Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2
Page 58
The creamy mayonnaise-like butter
2 rubber spatulas
Still at low speed, and using 1 spatula to remove the butter from its bowl and a second to dislodge it from the first, rapidly incorporate the butter into the egg mixture, taking no more than 15 to 20 seconds and, again, not trying for a perfect blend.
The floured raisins
Remove bowl from stand, if using that kind of mixer. Rapidly fold raisins into batter with a rubber spatula, as you complete the blending.
The prepared cake pan
The floured cherries
Turn half of the batter immediately into the pan. Rapidly spread the cherries on top, and cover with the rest of the batter, running it up to rim of pan on all sides with rubber spatula. Pan will be ⅔ to ¾ full. Immediately proceed to the baking.
3) Baking—about 1 hour at 350 degrees
Set in the middle level of the preheated oven and bake for about an hour. Cake is done when it has risen to fill the pan, is lightly browned, and a skewer plunged through the cake comes out clean. The top will crack, which is normal, and there will be very slight lines of shrinkage from pan in several areas. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then run a sharp, thin knife between sides of pan and cake; unmold onto a rack. Immediately peel paper off cake if it has adhered, and turn cake right-side up.
4) Serving and storing
Serve as is with tea or with fresh fruit desserts, slicing cake crosswise like a loaf of bread. To store, wrap airtight and refrigerate or freeze, but bring to room temperature before serving for best flavor and texture.
LE GÉNOISE ÉLECTRIQUE
[Light, Yellow, Whole-egg Cake, for Layered Cakes and Petits Fours]
Génoise is one of the basic French cakes used for petits fours and fancy filled cakes. The classic method is to beat whole eggs and sugar over hot water until the mixture is warm and thick, then to beat it at room temperature until it is cool and even thicker. An electric mixer will accomplish almost the same thickness of batter, and works perfectly well when you are adding only a small amount of butter, as in the following recipe. Typical of the best French cakes, there is no baking powder here, meaning that you must fold the flour and butter into the cake batter with such speed and delicacy that you do not deflate it, and the cake will rise as it should in the oven. Typically again, this is a low-lying cake of 1½ inches that is usually split in half for filling and frosting. If you like a high layered cake, make two of them for 4 layers. Use any shape of pan you wish; a square or rectangular pan is easiest for petits fours.
For a 4-cup pan, such as a round one 8 by 1½ inches
1) The cake batter
4 Tb (½ stick) butter in a small saucepan
An 8- by 1½-inch round cake pan, bottom lined with waxed paper, interior of pan buttered and floured
⅔ cup cake flour (measure by scooping dry-measure cups into flour and sweeping off excess with a knife)
A sieve or sifter
A 12-inch square of waxed paper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set rack in middle level. Melt butter and set aside. Prepare cake pan; measure flour and sift or sieve onto waxed paper.
3 “large” eggs (⅔ cup)
½ cup sugar
1½ tsp vanilla extract
The grated rind of 1 lemon
A pinch of salt
An electric mixer with large (3- to 3½-quart) bowl
A rubber spatula
Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, lemon rind, and salt for 5 to 10 minutes or more, depending on efficiency of mixer, until very thick, pale yellow, and mixture forms a definite and slowly dissolving ribbon when a bit is lifted and falls back on surface.
Then remove bowl from stand, if you have that kind of mixer, and with one hand, sift on ¼ of the flour and rapidly cut down through batter and out to side with rubber spatula, rotating bowl and repeating the movement quickly 6 to 8 times, until flour is almost incorporated. Sprinkle on half the remaining flour, and when almost incorporated, fold in ⅓ of the tepid melted butter; continue alternating butter and flour until all (except milky residue at bottom of butter pan) is incorporated. Do not overmix: batter must retain its original volume.
Immediately turn batter into prepared pan, running it up to the edge all around with spatula. Bang lightly on table, and place at once in preheated oven.
