Adapted from Genoa Cake, or Pain de Genes
Ingredients:
4 large eggs
250g marzipan
60g flour
1tsp vanilla extract
Blend the marzipan into the eggs. If using a stand mixer, I recommend trying the dough hook, and scrape the bottom regularly. . You may also use a blender.
Switch to a whisk and whip at medium speed for at least 15 minutes, until the mixture is very light, very pale and very fluffy.
Whisk in the flour and vanilla extract.
Pour into a 22.5cm pan and bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes.
Notes:
The annoying part is working the eggs and marzipan into a uniform paste. Using a blender is fastest, but you will need to clean it -- and also waste batter transferring it to different bowls and such.
This was a cake designed from laziness. It takes similar proportions to the Genoa Cake, but fluffs it up with a machine and gets rid of the heating eggs and almond paste bit.
The pan does not need to be very tall, as the cake does not rise very much in the oven.
As it does not rise very much in the oven, it also stays pretty flat. If you were to stack the cake, it probably will not need levelling.
It would be lovely topped with fruit and glazed, or sandwiched with lightly sweetened custard.
Tasting Notes:
The texture is spectacularly good. Very soft, fine and moist.
It does not taste as strongly almondy as the Genoa Cake recipe does, but it is still very fragrant.
In some ways, it takes the best things of the Genoa Cake and makes it better with what I consider it to be superior texture.
Showing posts with label almond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label almond. Show all posts
Monday, 10 August 2015
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Toscakaka
Adapted from Poires au Chocolat
Ingredients:
Cake:
100g soured milk
100g butter
1tbsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
20g glucose
130g sugar
200g flour
5g baking powder
3g salt
Almond topping:
180g butter
180g sugar
80g heavy cream
230g flaked almonds
1/8 tsp salt
Cake:
Line the bottom of a 25cm springform tin.
Melt the butter, and stir in the soured milk. Leave to cool.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt.
Crack eggs into mixer bowl, add sugar and glucose. Whisk at medium speed until thick and creamy. It should leave a trail long enough for you to write an initial.
Sift in a third of the flour, and then whisk until it disappears. Pour in half the butter-milk mixture. Alternate in this way until the flour is all in.
Scrape the bottom and fold it roughly (without deflating the mixture) to make sure that it is even.
Pour into tin and bake at 160C.
Remove when a skewer comes out clean -- about 25 minutes -- and turn the heat up to 200C.
Almond topping:
After the cake has been in the oven for 20 minutes or so, start making the topping.
Dump the butter, sugar and cream into a pot. Heat on medium, while stirring. When it turns into a glossy mixture with large bubbles, remove from stove, and pour in the almonds.
Stir to coat the almonds in the mixture.
Pour the almond topping on the cake, spreading it around with a spatula. Put it back in the oven for about 8 minutes. Watch the cake, and take it out when the topping is shiny and brown but before it burns.
Notes:
Be mindful of the temperature of the eggs. If they are too cold, the mixture will curdle a tiny bit when you add in the soured milk and butter mixture, and the texture of the cake will be coarser.
This makes for a very topping heavy cake. You can reduce it a bit, if you like.
I make more caramel mixture than is needed for the almonds to adhere to the cake because I like it to soak a little into the cake too. It helps make the cake a little less dry in case you forgot to take it out of the oven on time too.
The cake is best on the day it is made. The next day, warm it up a little in the oven. It makes the caramel chewy rather than crisp again, but it is definitely better sloppy caramel.
Ingredients:
Cake:
100g soured milk
100g butter
1tbsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
20g glucose
130g sugar
200g flour
5g baking powder
3g salt
Almond topping:
180g butter
180g sugar
80g heavy cream
230g flaked almonds
1/8 tsp salt
Cake:
Line the bottom of a 25cm springform tin.
Melt the butter, and stir in the soured milk. Leave to cool.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt.
Crack eggs into mixer bowl, add sugar and glucose. Whisk at medium speed until thick and creamy. It should leave a trail long enough for you to write an initial.
Sift in a third of the flour, and then whisk until it disappears. Pour in half the butter-milk mixture. Alternate in this way until the flour is all in.
Scrape the bottom and fold it roughly (without deflating the mixture) to make sure that it is even.
Pour into tin and bake at 160C.
Remove when a skewer comes out clean -- about 25 minutes -- and turn the heat up to 200C.
Almond topping:
After the cake has been in the oven for 20 minutes or so, start making the topping.
Dump the butter, sugar and cream into a pot. Heat on medium, while stirring. When it turns into a glossy mixture with large bubbles, remove from stove, and pour in the almonds.
Stir to coat the almonds in the mixture.
Pour the almond topping on the cake, spreading it around with a spatula. Put it back in the oven for about 8 minutes. Watch the cake, and take it out when the topping is shiny and brown but before it burns.
Notes:
Be mindful of the temperature of the eggs. If they are too cold, the mixture will curdle a tiny bit when you add in the soured milk and butter mixture, and the texture of the cake will be coarser.
This makes for a very topping heavy cake. You can reduce it a bit, if you like.
I make more caramel mixture than is needed for the almonds to adhere to the cake because I like it to soak a little into the cake too. It helps make the cake a little less dry in case you forgot to take it out of the oven on time too.
The cake is best on the day it is made. The next day, warm it up a little in the oven. It makes the caramel chewy rather than crisp again, but it is definitely better sloppy caramel.
