Orange liqueur is a sweet, almost syrupy liqueur made by infusing or distilling oranges, dried orange peels, or orange essence in alcohol. Sometimes the liqueur also has some herbs, artificial flavoring, colors, and sweeteners. The base spirit that is used for the infusion can be anything like vodka, brandy, or rum. If you're familiar with the world of spirits, then you may know that this liqueur can be used in cocktails like Margaritas, Cosmopolitans, Aperol Spritzes, and Sidecars. There's curacao, triple sec, and a subtype made with brandy like Grand Marnier, and Aperol. They can also be used to add an additional citrus kick to cakes, pastries, sauces, glazes, and to macerate fruits for salads. Here are some ideas on how to add orange liqueur to desserts:
Cheesecake with Orange Liqueur Sauce
Ingredients:
For the cheesecake:
- 240 ml chilled heavy cream
- 180 g graham cracker or digestive biscuit crumbs
- 115 g melted unsalted butter
- 450 g softened cream cheese
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the liqueur sauce:
- 30 g softened butter
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 360 ml orange juice
- 30 ml orange liqueur (any types)
- 2 tbsp corn flour mixed with 2 tsp water
Instructions:
- For the cheesecake, mix the biscuit crumbs with the melted butter until you get a sandy mixture.
- Press this into the base of a springform tin, and refrigerate for an hour so the butter hardens.
- To make the cheesecake batter, whip heavy cream with some powdered sugar until you get soft peaks.
- Then fold in the softened cream cheese, and add the vanilla extract. Mix well and pour this batter into the prepared biscuit base.
- Refrigerate the cheesecake for a couple of hours.
- Right before serving, create the orange liqueur sauce by melting the softened butter with brown sugar. Then add the orange juice into this and mix well to dissolve all of the sugar.
- Bring this liquid to a boil, then add the cornflour slurry. Mix well and let it simmer, thicken, and slightly reduce in quantity.
- Once that’s done, take it off heat and add orange zest along with orange liqueur.
- Pour it generously over every slice of cheesecake and enjoy.
Orange Liqueur Cake
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 1 plain vanilla or yellow cake mix pack
- 3 eggs (or according to package instructions)
- 120 ml vegetable oil
- 120 ml orange liqueur
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 60 ml orange juice
- 60 ml water
For the orange glaze:
- 113 g unsalted butter
- 60 ml orange juice
- 150 g sugar
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 120 ml orange liqueur
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 170 C and grease a cake tin with some butter or oil. You can also use a Bundt pan.
- Then blend all of the ingredients mentioned for the cake in a food processor and transfer into the cake tin.
- Place the cake in the oven for about an hour. Then let it completely cool.
- For the glaze, melt the butter, then add the orange juice and sugar in a saucepan. Bring this to a boil, and let it simmer on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Then take the saucepan off heat, and mix in the orange zest and orange liqueur.
- Pour this orange glaze over the cake. Let it set before slicing and serving.
Chocolate and Orange Liqueur Pudding Pots
Ingredients:
- 16 g corn flour
- 30 g sugar
- 480 ml milk
- 180 g chopped Cadbury Bournville 70% Dark Chocolate
- 240 ml water
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 120 ml orange liqueur
- Pinch of salt
- 120 ml whipping cream
- 20 g powdered sugar
- 2 tsp Cadbury Cocoa Powder
Instructions:
- Add salt, sugar, most of the water, and milk in a saucepan and put it on medium heat. Create a cornstarch slurry with some water, and whisk it into this liquid.
- As the mixture simmers, it won’t take very long to thicken. At this point, add the finely chopped chocolate and give this another good mix until everything is completely dissolved.
- When you see that all of the chocolate is melted, take the saucepan off heat and mix in the orange liqueur.
- Pour the pudding into pots and let it sit in the fridge for half an hour or more.
- Before serving, whip the cream with some powdered sugar and decorate the chocolate pudding with it. Dust with some cocoa powder.