Saturday, March 27, 2010

Daring Bakers March 2010 - Orange Tian


Orange Tian slice
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.
I would like to give myself the award for Officially Not Procrastinating For Once on the Daring Bakers Challenge, as I had this done the first week of March! The 2010 March Daring Baker’s 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.

From what I understand, a tian can be sweet or savory, and is probably what you are having in a nicer restaurant if it looks like the layers of something were in a ring before you get it. I didn't have enough smaller rings or cookie cutters, so I made it all as one dessert in a springform pan.

Orange Tian from Above
The recipe calls for oranges, and I used a combination of navel and cara cara (also a kind of navel, but pinker in color). The combination was unintentionally striking on the top layer! It looks like grapefruit, but was all sweet and orangey.

Orange Marmalade
My favorite part of this recipe was the chance to make orange marmalade, which I hadn't done before. Of course, the directions said to cook until it reached jam consistency, rather than giving me a number of minutes, and I thought it meant until it was jammy and still HOT. So I ended up scorching some of the orange rind, and the final marmalade was almost a soft candy, but the burnt flavor was actually nice and the rest was good on crackers and toast.

Side view of Orange Tian
The tian had four layers - the pate sablee crust, which is like a cross between pie crust and sugar cookie, the marmalade, stabilized whipped cream, and the oranges in caramel mixture. Then you drizzle an orange caramel sauce on top. Yes, I said caramel sauce, my old nemesis. It worked out okay this time.

Over all, this was way too sweet for me to want to make it again, but it did look pretty.

19 comments:

Cakelaw said...

I have never seen cara cara oranges before, but they make the tart very pretty. Love the chunky marmalade too - yum!

Unknown said...

Your tian look really pretty. I think I would prefer a more bitter marmalade which might make the whole dessert less sweet. I have never heard of Cara Cara oranges but they look beautiful.

Carly said...

I love the combinations of the two orange colours - very pretty!

Anonymous said...

Good job on the challenge! Your tian looks very good.

LadyT said...

This looks really tasty. I think I shall try making it sometime! I like sweet things!

Karen | Citrus and Candy said...

Wow, you learn something new everyday. I love anything citrus but I've never heard of cara cara before. I love the vibrant colours :)

shelley c. said...

I have never heard of cara cara oranges before, but they look beautiful! The finished dessert looks beautiful. Sorry it was too sweet for you, but you did a fantastic job with the challenge!

chef_d said...

wow that's a pretty tian!your marmalade looks so yumnmy !

Angelica said...

Great Tian you've made! Love how you combined the citrus colors, it's definitely an eye-catcher!

Cool Lassi(e) said...

The multi-layered Tian looks fabulous! Esp the top layer with 2 different shades of oranges!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

simply awesome. nice work jenny. great pairing of both the cara cara and navel oranges!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Never ever heard of Cara Cara oranges till this challenge. I love the cheerful colour of the top layer of your Tian. :)

Maria said...

Nice job on the challenge!

B. Miller said...

A gorgeous dessert... wish I could taste it through my computer screen. Alas, my LCD display only tastes like Office Depot duster... ick.

Thanks for pointing me to your blog! I look forward to reading more about your baking adventures. ;)

Lisa said...

I love that you combined oranges without using the blood orange. I've never tried a cara cara orange, but it IS a lovely pink color reminiscent of grapefuit, which I initially thought it was. Beautiful tian!

Jenny said...

Your tian looks lovely - and the marmalade looks scrummy too. I missed out on the March challenge, and I'm sorely wishing I hadn't!

best bread machines said...

Very pretty combination! Looks very delicious!

Barbara Bakes said...

It really does look pretty! I have tried the cara cara oranges, now I really want to.

Emily said...

Absolutely delicious! Great job!