Julia Child’s Orange Cake Drove Me to the Brink of Madness

This Julia Child Stuffed Orange Cake (gateau a la orange) recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking volume 1. #juliachild #jamieandjulia #antichef #cake #baking

00:00 - Opening
01:32 - 20 Minute Cake
06:54 - Orange Butter Filling
10:28 - Madness Begins
11:43 - Multiverse of Apricot Glaze Madness
14:16 - Madness Continues
15:21 - Almond Hell
17:03 - Glazed Orange Peel
18:24 - Madness Reigns Supreme
19:57 - The Next Day
20:33 - My Final Thoughts

🚩Support the Channel on Patreon!

🚩I'm on Instagram

🚩What I Use (Amazon Store)

Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol 1 & 2:

[jenniferdevoe]

My Mom taught me that when a cake goes wonky just cut it into cubes and layer it in a trifle bowl with fruit and whipped cream. Looks great and will taste wonderful.

[ElliotNesterman]

As a very dear friend of mine, a French trained cook, used to say, "Cooking is art, but baking is chemistry."

[carmencruz]

Cake is never messed up if it tastes good!

[noslavetoreality]

As a home cook who just last week started Julia's first cookbook, I can honestly say that I feel for you dude. As I work through page by page, and recipe by recipe of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I can only hope that one day my home chef culinary skills will allow me to produce a cake like this. Just this week for my husband's birthday, I made a five layer hazelnut chocolate sponge cake, complete with Nutella ganache, Swiss meringue hazelnut buttercream, drip candied hazelnuts, and spun sugar. It only took me 5 days of 18 failed cakes (6 batches of 3 cakes each), and more eggs, flour, white sugar, powdered sugar, Nutella then I've ever used in the kitchen on a dessert to get it all right. Just breathe and it all comes together.

[electronblue]

The people who bought the cookbook originally had one huge advantage: they had watched Julia do it and so they knew how everything was supposed to look like (consistency-wise). You're at a disadvantage from the start if you didn't watch that particular episode before starting your own cake.

[DonoVideoProductions]

As a professional baker, I can give one piece of advice: when you get frustrated...STOP. This was a single cake layer, nuts and some extra butter and orange. If it failed, you're not out huge amounts of money and food. But imagine if you get that frustrated with this cake, what would happen with something really expensive and complicated? Lots of chocolate or days of prep? This is an opportunity for you to work on your coping stance for frustration. Baking is a dance between you and the ingredients. Get Zen, and you will not only bake better...you will be happier! Baking is alchemy, and it teaches us how to take elemental ingredients and create something wholly new. It is like life. You have the skill...you're just letting your frustration get the better of you. Bon Apetit!

[lokcachte]

I’m a professional baker! When I bake at home, I always do a prep day first. It’s a pain in the ass if you do everything in one day and it tends to end up not being fun anymore. If you feel yourself get frustrated, take a break or stop and try again another time. Even at work sometimes we have to take a step back for a mini break if it gets frustrating. I really like your series!

[philipferrato]

Well done. The sponge came out perfectly (eventually) but one of my problems with dessert recipes is that they're often more successful when executed in reverse: make the candied orange strips and set aside; grind the almonds and set aside; make the orange curd filling and refrigerate, sieve the apricot preserves; make the sponge, cool and assemble. The filling was problematic because you didn't beat it long enough, and yes, parchment paper saves a lot of grief. You can also bake the sponge cake in two pans to avoid having to slice it in half. A classic French housewife's dessert and as you intuited, prefect with tea or coffee rather than to finish a meal.

[irenestrongrock]

This is as if Nick Miller from New Girl had a cooking show. Just perfect, more please.

[phdyer]

My mother taught me this trick. If I find that I’ve run out of caster sugar I take granulated sugar and put it in a grinder for a couple of seconds to reduced the size of the granules. It makes the blending/creaming process so much easier.

[GoD]

At 7:11 if you pause the video the directions tell you what went wrong with the icing. It says "When softened butter is beaten into it, as described in the variation at the end of the recipe, it may also serve as an icing. " Something I learned in every cooking class I've taken is that before you even get any equipment or food out you should throughly read all of your recipe because when things get going you can miss little details like that. Sometimes it's best to step away for a minute, take a breath, reevaluate, and tackle the problem.

[joysgirl]

Watching you just stand there, contemplating life, and if it worth living, was touching. Perspective is definitely needed when whipping up Julia's recipes. You're a trooper, . Jamie.

[xbondxofxflamex]

For the orange butter filling: Your curd (the filling), should probably be cooked a little longer, so that it just coats the back of a spoon. And keep whisking!! As long as you whisk vigorously, the egg shouldn't curdle. And if it does, just press it through a strainer. But the texture of the curd itself is slightly loose, not frosting. The frosting texture she mentions in the book is a "variation at the end of the recipe" that mentions "beaten softened butter." I'm assuming it also requires powdered sugar, since you can make a buttercream frosting with butter, the orange curd, and powdered sugar. That's probably why it looks so different, but both "variations" work great as a cake filling. I think with the glaze, curd was a better choice since buttercream would have melted.

Honestly, it seems like you got the flavors down and the cake crumb looked very good! I would be happy to be served it at a dinner. I hope you don't get discouraged and make this again!

[kellyfisher]

I am laughing so hard I am crying over here. Him flipping that cake is PRICELESS!

[smr]

I went to her original video and honestly, you did everything she did. She even flipped the cake over!

[floursandroses]

I have never seen this channel. I just happened to come across it on my home page. I feel so lucky because I laughed the entire time. By the time you flipped the cake, my husband literally was asking me what I was laughing so hard at. Seriously, it may have been a "mistake" for you, but for me, it was pure enjoyment and for that I thank you and am subscribing.

[mocowan]

We’ve all been there! I made a Boston Cream Pie from scratch once, including the custard. I made the chocolate icing from scratch as well. I put the icing on. I cut a slice. I took a bite, and realized when I made the chocolate icing, I didn’t put ANY sugar in it. It was pure bitter chocolate. I put powdered sugar on top of it. It didn’t help.

[TheLadyLuck]

As Chef John would say, "Never let the food win!" You did great and the cake looks delicious.

[Raicheru]

When you were contemplating your orange pancake of sadness, I felt for you. I get so fixated on what I think the result of my baking should be that I can get really discouraged if it doesn't go the way I intend. Kudos to you for pushing through and posting the video anyway. My mom's favorite saying about food was: "You're going to chew it up anyway." I try to hold onto that for my perceived failures. Even if they don't look good, they usually taste good.

[theoriginaledi]

Oh my gosh. I'll admit to laughing a lot, but also: Rarely have I wanted so much to reach through a screen and give a person a hug. You are a rock star. I would have been in tears from the frustration, and my end product almost certainly wouldn't have looked or tasted as good as yours did. I thought it was beautiful!