What do you do with leftover mandarin oranges after the Chinese New Year? Put them to good use in a nice dessert cake such as this very delicious mandarin orange and cheese cake slices. But if you are too lazy to make your own mandarin orange in syrup (like I was), fret not. You can easily buy a can of it off the supermarket shelf anywhere in Singapore. It’s available at all times of the year too, which means you can make this cake at any time of the year as you please!
Ingredients (Sponge Cake):
- Medium egg: 3
- Hot water: 2 tbsp
- Sugar: 150g (3/4 cup)
- Vanilla sugar: 1 tbsp
- Plain flour: 100g (1 cup)
- Baking powder: 1 level tsp
- Cornstarch: 50g
Ingredients (Cheese Filling):
- Mandarin oranges: 1 can, drained with syrup reserved for below
- Mandarin orange syrup: 50ml (1/2 cup)
- Gelatine powder: 2 tbsp
- Cottage cheese (or any low fat curd cheese): 250g
- Sugar: 100g (1/2 cup)
- Lemon zest: of 1 lemon
- Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
- Whipping cream: 100ml
- Icing sugar: 1 tbsp (for dusting)
Method (Sponge Cake):
- Preheat oven at 200 degrees Celsius.
- Whisk eggs with hot water at fastest setting till foamy (about 1 min).
- Gradually whisk in sugar and vanilla sugar, sprinkling in over a period of 1min. Then whisk for another 2min.
- Combine flour, baking powder and cornstarch.
- Whisk in flour mixutre at slowest setting till well combined.
- Spread on greased baking sheet on a 40 x 30cm baking tray.
- Bake for 15 – 20mins till golden brown and firm.
- Leave to cool, then slice into two equal square pieces.
Method (Cheese Filling):
- Heat mandarin juice till it boils. Stir in gelatine powder to dissolve.
- Whisk together cottage cheese, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla essence and mandarin orange syrup mixture till smooth and well-combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk whipping cream till stiff. Fold in cheese mixture and orange slices.
Method (Assembling the Cake):
- Place one of the two sponge cake slices into a square cake pan with removable ring.
- Spread cheese mixture onto sponge cake.
- Put the other sponge cake slice on top of cheese mixture.
- Chill for 2 hours.
- Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Disclaimers:
- You can easily substitute mandarin oranges with peaches or other fruits in syrup depending on your preference.
- Use the same square baking tin with removable ring to bake the sponge cake as well to get the desired shape, though you may have to vary the time during baking. Assembling the cake inside a cake ring makes it a lot easier and less messy to handle.
Serving:
6 small slices
