Tangerines and White Chocolate Cake

Enjoy this citrus of a thousand and one ways

Citrus fruits like lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit or tangerines fill our dishes with exotic flavors while providing the most appetizing colors, like a rainbow. Tangerines are much more versatile than you think and from November to June they are at their best.

Attracted by its flavor, it was the Englishman Abraham Hume who imported from Canton (China) several mandarin varieties to Europe, making it popular as a table fruit and later as an ingredient in salty and sweet preparations.

The best-known variety is Clementine spread throughout the Mediterranean Sea and has a sweet, aromatic and juicy flavor. Its name is the most curious, derived from the name of the priest Pierre Clément because this fruit was discovered in the gardens of his residence in Algeria.

At the time of purchase, keep in mind several factors: that the tangerine weighs, a symptom that it will contain a lot of juice, that it is not wrinkled and that it gives off a fragrant citrus aroma. The more sweet and intense it is, the more ripe the fruit will be.

Prepare eggs, flour, white chocolate … and open a sparkling water S.Pellegrino next to a glass of champagne. Let the feast begin!

How to make a Tangerine Cake

Ingredients

For the sponge cake

• 230 g of butter
• 425 g of brown sugar
• 300 ml of tangerines juice
• 410 g of flour
• 15 g of baking powder
• 5 egg whites
• 3 tangerines in pieces
• Tangerine grated

For the ganache

• 100 ml of tangerines juice
• 2 sheets of gelatin (3 g)
• 300 g of white chocolate
• 1/2 tangerine grated

For crispy chocolate

• White chocolate slices
• Dehydrated tangerines
• Tangerine grated

Step by step elaboration

For the sponge cake

1. Remove the butter in advance from the fridge so that it acquires an ointment-like consistency. In an electric mixer, add the butter along with the brown sugar until you get a smooth cream. Gradually add the tangerines juice together with the zest. Mix and introduce the flour and yeast to the dough until everything is perfectly homogeneous. Save for later.
2. Assemble egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt. Incorporate them into the previous dough and mix by hand with wrapping movements to avoid loosening the whites.
3. Grease with butter and flour the two round molds of 24 cm in diameter and distribute the mixture in both. Cover the cakes with the tangerines segments. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and bake for 40 minutes. To check if they are cooked, stick the inside of the cake with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, it is cooked.

For the ganache

1. Hydrate the gelatine leaves in cold water for 15 minutes. Put the chopped chocolate in a saucepan with the zest and heat it in a bain-marie until it is melted. Heat the tangerine juice in the microwave, dissolve the previously drained gelatine leaves, and pour it over the chocolate. Stir well and let cool in the refrigerator until it acquires consistency.

For the chocolate crystals

1. Chop the white chocolate and melt it in a bain-marie. Dump the white chocolate on a baking paper, spread with a spatula until it thickness and place the dehydrated tangerine slices on the chocolate. Finally, sprinkle with the grated tangerine.

Finishing and presentation

Take out of the mold the two tangerine cakes and on one of them, arrange part of the mandarin and chocolate ganache. Place the other cake on top and cover the side of both with ganache. Cover with crunchy chocolate.

‘Harmonies in Flavors and Fragrances’. By Juan Muñoz Ramos.

There is no better marriage or gastronomic harmony than a fresh and creamy bubble to accompany a sweet dish. And if we add a sweet wine with aging, little else can be ordered. But in this case, and as an exception, it is a wine also with bubbles whose union makes them inseparable friends.

The long aging of this Cava Gran Reserva de Malvasía and the S.Pellegrino water make this cake with chocolate look like a summer dessert instead of winter, since on the one hand we have acidity and on the other the sweetness. Textures and flavors that are maintained with elegance thanks to the union of these two bubbles, sapid and friendly.