Soft Chocolate Cake With Orange Creme Anglaise Recipes

Steps:

• Make the creme anglaise: Bring milk, sugar, orange zest, and a pinch of salt to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Stir, and remove from heat. Cover, and let stand 1 hour.
• Reheat milk mixture and whisk into egg yolks in a bowl; return to pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until just before mixture begins to simmer, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; cook, stirring, until mixture is thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 4 minutes. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl; refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours or up to 3 days.
• Make the cake: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 6-cup baking or gratin dish with cooking spray. In a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan filled with 2 inches simmering water, melt butter and chocolate with 1/2 teaspoon salt, whisking to combine.
• Beat eggs, egg yolks, and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until light, frothy, and thick, 6 to 8 minutes. Add chocolate mixture, beating to combine. Add flour, beating to combine.
• Transfer batter to dish; bake until set around edge but still soft in center, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for 3 minutes. Serve warm with creme anglaise.

Steps:

• To make the creme anglaise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the almonds on a baking sheet and toast until nicely browned, stirring twice, about 10 minutes; watch carefully to prevent burning. Place in a saucepan with the milk and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and let stand 15 minutes.
• Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale yellow. Bring the milk mixture back to a simmer. Whisking constantly, add the milk to the yolk mixture. Return sauce to pan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon; do not let it simmer. Strain through a fine sieve. Stir in the vanilla. Refrigerate until cold.
• To make the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch springform pan. Place chocolate, brown sugar and butter in a metal bowl over a pan of barely simmering water until melted. Mix well. Stir in egg yolks and vanilla, then almonds, flour and salt.
• Whip egg whites until firm but not dry. Stir 1/3 of the whites into chocolate mixture. Fold in remaining whites. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out only slightly wet, about 30 minutes. Cool.
• To serve, spoon sauce onto each plate and top with a slice of cake.

Steps:

• For cake: In bowl, sift together flour, five-spice powder and salt.
• Sift mixture a second time.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and extracts together at medium speed.
• Increase speed to high and continue to beat mixture until soft peaks form.
• Gradually add the sugar, beating until just before peaks are stiff.
• Egg white mixture should be glossy and smooth.
• Be careful not to over beat, or the cake will not be as tall.
• Fold half of the flour mixture into the egg white mixture with a rubber spatula.
• Then fold in the remaining flour mixture, being careful not to overwork the batter and knock the air out.
• Pour batter into ungreased 10-inch tube pan and place on the middle oven rack.
• Bake at 350°F until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.
• For Creme Anglaise: Meanwhile, in a 2-quart pan over medium-high heat, combine the half-and-half, sugar and orange peel.
• Bring the mixture to a scald (just below the boiling point), then remove from heat and set aside for the flavors to steep for 30 minutes.
• Return the pan to heat and reheat to scalding.
• Back to Cake: Remove cake from oven and let stand for a few minutes before inverting onto a rack to cool; do not remove cake from pan yet.
• Back to Sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks.
• Add a ladle full of the scalded cream mixture to the yolks to temper them, whisking immediately.
• This is important or you will end up with scrambled eggs instead of a nice sauce.
• With heat at medium, add warmed yolks to pan, whisking constantly until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes.
• (Do not allow mixture to come to a boil.) Immediately pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
• Set the bowl into a larger bowl of ice water and allow it to cool.
• When cold, stir in the orange-flavored liqueur.
• Back to cake: When cake is completely cool, turn pan over and gently run a knife around the edges to loosen cake.
• Turn cake out onto a serving plate.
• Cut cake using a serrated knife and serve each piece atop a pool of creme anglaise.