in abundance in our garden. 

We've been enjoying grilled eggplants as a side dish for dinner, and have taken them to take to parties in the last month too. They're delicious hot off the grill or at room temperature.

 Start by slicing the eggplants, then salting them and letting them sweat on a paper towel for an hour or so. It removes the bitterness and gets rid of some of the water too. I pat them dry, then toss them with olive oil, salt, pepper, minced garlic and an herb - usually mint, but thyme is nice here too. Grill them until they're browned on one side, then flip and brown on the other side.

We usually have more than we need for one dinner, so I gave some of them new life by making eggplant Napoleons. 

Just take a slice of the grilled eggplant, smear a little tomato sauce on top (I had fresh tomato sauce thanks to my dad's and my niece's gardens). Then place a slice of some fresh mozzarella over that and continue with two more eggplant slices until you finish with eggplant and sauce on top. Place it back on the grill for just a minute to melt the cheese, (with the lid closed) - or place it in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes until the cheese has melted.

They make a great meal all by themselves, but they're nice alongside a piece of salmon and some garden fresh green beans too.

Want more Ciao Chow Linda? Check out my Instagram page here to see more of what I'm cooking up each day. 

You can also connect with Ciao Chow Linda here on Facebook, here for Pinterest or  here for Twitter.

 

Eggplant Napoleons:

 

printable recipe here

 

grilled eggplant slices

fresh mozzarella

tomato sauce

 

 

To grill the eggplants, slice each eggplant about 1/2 " thick, then place on paper towels and salt both sides with table salt. Let the slices sit about an hour. Pat dry, then toss with some olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped mint (or thyme).

Place on the grill and grill until each side has browned. Then in a heatproof pan, or aluminum foil pan, place a slice of eggplant, a slathering of tomato sauce, and a slice of fresh mozzarellla. Top with another slice of eggplant, more sauce and another slice of mozzarella. Finish with a final slice of eggplant and more tomato sauce. Place the Napoleons back on the grill (put them on a tin-foil pan first), close the lid and cook until the cheese melts - another five minutes or less. Alternately, put the Napoleons in a 350 degree oven for about five minutes.

 

Summer Veggie Pizza

There are so many reasons I love summer, including the delicious sweet corn that grows prolifically here in New Jersey. We've been eating it at least once a week, just boiled in water for three or four minutes. 

With one of the leftover ears, I was inspired to make a summer pizza using more terrific Jersey produce - (we are the "Garden State" after all!) after seeing something similar on my friend Stacey's blog. 

The first time I tried it, I also added some zucchini and a bit of anchovy - just enough to give it a zing. 

I can just hear those of you who are anchovy averse turning off at this point. But wait - the second time I made it, I added small cherry tomatoes and pancetta in addition to the corn and zucchini. In both cases, I used fresh oregano and basil (and mozzarella cheese of course).

For all you vegetarians, you can skip the anchovies or the pancetta and it will still be delicious, provided you have sweet corn in season.

Although I used a perforated pizza pan to bake the pizzas at a high temperature, the bottom crust just wasn't getting browned enough. So after about 12 minutes at 475 degrees, I slipped the pizza off the pan and slid it directly onto the lowest of the oven's wire racks for a few more minutes. Keep a close eye on it so it doesn't burn on the bottom.

It worked beautifully and created a crispy, crunchy bottom crust, without burning the toppings.

So take your pick and choose either surf (anchovies):

or turf (pancetta). In either case, you'll want to try this corn pizza while fresh corn is at its peak.

Want more Ciao Chow Linda? Check out my Instagram page here to see more of what I'm cooking up each day. 

You can also connect with Ciao Chow Linda here on Facebook, here for Pinterest or  here for Twitter.

 

Summer Veggie Pizza

printed recipe here   

 

pizza dough (your own recipe or store-bought)

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (or several balls of fresh mozzarella, sliced)

1 ear of corn, kernels scraped (either raw or leftover boiled)

1 small zucchini (or half of a large zucchini), sliced thinly and salted

either - 2 anchovies in oil or 6 thin slices of pancetta, fried until crispy 

8-10 red or yellow cherry tomatoes, cut in half

fresh basil

fresh oregano

black pepper 

olive oil 

 

Whether using your own homemade dough, or store-purchased dough, put it in a bowl smeared with oil and let it come to room temperature and rest for about an hour. Punch it down and spread it out over a large perforated pizza pan. 

Scatter the mozzarella over the dough, then place the zucchini and corn kernels and/or cherry tomatoes on top .

If using anchovies, lay them in a few places across the pizza. Do the same if using the pancetta.

Sprinkle with the fresh herbs and black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Bake at 475 degrees for 10-12 minutes. If the dough is not browning on the bottom, slide the pizza from the pan directly onto the lowest rack of the oven. Let it bake for another 3-5 minutes, checking to make sure it doesn't burn.