This orange curd was the star in the Crowned King’s Cake. Not only did I generously slatter it on the individual cake layers, I also used it to zing up an ordinary vanilla buttercream! So if you want to make the Orange Italian Buttercream or the Crowned King’s Cake, I’d suggest you start here.
However, this curd can also be beautifully paired with a crumbly chocolate shortbread crust in a chocolate and orange tart or rippled through a batch of vanilla ice cream.
Sticky Orange Curd
Cook time
Total time
Makes about 150ml (or ½ cup + 2 tablespoons).
Author: The Tough Cookie
Ingredients
- 60ml (or ¼ cup) freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 tablespoon orange zest (make sure the oranges you use are scrubbed clean!)
- 100g (or ½ cup) granulated sugar
- 3,5 large egg yolks
- 30g (or 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, scald the juice and zest. In the meantime, whisk together the yolks with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Once the juice has come to a boil, slowly drizzle it into the egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from curdling. Once the juice has been added, return the mixture to the saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring continuously, until the mixture thickens and reaches 78°C (172°F). Take it off the heat, or the curd may split. You can use a sugar thermometer if you're worried about this.
- When the mixture has thickened into a curd, take the bowl off the heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into another bowl. Let the curd cool for fifteen minutes.
- Add the cubed butter to the still slightly warm curd and stir to combine. Cover the curd by placing a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd (press it down with your fingers to push out any air) and let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating it.
- NOTE: by placing the plastic wrap directly onto the curd you prevent a skin from forming.
- Can be stored in the fridge, tightly covered with plastic wrap, for up to 1 week.
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