Tag Archives: Orange

Festive Fortnight [2]: Cranberry Orange Almond Bundt Cake

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The Festive Fortnight has now officially started! I’ve been looking forward to this moment for over a month – and now it’s here. Hurrah!

I baked this cake over a month ago as well; it’s the first Festive Fortnight bake I made. At first, I wasn’t too sure this cake was going to be a success. It was a bit of an experiment. I’d made this recipe from scratch, and I was baking with fresh cranberries for the first time. They’re weird little buggers, aren’t they? I tasted one since I was curious what they’d taste like before baking or cooking them. Turns out, they’re pretty gross!

Anyway, despite my worries, this cake turned out absolutely delicious. It’s got a lovely almond taste, which combines magnificently with the orange and the cranberries. This cake is perfect for when you’re looking for something that is Christmas-y, but isn’t too heavy. The tang from the citrus and the cranberries made for a nice fresh contrast with the sweetness from the almond and the glaze.

Although the cake was amazing, the pictures of it didn’t exactly turn out as I’d hoped. Dusk was already starting to settle in when I took these pictures – that’s the trouble with winter, I suppose!

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Chocolate Brownie and Orange Tart (with hazelnuts)

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Back in 2015 I baked an absolutely delicious chocolate brownie and raspberry tart for my birthday. It was a huge success, and not that difficult – despite it having quite a few steps. This tart right here is a variation on that one – I used orange instead of raspberry and added some more hazelnuts to the equation.

It looks a tiny bit less appealing than the raspberry one because the orange coulis almost looks a little green (it isn’t; that’s just the brownie shining through), but it tastes just as delicious – or perhaps even a little better! I adore the combination of orange and chocolate, and the hazelnuts lift it up even more. I roasted these in the oven for a few minutes – that makes them taste even yummier. If you’re not a fan of nuts, however, you can easily leave them out.

I’m still having some trouble getting back into blogging and reading, which bums me out a little. I’m going to keep trying, though! I really love this blog and this community, and I definitely want to keep it all going.

Also, an exciting life update: I found a job! At a book store! It’s only a part time gig as an on call employee person thingy (and not yet enough to live off of) but it’s perfect for me. I had my first couple of days last week and it’s even more fun than I imagined it would be. Perhaps I’ll do a life update post soon to tell you all a bit more about what’s been going on with me post university. But first, let’s get to the recipe!

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Chocolate Orange Almond Marble Bundt Cake

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Autumn has definitely arrived now in the Netherlands, and with that has come the first wave of colds and flu. Everyone seems to be ill, as was I this past week. I stayed home from class on Monday and Wednesday, and my lovely dad came over to bring me some groceries, so I could still, you know, eat. Quite important, after all.

I still wanted to bake something this week, though, but I didn’t want to make it too challenging or time-consuming, since I also had quite a lot of homework to do. So that meant the plan I had to make macarons this weekend fell through. Maybe next week!

Instead, I figured I’d make a marble bundt cake, because that seemed like fun. I didn’t want to go for the plain old vanilla and chocolate, so I soon came up with the idea of adding the almond to the batter, with some almond flavouring and some ground almonds. I also really love the combination of chocolate and orange, so I decided to go with those flavours for the two different batters.

It came out quite splendidly! It isn’t really all that marbled, at least not in these pictures, but that doesn’t really matter – it still looks cool and tastes absolutely delicious, and it’s such an easy batter to make!

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Fresh Orange Muffins (with Raisins)

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Okay, guys, I’ve got a new favourite! I made these orange muffins last week, and was so pleased with how they turned out. They have this delicious citrus-y taste, and the raisins really add to that. You can leave out the raisins as well if you don’t like them — these are just as good without them!

There’s nothing more to say about these, really. If you decide to make them, I hope you enjoy them just as much as I did. I am definitely going to make these again very soon, since they’re the absolute perfect little treat for a nice Spring day.

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Chocolate Orange Cheesecake Brownies

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Chocolate orange cheesecake brownies — doesn’t that combination of words just make your mouth water like there’s no tomorrow? That’s what happened to me when I encountered those words on Facebook, and the picture that came with them didn’t help either!

I’ve been following Sorted Food on Youtube for a while now, and they keep amazing me with wonderful and creative recipes. They describe themselves as “a bunch of mates who are out to prove that you can have a bit of fun in the kitchen – cooking doesn’t have to be so serious!” Don’t let this statement fool you, though, they know exactly what they’re doing, mostly because one of them is a trained chef. However, there’s still plenty of banter in the kitchen and they always make me laugh.

I always enjoy their videos, but had never tried out one of their recipes (although this tiramisu cheesecake needs to be made). That is, until these brownies. As you might have read in my previous post, I am quite stressed out because of midterms, and that’s usually the time when I start to crave brownies. I was also feeling a bit bad for not having posted any recipes since the beginning of March, so this was the perfect opportunity to bake these mouthwatering lovelies: it gave me some distraction from studying and stressing, some delicious brain food and something baking related to post today. That’s like a ton of birds with one stone!

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These brownies consist of a normal chocolate brownie base made even more delicious with an orange cream cheese filling. They are really easy to make and don’t take up a lot of your time — it’s the perfect treat for a movie night with friends or just as something nice to go with your cup of tea. Although, you really don’t need an excuse to enjoy these; they’re too delicious for that!

You can find the recipe here, on Sorted Food’s website.

I’ll leave you with some pictures I took while making these amazing chocolate orange cheesecake brownies!

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