2) Baking and cooling—baking time 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Cake is done when top is spongy if pressed, and when cake shows a hairline of shrinkage from pan at one or two places around the edge.
When done, remove cake from oven and let cool 10 minutes in pan. Then reverse onto a rack, and in a few minutes the cake will drop out of the pan. Peel paper off bottom of cake if it has adhered.
When cool, in 1½ to 2 hours, fill and ice any way that you wish; suggestions follow. If you are not going to fill and ice the cake when cool, wrap airtight (it dries out easily), and refrigerate for several days, or freeze for several months.
3) Filling and frosting suggestions
Fill and frost the génoise in any manner you wish; besides the Mocha butter cream and chocolate fondant suggested here, see the list of possibilities.
Crème au Beurre à la Meringue Italienne
[Meringue Butter-cream Filling and Frosting]
For about 2½ cups
½ the recipe for meringue italienne (sugar syrup whipped into beaten egg whites), Step 1
An electric mixer
8 to 10 ounces (2 to 2½ sticks) unsalted butter in a bowl
2 Tb rum or kirsch
1 Tb instant coffee dissolved in 2 Tb boiling water, and cooled
When the meringue mixture has been beaten until cool with the electric mixer, it is ready to receive the butter. Cut up butter, if cold, and beat over heat for a moment until it starts to melt; continue beating with electric mixer or wooden spoon until butter is soft and fluffy. (If by chance you have heated butter too much, beat over cold water to reconstitute it.)
By dollops, beat the equivalent of 2 sticks of the butter into the meringue, then beat in the rum or kirsch and droplets of coffee until butter cream is a light coffee color. If butter cream turns grainy after addition of liquids, beat in more of the butter by spoonfuls to smooth it out again. Cover and chill, until of easy spreading consistency.
(*) Butter cream may be frozen; when thawed, beat in more softened butter to smooth it, along with a little more liqueur if you feel it necessary.
Frosting the cake
The cool génoise cake
A long, sharp thin knife for splitting the cake
A cake rack set over a pizza tray or baking sheet
2 Tb rum or kirsch
The chilled butter cream (beaten to a smooth consistency)
A flexible-blade spatula
A quart measure of hot water
(Illustrated directions for splitting, filling, and frosting cakes are in Volume I, pages 673–5.) Cake is to be frosted upside down, meaning that the part that was at the bottom of the pan is considered to be the top of the cake; this is because sides must slant slightly outward for fondant to cover them easily, later. Cut a tiny wedge up side of cake to guide you in re-forming it. Slice cake in half, making 2 layers; turn them cut-side up and sprinkle with rum or kirsch.
Spread about ⅓ the butter cream on bottom layer of cake, and replace top layer, lining it up with wedge. Being sure butter cream is smooth, spread all but ½ cup over top and sides of cake. Even frosting with spatula dipped in hot water, making sides as smooth as possible; retain or even exaggerate their outward slant toward bottom of cake. Set in freezer or refrigerate for about half an hour, until frosting is well set. (Smooth again with spatula dipped in hot water if necessary.)
3 cups chocolate-flavored fondant
A flexible-blade spatula
The reserved ½ cup of butter cream, chilled
A paper decorating cone
When frosting has set, and with cake on its rack set over a tray to catch dripp
ings, heat fondant just enough for it to be liquefied and of easy pouring consistency. Pour all of it at once over the top of the cake, rapidly spreading it, if necessary, with spatula so that it falls evenly over the sides. It sets very quickly, and can be touched only when liquid.
When set, in a few minutes, pack chilled but smooth and malleable butter cream into paper cone and squeeze out whatever decorative motif your creative spirit suggests to you.
Store cake in refrigerator, but remove to room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before serving so that fondant will regain its bloom.
GTEAU AUX NOIX—LE SAINT-ANDRÉ
[Walnut Cake]
The Saint-André is a delicious walnut-filled creation that can be either a dessert or a cake. If you are not shelling your own top-quality walnuts, use the vacuum-packed nut meats that come in cans to be sure of freshness.
