Blood Orange Chiffon Cake with Blood Orange Curd and Rich Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

Blood Orange Chiffon Cake with Blood Orange Curd and Rich Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting

By Irvin Lin
This fluffy and rich cake isn’t difficult to make but it might be a little time consuming as it involves make the cake, the curd and the frosting. Feel free to make the curd ahead of time and storing it in the fridge overnight. Just be sure to bring the curd back to room temperature as it will be rather thick and hard to spread when cold.

The recipe calls for White Lily brand flour, which is a specially processed flour made soft red winter wheat from the South. It’s pretty easy to find in the south and the Midwest, but can be difficult to find in other parts of the country. You can substitute an equal amounts of cake flour for it, or use 20 g (2 tablespoons) cornstarch and 250 g (1 3/4 cups) all purpose flour in it’s place.

Cake and Curd adapted freely from Home Baked Comfort by Kim Laidlaw
Frosting adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook

Cake Batter
270 g (2 cups) White Lily Flour (see head notes above for substitutions)
10 g (2 teaspoon) baking powder
250 g (1 1/4 cup) white granulated sugar, divided
4 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 2 blood oranges
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Curd
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks
125 g (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) granulated white sugar
1/3 cup blood orange juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoon unsalted butter

Frosting
3 large eggs
150 g (3/4 cup) white granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 vanilla bean
340 g (1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
150 g (1 1/4 cup) confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

Special Equipment
Standing mixer
Kitchen thermometer
Toothpicks
Serrated bread knife

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F and line two 9 inch round pans with parchment paper (but don’t grease the pan or paper, as the cake needs something to cling to as it rises).

2. Place the flour, baking powder and 150 g (3/4 cup) of sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Using a balloon whisk, vigorously stir the dry ingredients together until uniformly mixed. Put aside and place the egg yolks, olive oil, vanilla extract and orange zest in a large bowl. Vigorously stir the egg yolks with the balloon whisk until well blended.

3. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the wire attachment. Sprinkle the salt and cream of tartar over the egg whites and turn the mixer on high, whipping the egg whites until peaks form. With the mixer on high, slowly sprinkle the remaining 100 g (1/2 cup) sugar into the bowl, until completely incorporated. Continue to whip the eggs whites until shiny and stiff peaks form. The egg whites should be glossy and look like meringue.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the egg yolk mixture and stir with a large spatula until combined. Add half the egg whites and “fold” the batter, lifting the batter from the bottom up and around the sides and over the egg whites, slowly incorporating the egg whites without deflating them too much. Once you’ve incorporated the half of the egg whites and lightened the batter, add the remaining egg whites and fold them into the batter in the same manner.

5. Divide the batter between the two pans and bake in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before running a thin knife or spatula around the sides of the pan and inverting the pans onto a wire rack to remove the cake. Slowly peel back the parchment paper and discard. Let cool completely before assembling the cake.

6. Make the curd by placing a pot of water on the stove and placing a metal bowl over the pot, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Heat the water until it boils, and then bring it down to a simmer. Place the egg, egg yolks, sugar, juice and sea salt in the bowl and whisk continually until the curd has thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from the pot and whisk in the butter. Let cool completely before using as filling in the cake.

7. To make the frosting, place a large pot of water on the stove and turn to medium high heat. Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce the heat to keep the water at a simmer. Place the bowl of a standing mixer over the pot (try to keep the standing mixer bowl from touching the water if possible) and place the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and salt inside the standing mixer bowl. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds out into the bowl. Stir the mixture with a whisk until it thins out, starts to foam and reaches 160˚F.

8. Once the liquid has reached 160˚F, remove from heat and place in the standing mixer fitted with the wire whisk attachment. Whip the mixture on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until it has cooled down to room temperature and starts to look light and airy. Start adding the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, until all the butter has been incorporated. In the beginning the frosting will look broken but don’t worry, as it will come together in the end.

9. When all the butter has been incorporated, sift in the confectioners’ sugar in three parts, beating the frosting on high speed between each addition. The confectioners’ sugar will smooth out the frosting and make it easy to spread.

10. To assemble the cake first split each layer in half horizontally, to create four layers. My preferred method is to take four toothpicks and place them around the cake every 90˚, halfway up the cake edge. Then I use a long serrated bread knife and cut the cake layer horizontally, using the toothpicks as guides for my cutting. Finally I remove the top layer with either a thin flexible cutting board, or the bottom part of a 10 inch round tart pan with removable bottom.

11. Once you have split both cake layers, place the one of the four cake layers on the cake pedestal or platter you plan on serving the cake on. Spread 1/3rd of the blood orange curd on the layer and place the other half of that cake layer on top of the curd. Spread another 1/3rd of the curd on that layer and place the 3rd layer on top of the curd. Spread the final 1/3 amount of the curd on that layer and lay the final cake layer on top of that.

12. Frost the top and sides of the cake and serve the same day.

Makes 1 layer cake, serves 12 to 14 people