Passover Orange Cake with Roasted Oranges and Zabaglione

When I was growing up the standard Seder dessert was sponge cake. Everyone made fun of it and said it was true to its name and that frankly, biting into a sponge was not a good thing.

I actually never cared because as long as I got chocolate covered macaroons I was a happy girl.

By the time I began to host the Seders, flourless chocolate cakes had become fashionable and my aunt Rozzie's recipe for sponge cake was tucked away in a recipe file.

Now more time has gone by and my family got bored with flourless chocolate cake. So I spent years experimenting with flourless rolled cakes and cakes made with nut crumbs instead of wheat and going fancy with layers of jelly-roll pan cakes. Some of those were absolutely fabulous.

But a few years ago I decided to pull out the family recipe. That sponge cake isn't spongy at all. The trick is not to overbeat the egg whites, which are supposed to be thick and glossy with tips that fall over slightly (not so beaten that you can cut a chunk off). Also — fold in the beaten whites rather than mixing them in vigorously.

Although the cake is just fine, plain or served with sorbet, I have served it with a rich and creamy zabaglione sauce and some roasted oranges, which provide a tangy contrast to the sweet cake. They also make a plain sponge cake a bit more festive looking, so it’s a good bet for the holiday.

Bonus: you can make all parts in advance!

Passover Orange Cake with Roasted Oranges and Zabaglione

• 12 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

• 1-3/4 cups sugar

• 6 tablespoons orange juice

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons finely grated orange peel

• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel

• 1 cup matzo cake meal, sifted after measuring

• 1/3 cup potato starch

• Passover Zabaglione

• Roasted Orange Slices

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a large (10-1/2-inch - 11-inch springform pan with parchment paper and lightly grease the paper. Beat the egg yolks and 1-cup of the sugar in a mixer bowl at medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes or until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Stir in the orange juice, lemon juice, orange peel and lemon peel, mix thoroughly and set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg whites at medium speed until they are foamy. Continue to beat, gradually increasing the speed and gradually adding the remaining 3/4 cup sugar. Beat until the whites are stiff but not dry, and look glossy. Stir about one-quarter of the beaten whites into the yolk mixture. Gently fold the remaining beaten whites into the yolk mixture, until the mixture is uniform in color. In a small bowl whisk the matzo cake meal and potato starch until they are thoroughly blended. Using about 1/4 of the matzo meal mixture at a time, fold the mixture into the egg mixture until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack. When ready to serve, spoon some zabaglione onto serving dishes, place a slice of cake on top and surround with some roasted orange slices. (Or serve with sorbet, whipped cream, ice cream, etc. to suit your meal.)

Makes 12 servings

Passover Zabaglione

• 8 large egg yolks

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 2 tablespoons finely grated orange peel

• 1/2 cup sweet white Passover wine

• fresh mint as garnish

Place the egg yolks, 3/4 cup sugar and the orange peel in the top part of a double boiler set over barely simmering water. Beat the ingredients with a hand mixer at medium speed for about 3 minutes or until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Continue to beat, gradually increasing the speed to high and gradually adding the wine. Beat for 8-10 minutes or until the mixture is thick and fluffy. You may use the zabaglione warm, immediately, or let it cool to room temperature.

Makes about 3 cups

Roasted Orange Slices

• 6 navel oranges

• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (or butter)

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• ground cinnamon (approximately 1/2 teaspoon)

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel the oranges removing as much of the white pith as possible. Cut the oranges crosswise into 24 even slices (there should be 4 center slices from each orange; reserve the ends for other purposes). Place the slices on the baking sheet. Brush the tops with the coconut oil. Sprinkle with the sugar. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and the mint. Roast for about 4 minutes. Turn the slices over and roast for another 4-6 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Makes 12 servings

Roasted Nectarines or Peaches with Oat-Almond Crumbles

Mistakes happen. Sometimes it works out well.

Take this dessert, for example. I wanted to grill peach halves and serve them with whipped cream and some sort of crunchy topping. But I couldn't find good peaches, so I bought nectarines. But they weren't freestone, and when I tried to cut the fruit in half the flesh clung to the pit.

