Dual Birthday Celebration

Yes, another birthday celebration. In fact it's 2 dear friends of mine in Malaysia whom share the same birth dates, haha, what are the odds to that right?! ;D But this celebration was long overdue since all of us were too busy with CNY and other important family matters. Well, better late then never right?

I was pretty excited about it and have been thinking on making a yummy birthday cake for them, i.e. Mocha Chiffon Cake. However I did not have any coffee essence or rum at hand, and due to CNY season, the bakery supply stores were not open. So I thought perhaps make something more refreshing and with the ingredients I have. *sorry gals, should have prep the ingredients way ahead!!* Anyway, I decided to make Orange Chiffon Cake with Cream Cheese White Chocolate Orange Frosting. I know...sounds very "orangy", haha!

I used the Orange Chiffon cake recipe from Prima. And since the recipe online wasn't very clear, here's the steps I took in making this cake.

Ingredients for Chiffon Cake:
120g Top Flour
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
1 large Orange
3 Egg Yolks
50 ml Corn Oil
4 Egg Whites
¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
100 g Castor Sugar
Pinch of Salt

Method:

• Mix corn oil with 50g of caster sugar. Add egg yolks into the mixture and whisk till well blend.
• Add grated orange rind and 50ml of freshly squeezed orange juice, mix well.
• Sift Top flour, salt, baking powder into the egg yolk mixture and mix till incorporated.
• Beat egg whites until foamy, add cream of tartar and the remaining 50g of caster sugar and beat till stiff peaks.
• Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease cake pan and dust with flour, knock out excess.
• Add 1/3 of the egg white to the flour mixture and gently fold in to mix. Then add the remaining egg whites in 2 patches of 1/3 and fold in gently to prevent deflating of the egg whites.
• Pour batter into prepared cake pan and baked in oven for about 30 minutes or till cake tester comes out clean.
• Let cake cool completely in cake pan. Then gently remove cake from pan and cut cake width wise and place in refrigerator till needed.
  

Ingredients for Frosting:
1/4 cup (2oz/62.5g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 lb (250g) cream cheese, room temperature
5oz (157.5g) white chocolate, melted and cooled
Juice of 1/2 an orange
1 tsp vanilla essence
Food coloring (optional)

Method:

• In a bowl, using a hand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese together on medium speed till thoroughly mixed.
• Pour melted white chocolate in and mix at low speed until fully combined.
• Beat in the orange juice and vanilla essence.
• Add desired food coloring and mix till color is uniform. (optional)
  

Assembly of Cake:
Sliced wedges of 1 orange (see picture below)

• On one of the cake slice, spread 1/4 of the frosting on it.
• Place orange wedges on top, as many as you prefer.
• Place the other cake slice on top and start to ice the cake with the remaining frosting.
  
• Leave about 4 table spoon worth of frosting for extra piping and decoration purpose if desired.

Although it's not the best tasting cake I have made for my friends so far, but I was glad they managed to finish the whole cake even after our delicious dinner @ Pasta Zanmai. ;) Thanks girls for a wonderful evening!

A snapshot of a slice of the cake before I devour it, haha. ^o^

Good Friends are like Your Favorite Warm Drink

They warm you up when you need them the most.