TCS March 2017: Mandarin, Polenta and Macadamia Cake

It is now the 22nd of March, meaning I am late! Apologies!

The members at TCS are baking from the following cake selection for March!

Thierry Busset's Ten Layer Coffee Chocolate Cake,

Greek Coconut Cake, Banana Loaf, and Mandarin, Polenta, and Macadamia Cake

***

My first choice was the Greek coconut cake cos I simply love coconut and I have

had great results with all the coconut themed cakes I baked with TCS books,

but decided to try something different:

Mandarin, Polenta and Macadamia Cake from page 107

 We have been experiencing some problems with the current book,

in terms of oven temperature, length of baking times, and

measurements of baking pans, but the members managed to overcome them

(by baking seconds!) not something novice home bakers would do, but

only for the die hard bakers from TCS!!

So 'Warning' this book is not for the inexperienced bakers, me included;

but because of the number of years I have been with the TCS group,

I managed to learn a lot from the other more experienced (and amazing!)

members of this lovely group of bakers.  Thank you! 

I have never had to boil citrus fruits for use whole in cakes before,

hence my choice for March.  The Australian mandarins I bought

were not too small or large (around 130gm each) and instead

of four pieces, I used only three.  I boiled them and drained them twice

immediately upon reaching boiling point (from cold water start) and then

on the third time (from cold water again) - let them simmer for 45 mins

~this step is to rid the citrus fruits of the bitterness~

And I managed to overcome my fear of grinding nuts into meal, and I did it!

I toasted the macadamia nuts and ground them with some icing sugar

to prevent them from clumping together!  Success!

This recipe uses only macadamia meal, cornmeal (I used extra-fine),

eggs, butter, fine sugar, vanilla extract, baking powder, and pulped mandarins.

 

I did reduce the sugar from 1 cup to 2/3 cup and it was just nice!

And finally I managed to make an 'upside-down' cake, two in fact!

These popped out of the various mini pans without a hitch!

I used a 4" spring form pan, two rectangle pans, two scalloped pans,

and two small ramekins - all buttered and parchment lined where needed!

And oh! I baked them for only 35mins instead of one hour!

I dare say - this was a great success as the cake was amazing warm

from the oven (last night!) and room temperature (this morning)

with a strong cup of Vietnamese coffee!

***

And I did baked my February 2017 but was very late for the reveal date,

so here it is!

Almond Tart with honey

***

The Cake Slice is baking from

"World Class Cakes" by Roger Pizey, for our new season! 

An InLinkz Link-up