No halves.

I had to cut the nectarines into pieces.

That meant no grilling. So I roasted the pieces instead.

All I can say is I wish I had more of this dessert. It was so good that a recipe that is supposed enough servings to feed 8 people only served 4.

But maybe you will all be more abstemious.

 

Roasted Nectarines with Oat-Almond Crumbles

Oat-Almond Crumbles:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix the flour, almonds, oats, brown sugar, salt and melted butter. Spoon the mixture onto a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, stirring halfway through, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Roasted Nectarines and Cream:

• 8 firm, but ripe nectarines or peaches
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the nectarines into chunks and discard the pits. Place the chunks in a bowl. Add the melted butter and all but one teaspoon of the sugar. Place the fruit on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes to caramelize the fruit. Place equal quantities of the baked fruit on serving dishes. Whip the cream with the remaining teaspoon sugar and the vanilla extract until it is thick. Top the fruit with equal amounts of whipped cream. Scatter the crumbles equally on top.

Makes 8 servings (unless you can't control yourself, in which case, maybe 4-6)

Roasted Fruit Cocktail

No matter how close you and your significant other are and how long you know each other, you didn’t discuss everything and so, when you finally settle into daily life together there are always some new discoveries.

Like, he looked in the cabinet for Wise potato chips but you bought Herr’s because that’s your favorite.

Little stuff like that.

With Ed and me the first difference we noticed were the assumptions about dessert that we had brought to the marriage.

I came from a coffee and cake family, he came from a canned fruit family. My mom baked often so there was always some wonderful pastry or other at the end of a meal (like her famous Fannies (butter cookies) or apple pie). Ed’s mom was a good cook, but not a baker. Their go-to dessert was canned fruit cocktail because it was Ed’s favorite.

Of course my mom served that occasionally too. Every kid I knew asked for extra of those carcinogenic red dye #2 maraschino cherries (of which there were always too few to satisfy all of us).

To this day Ed passes up the cakes, cookies and pies (which I find astonishing) and prefers the fruit cocktail. Although I have to say, in an effort to be a good wife I bought lots of that stuff in the early days and even he got sick of it.

But he does love fresh fruit cocktail and it is amazingly easy to make: cut up fresh fruit.

There, that’s the whole recipe. Fresh fruit usually doesn’t need much, if any, sugar, though it is easy to sprinkle some on. Or, you could go to the trouble of poaching a variety of different kinds and serving it with the syrup, a la the canned kind.

But my favorite fruit cocktail is this version, which starts out with roasted fruit. Roasting brings out the fruit sugars in a tantalizing way with hints of rum and molasses (do I sound like a wine taster talking?).

After a huge, heavy, meat-laden Passover Seder meal (or any big dinner), Roasted Fruit Cocktail is an excellent choice for dessert. I am in Ed’s corner on this one. I’ll save the cake and baked goods for later, when I’m less full. 

Roasted Fruit Cocktail

1 ripe fresh pineapple

2 fresh mangos

3/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup honey

cinnamon

18-20 strawberries, hulls removed

1 cup seedless red grapes

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

sorbet or ice cream, optional

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a jelly roll sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Using a chef’s knife, remove the leaves and hard outer shell of the pineapple. Cut the pineapple lengthwise into 1-inch thick strips. Using the knife, remove and discard the middle, fibrous core (from each slice you will be left with two strips of pineapple cut from both sides of the core). Place the strips on the parchment-lined jelly roll pan. 

Peel the mango and cut the flesh into strips. Set aside.

Place the orange juice and honey in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat slightly and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the liquid is slightly thickened. Generously brush all surfaces of the pineapple strips with the orange juice mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Roast for 4-5 minutes. Turn the strips over. Add the mango strips, strawberries and grapes to the pan. Brush with the remaining orange juice mixture. Roast for another 6-7 minutes or until fruit is soft and lightly caramelized. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool. Cut the pineapple and mango strips into bite size pieces. Place all the fruit and accumulated pan juices in a bowl, sprinkle with the mint and toss. Place into serving dishes. Serve plain or with sorbet or ice cream. Makes 8 servings