Orange you done with citrus?

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. A tian is a layered dish constructed in a mold. This dessert version has fresh oranges in caramel, whole-fruit marmalade, and flavored whipped cream on a buttery crust. You can find the recipe here.

Where my rhubarbs at, I said when I saw this recipe. I’m ready for spring. I’m tired of citrus, along with nuts, chocolate, and pome fruits. I’ve squeezed my last Meyer for the season. By now the exotic imports—macadamia and coconut and coffee and bananas—are played out too. Wendy’s chocolate malted birthday cake and a toasted almond granita for Passover were the grand finale.  I’m on strike until I can ride my bike across the trestle and buy a flat of strawberries.

My spinoffs were kumquat (kumquats are either not citrus or they’re a citrus anomaly, depending on which botanist you ask) and mango. Every year around this time the Atulfo mangoes come in from Mexico. They have a school bus-yellow color, a custardy texture, and a flowery fragrance.  I made a curd to replace the marmalade but it was too subtle.  Perfect Purée’s mango puree gives a full rich flavor to curd, and from now on I’ll save the delicately flavored Atulfos for fresh use.

I candied kumquats a few times last month to eat with Greek yogurt. For the tian I diced some that were already candied and mixed them into the orange marmalade as it was cooking. It would have been better without the orange. I prefer very tart marmalade, and most North American oranges (e.g. Navels, Valencias) are just too sweet. Kumquats are ideal for marmalade because they’re  tangy with sweet peels. You don’t need to blanch them to remove bitterness from the peel, and you get that zingy sharpness like you do with marmalade from Seville oranges.

The tian was a worthy DB choice. I love contrasting textures and tastes and the look of layered pastry, if it’s not too formal.  This probably only felt stodgy to us Central Valley Princess types gazing out at our lemon trees in bloom.

I used my own formula for the pâte sablée because it has been a trusty friend for at least 15 years. It differs from this recipe in that it combines all-purpose flour with cake flour (to approximate pastry flour), uses confectioners instead of granulated sugar because it incorporates faster, and doesn’t contain baking powder because I prefer a tighter texture.

My only recommendation is to cut back on the gelatin in the cream by about 30 percent–I used about 15 percent less and mine was still a little too firm. I noticed in some of the other DBs’ pix the cream layer looked crumbly and dry as well. It’s tricky to use just enough gelatin to hold the shape of a cream/mousse/curd/custard while keeping it soft and creamy, and this process is affected by many factors–pasteurization, fat content, acidity, air, temperature, etc. I think it’s best to err on the wobbly, oozy, scoop-up-with-a-spoon side, although Alain Ducasse might not agree.

Onward and upward to spring baking!

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