For a 9- by 1½-inch cake
1) Preliminaries—preheat oven to 350 degrees
A 6-cup cake pan (9 by 1½ inches if round), bottom lined with waxed paper, pan buttered and floured
4 ounces (1 cup) walnut meats, either whole or chopped
3 Tb sugar
An electric blender
A sheet of waxed paper
⅓ cup all-purpose flour (measure by dipping dry-measure cup into flour and leveling off with knife)
A sieve
A rubber spatula
4 Tb soft butter in a 1-quart bowl
A wooden spoon
Prepare cake pan. Grind half the nuts with half the sugar in the blender, turn out onto the waxed paper; grind the rest of the nuts and sugar, and add to the first half. Sieve the flour over the nuts and mix well with rubber spatula, smoothing out any lumps in the mixture. Soften the butter in the bowl and beat to a creamy mayonnaise-like consistency. Set aside.
2) The cake batter
½ cup sugar
3 “large” eggs
An electric mixer and 3- to 4-quart bowl
2 Tb kirsch
Pinch of salt
The softened butter
A rubber spatula
The ground walnuts
The prepared cake pan
Beat the sugar and eggs with the kirsch and salt for a moment at low speed to blend, then increase speed to high and beat several minutes (7 to 8 with a handheld machine) until mixture is pale, fluffy, doubled in volume, and holds in soft peaks. Remove bowl from stand. Scoop a 2-spoonful dollop of egg mixture into the softened butter and mix with rubber spatula; set aside. Sprinkle ⅓ of the ground nuts over the egg mixture and delicately fold them in with a rubber spatula, being careful to deflate the eggs as little as possible. When almost incorporated, add the same amount again, fold, and sprinkle on the remainder. When that is almost incorporated, add the creamy butter and rapidly fold in. Turn batter into cake pan, which will be about ⅔ filled. Tilt pan to run batter up to rim all around, bang lightly on table, and set immediately in middle level of preheated 350-degree oven.
3) Baking—about 30 minutes at 350 degrees
In about 20 minutes the cake will have risen to the top of the pan; in another 10 minutes it will have sunk slightly, and will show a very faint line of shrinkage at points around edge of pan, indicating that the cake is done. Remove from oven, and let cool 10 minutes. Run a knife around cake, and reverse onto a rack; in 5 minutes or so, cake will drop out of pan. Peel paper off bottom of cake in a few minutes, when it has loosened.
(*) When cold, wrap airtight and refrigerate or freeze.
TO SERVE AS A DESSERT
2 cups crème Chantilly (lightly whipped cream flavored with vanilla or liqueur, and sweetened with confectioner’s sugar)
Either chopped walnuts or caramelized walnuts;
Or grated or shaved chocolate and the chocolate sauce here
Transfer cake to a serving dish, spread crème Chantilly over it, reserving some to pass in a bowl. Decorate top of cake with walnuts or chocolate. Pass chocolate sauce separately.
TO SERVE AS A CAKE
Le Saint-André aux Abricots
[Walnut Cake with Apricot Filling, Glazed with Fondant]
This is very attractive. The cake is split and filled with apricots, re-formed and glazed with apricot; caramelized walnut brittle, pralin aux noix, is brushed against the sides; white fondant is spread over the top with incrustations of caramelized walnuts.
For the 9- by 1½-inch walnut cake, serving 6 to 8
½ package (½ Tb) unflavored powdered gelatin softened in a small saucepan with 2 Tb kirsch
The 1½ cups apricot filling
Heat softened gelatin mixture until gelatin has completely dissolved, then stir into apricot filling. Cut a tiny wedge in side of cake, then slice in half, making 2 layers. When apricot filling is cold and has set enough for spreading, spoon it over bottom layer of cake; replace top layer, lining it up with wedge.
