So I was sent out a beautiful box of Blood Oranges from Redbelly Citrus {and boy, haven’t they had a bumper crop this season!}. And I thought that it would be a great way to kick off my ‘SWEET SEPTEMBER’ with a few sweet blood orange inspired recipes.
It appears that no matter how many people want to eat paleo or quit sugar – there will always be people looking for great sweet recipes {I’ve got the Google Analytics to prove it}. So I thought that for the month of September I would only post about the delicious sweet treats that I have been creating in my kitchen recently.
I thought that I would kick of this ‘SWEET SEPTEMBER’ with some awesome blood orange inspired recipes, follow it with some ‘healthy’ dessert recipes {because even though they might not contain ‘sugar’ they are still a special treat} and then round it out with some of my best banana bread inspired recipes {perfect for lunch boxes, morning or afternoon tea}.
Oh and I would love to know what you think about my move to WordPress and the blog’s new look and feel!
So let’s kick off ‘SWEET SEPTEMBER’ with my blood orange trifle. The ultimate dessert for jaffa lovers. This trifle combines an amazingly fresh and tangy blood orange jelly with rich dark chocolate jaffa ganache, light Italian sponge fingers and soft, lightly spiced cream. Oh and it is topped off with roasted almonds and dark chocolate – because, well, why not?
BLOOD ORANGE TRIFLE
20 small store-bought sponge fingers
1/4 cup of orange-flavoured liqueur
1 cup of roasted almonds {to serve}
100 grams of dark chocolate {to serve}
1 1/2 tbsps of gelatine powder
1 litre of blood orange juice
1/4 cup of caster sugar
500 grams of frozen raspberries
180 grams of dark chocolate
1 cup single cream
1/2 cup of mascarpone
1/2 cup of icing sugar
1 tsp of vanilla bean paste
1 tsp of honey
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 cup of single cream
To make the jelly, place the gelatine and 1/2 cup of the blood orange juice in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatine is absorbed.
Place the remaining juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the gelatine mixture – set aside to cool.
Pour the jelly into the base of a 4 litre capacity glass dish and top with the frozen berries. Refrigerator for 5 hours {or overnight} until set.
To make the ganache, place the chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until it melts. Remove from the heat and add 1/4 cup of the cream in a thin steady stream, stirring constantly until well combined. Refrigerator until just cool. Whisk the remaining cream into stiff peaks and then fold through the chocolate mix.
To assemble, spoon the gnache over the jelly and smooth with a palette knife. Dip the sponge fingers into the orange-flavoured liqueur and layer over the ganache. To make the mascarpone cream, place the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, honey, cinnamon and cream into a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Spoon the cream over the sponge fingers and top with the roasted almonds and some dark chocolate shavings.
Have you tried Redbelly Citrus’ blood oranges? Are you a fan of trifle? Are you a fan of jaffa? Have you made one of my sweet recipes? If you have, please grab a snap shot and post it on Instagram with the hashtag #goodfoodweek.
