No-bake Orange Cheesecake

I seem to get a craving for Cheesecake when I’m away at my parent’s bach (that’s what we call a holiday home here in NZ).  Maybe it’s because it is my Mum’s place and she makes amazing cheesecakes.  Who knows?  Last time I was there, I invented a delicious Mint Chocolate Cheesecake.  This time around I was craving the flavours of orange mixed with dark chocolate (If you ever feel like those two flavours, I seriously recommend making some Choc Orange Fudge!) so I played around and came up with this little number.

Ingredients:
200g biscuits (I used Farmbake’s Chocolate Chip Fudge variety)
125g butter, melted
250g cream cheese
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 cup cream
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
3 teaspoons Cointreau
3 teaspoons yellow food colouring
1 teaspoon red food colouring
4 teaspoons orange essence
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon gelatine
2 teaspoons orange juice
1 block Lindt intense orange chocolate

Method:
Crush the biscuits up in a food processor until they are a fine crumb.  Mix through the melted butter.  Press the biscuit mix into a 20cm round spring-form tin, then chill.  Whip the cream until it holds its shape, then refrigerate.
Beat together the cream cheese and the caster sugar with an electric mixer.  Mix through the orange zest, Cointreau, food colouring and essences. 
Heat the orange juice in a microwave for 10 - 20 seconds, until hot.  Sprinkle the gelatine over the hot juice and then stir to dissolve.  Add the gelatine mixture to the cream cheese mixture and beat the mixture again.  Fold through the whipped cream.  Refrigerate for 4-6 hours or until set.
To decorate, grate the orange chocolate and sprinkle over the cheesecake.  You could also add squares of the chocolate and slices of orange to each segment of the cheesecake before serving.

Orange and Coconut Cake

Winter has been in full swing over the last week or so and I have been feeling a bit under the weather and craving a boost of vitamin c, this cake was the answer! It is light, moist, delicious and reminds me of summer.

Ingredients:
Cake
125g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
Finely grated zest of one orange
The juice of one orange (4-5 tablespoons)
125g sour cream
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup desiccated coconut

Glaze
2 tablespoons butter, softened
3-5 tablespoons hot water
1-11/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons orange juice

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180C and grease and line a 20cm to square cake tin.
Cream together butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add orange zest and sour cream and mix until combined.
Fold in the flour and coconut.
Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, until your cake is a light golden colour and you can insert a skewer and remove it cleanly.
Once cooked remove from the oven and cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes before turning the cake out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Once cool, pour glaze onto the centre of the cake and use the back of a spoon to move it towards the edges.
To make the glaze place butter, 3 tablespoons of hot water, 1 cup of icing sugar and orange juice in a small bowl and stir to combine. To thicken your glaze add more icing sugar or to thin use a little more hot water.

I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I have, I am sure this is one I will make again and again. This cake is good on its own but can be served with some thick vanilla yoghurt or cream on the side. Also, if you are like me and can’t wait to dig in this cake is amazing warm!

Gluten Free Orange Cake

This cake has a very strong orange flavour.  It goes great with ice cream or custard.  The cake uses almond meal instead flour making it gluten free.

2 oranges
3 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
3 cups almond meal
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder

Orange Syrup:
1 orange
¾ cup caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 170°C.  Grease and line a round 22cm round springform tin with butter and baking paper.

Place the oranges in a saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring to the boil over medium heat. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender, then drain.  Return to pan and repeat the process.  Refresh under cold water, and drain.  Coarsely chop the oranges, removing and discarding any seeds.
Place the orange (skin included) in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.

Use an electric beater to whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale.  Add the orange, almond meal and baking powder and gently fold until just combined. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for one hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Set aside for at least 15 minutes to cool.

Meanwhile, to make the orange syrup, use a vegetable peeler to peel the rind from orange.  Cut the rind into thin strips (see our candied lemon peel post for more info).  Juice the orange.
Place the rind in a saucepan of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes or until soft.  Drain.  Return to the pan with the orange juice and sugar. Place over a low heat and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens.

Turn cake onto a serving plate.  Use a skewer to gently prick the top, then spoon over syrup before serving.

Orange Cake

 
While I was away over the weekend I had a gorgeous warm orange pudding for dessert, it was divine and reminded me that our friend Natalie (yes, the same Natalie that shared that fantastic brownie recipe) had given me a recipe for a beautifully moist orange cake and it is too good for me to not share with you!

250g butter
1 ½ cups caster sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoon grated orange zest
Juice of 2 oranges
2 cups self raising flour

You will need a 20cm cake tin and to pre-heat your oven to 180˚C.
1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Add the zest and beat in a third of the orange juice, then a third of the flour and repeat with remaining juice and flour.
4. Pour into tin and bake for an hour.

To ice I mixed 20g of softened butter with a quarter cup of icing sugar and then started mixing in the juice of one orange and icing sugar alternately until I had an amount and consistency I was happy with.

BTW – it is fantastic warm or cold! Enjoy :-)