⅔ cup apricot jam (preserves) forced through a sieve into a small saucepan
2 Tb sugar
A wooden spoon
About 1 cup walnut brittle, or chopped walnut meats
Bring strained apricot jam and sugar to the boil, stirring, for several minutes until last drops to fall from spoon are sticky. Paint top and sides of cake with the glaze. When glaze has set slightly, brush brittle or chopped walnuts against sides of cake all around.
About ½ cup kirsch-flavored white fondant
About 1 dozen caramelized walnut halves (more if you wish)
Heat fondant over hot water until smooth and of spreading consistency; rapidly spread as even a layer as possible over top of cake. While fondant is still quite soft, press the walnuts into it, arranging them around the edge of the cake or in any manner you wish. (If fondant on top of cake has hardened, melt a little more and brush on bottom of walnuts as you stick them on the cake.)
(*) Cake will keep several days when covered airtight in the refrigerator, or it may be frozen for several weeks, at least.
LA CHARLOTTE AFRICAINE
[Chocolate Dessert or Layer-cake Made from Leftover Cake]
When you find yourself with leftover wedding cake, pound cake, sponge cake, or even store-bought cake of a reasonably homemade quality, use it again to make another cake. Pound cake is particularly good for this; if you have sponge cake, you may wish to enrich the mixture with a little butter. This recipe is easy to make with the electric mixer when you follow the sequences outlined here. The cake is baked in a dish or pan 4 to 5 inches deep, like a French charlotte mold; treat it as a dessert with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, or as a cake with filling and icing.
For a 6-inch cake 3 to 4 inches high, serving 8 to 10
1) The cake batter
The cake pan: a 2-quart charlotte mold or cylindrical baking dish 4 to 5 inches deep
½ Tb soft butter
A round of waxed paper
2 Tb flour
8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate
A 2-quart saucepan
¾ cup milk
A wooden spoon
8 ounces pound cake, wedding cake, sponge cake, ladyfingers, or other leftover white or yellow cake (about 2½ cups moderately pressed down)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees for Step 2. Prepare cake pan by smearing butter inside, fitting round of paper in bottom, buttering that, rolling flour around interior and knocking out excess. Break chocolate into saucepan, add the milk, and stir with a wooden spoon over moderate heat until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove any icing or filling from leftover cake, and shred cake into crumbs; stir into the chocolate mixture.
An electric mixer with small bowl
4 egg whites at room temperature
Pinch of salt
¼ tsp cream of tartar
3 Tb sugar
Being sure beaters and bowl are clean and dry, beat egg whites at moderate speed until foamy; beat in salt and cream of tartar. Gradually increase speed to fast, beating until soft peaks are formed. A tablespoon at a time, and beating 30 seconds between spoonfuls, beat in the sugar, and continue beat
ing at high speed until stiff peaks are formed. Proceed immediately to next paragraph.
The mixer with large bowl
4 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
2 Tb dark rum or orange liqueur
The tepid chocolate mixture from first paragraph
Optional: 3 to 4 Tb soft butter
With the same electric mixer blades but in a different bowl, proceed at once to the egg yolks. Gradually beat the sugar into the yolks and continue beating until mixture is thick and pale yellow, and a bit lifted in the beaters falls back on the surface in a slowly dissolving ribbon. Beat in the rum or liqueur and the chocolate mixture, continuing for 30 seconds or so to make sure the batter is smooth and free of lumps. Beat in optional butter if you are using sponge cake or ladyfingers, and proceed immediately to next paragraph.
A rubber spatula
The beaten egg whites
The prepared cake pan
With spatula, stir ¼ of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it; scoop the rest of the egg whites on top and delicately fold in. Turn batter into prepared pan, tilt pan in all directions to run batter up to rim all around. (Pan will be ⅔ to ¾ filled.) Set at once in middle level of preheated oven.