Julia Child's Orange Bavarian Torte

Old, referring to me, not the cake. The cake is quite fresh, thank you very much.

It looks difficult, but it really wasn't. I followed the directions (I'm part Austrian-we're good at following directions) and the result was this beautiful torte. It is exactly what I wanted. You should get the cake you want on your birthday, even if you have to bake it yourself.

Leave yourself 2-3 days to do this, and be resigned to the fact that you will have a substantial amount of filling and whipped cream leftover. The filling may be frozen, and as for the whipped cream, I'm sure you can find some use for it such as dipping a spoon into a bowl of it each time you pass the kitchen. Or in coffee. Or dipping a spoon into a bowl of it each time you pass the kitchen. You get the idea. Whipped cream never really gets a chance to be wasted around here.

I used Moro Blood Oranges in mine because it was what I had, and what I wanted. The orange flavour is different-less sweet, more intense, and the colour comes up a somewhat Pepto Bismal pink. Just be warned. It does look lighter once the cake layers are baked, but still-don't expect a lovely orange colour.

The genoise recipe she recommends comes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. That is the one I used. The rest of the recipe, and directions are from, Julia Child and More Company, 1979.

The recipe runs several pages, and is given in such detail that I do not feel I could "adapt" it for a cooking blog and therefore encourage you to purchase the books (easily bought used at ABE for a small sum). There are step-by-step photographs as well. You need a basic understanding of how to beat egg whites, make a custard without scrambling the eggs and so forth, but it is by no means out of the skill level of a home cook. It was written for the home cook. I guess what I'm getting at is this-don't be intimidated by the multi-page, multi-step recipe. There's a reason for the meticulous directions, and as you can see, the end result is just perfect.