Sunday, 24 May 2015
Genoa Cake, or Pain de Genes
Adapted from From Buenos Aires to Paris, originally a Pierre Hermes recipe
Ingredients:
3 eggs -- 55g each
200g marzipan -- see notes
50g all-purpose flour
40g butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp rum
Line the bottom of a 18cm round tin.
Blend the marzipan with the eggs -- see notes.
Put the marzipan mixture over a hot water bath, and whisk until it hits 60C.
Take off heat.
Whip the marzipan mixture until you can drizzle the outline of a star over the mixture, and it lasts long enough to see complete picture.
Whisk in the rum.
Whisk in the butter.
Whisk in the flour.
Bake at 180C for 20 minutes, or until the skewer comes out clean.
When cool, wrap in clingwrap and store at room temperature for 2 days.
Notes:
The marzipan should be at least 52% almond, and it should still be soft when you take it out the package.
The original recipe suggests beating the eggs in one at a time with a stand mixer. Given the texture of the marzipan, I think using a blender is faster. I used a stick blender, but if I were making a larger quantity, I would chuck all the eggs and marzipan into a jug blender and whizz away. It would probably be less messy.
I used cacao rum for this, but I do not see why you could not use extract (perhaps a little less, maybe a tsp, or 1.5 tsp) instead. To be honest, the rum flavor was not very noticeable anyway.
I bet this cake freezes fairly well, and would be something awesome to have in the fridge for last minute toasting to serve with ice cream or poached fruit.
Tasting Notes:
Pretty good. This actually makes a fairly small cake, so you might want to double it because it is an excellent cake.
Ingredients:
3 eggs -- 55g each
200g marzipan -- see notes
50g all-purpose flour
40g butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp rum
Line the bottom of a 18cm round tin.
Blend the marzipan with the eggs -- see notes.
Put the marzipan mixture over a hot water bath, and whisk until it hits 60C.
Take off heat.
Whip the marzipan mixture until you can drizzle the outline of a star over the mixture, and it lasts long enough to see complete picture.
Whisk in the rum.
Whisk in the butter.
Whisk in the flour.
Bake at 180C for 20 minutes, or until the skewer comes out clean.
When cool, wrap in clingwrap and store at room temperature for 2 days.
Notes:
The marzipan should be at least 52% almond, and it should still be soft when you take it out the package.
The original recipe suggests beating the eggs in one at a time with a stand mixer. Given the texture of the marzipan, I think using a blender is faster. I used a stick blender, but if I were making a larger quantity, I would chuck all the eggs and marzipan into a jug blender and whizz away. It would probably be less messy.
I used cacao rum for this, but I do not see why you could not use extract (perhaps a little less, maybe a tsp, or 1.5 tsp) instead. To be honest, the rum flavor was not very noticeable anyway.
I bet this cake freezes fairly well, and would be something awesome to have in the fridge for last minute toasting to serve with ice cream or poached fruit.
Tasting Notes:
Pretty good. This actually makes a fairly small cake, so you might want to double it because it is an excellent cake.
Thursday, 12 February 2015
Marzipan Chocolate Cake
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Ingredients:
220g Marzipan -- 28% almonds, from Odense
180g whole almonds -- roasted
45g cornstarch
5 jumbo eggs
1/4 tsp salt
32g cocoa powder
80g butter
10g vanilla extract
Melt butter. Take off heat, and toss in the cocoa powder. Whisk until smooth right away.
Whilst blending, it is important to scrape down the sides and bottom of the blender every so often.
Put the marzipan and almonds into the blender and grind until fine. If there are some almond chunks still, that is fine. It is more important that you do NOT hit the nut butter stage. Toss in the cornstarch, and mix briefly.
Add eggs one at a time, blending in between. Add the vanilla extract and salt.
Pour in the cocoa + butter mixture and blend some more.
Divide into tins, and bake at 180C. It is ready when a toothpick comes out clean.
After 5-10 minutes, turn them out onto a rack. You should do this while the cakes are still hot, before they start steaming in the pan.
Notes:
When grinding the marzipan and almonds together, it is very important that you do not reach the point where the almonds start releasing oil. If there are still chunks of almond, it will blend down as you add in the eggs.
I am mostly doing this because I have marzipan with a very low almond content. The good stuff has a minimum of 53%. You might be able to use that straight up. My proportions of almond to marzipan is adjusted to achieve 60% almonds.
I poured out the almond + egg mixture into the pot with the cocoa powder + butter and whisked it in by hand. I only did this because I was not sure if my blender mixed everything properly. The next time, I'll just pour the butter mixture into the blender.
I divided the batter into 5 bear-shaped tins. They contain 150g of batter each, with leftovers. The original recipe suggests a 20cm tin, and I think that sounds about right to me.
For 150g of batter in a short tin, I only needed 20 minutes before the toothpick came out clean.
Tasting Notes:
Very dense and heavy. I might see about using less eggs next time.
Pierre Hermes has a similar recipe that involves heating the egg + marzipan mixture to 60C, I might give that a shot the next time.
Either skip the cocoa powder altogether -- some almond extract or rum might be nice -- or add more. The chocolate favor was not strong enough.
The cakes popped out of the tins nicely, and the lines from my bear tins were clearly delineated.
One of the bears had a giant bubble. Next time, rap the pans on the table before baking, or pour the batter in from a greater height.
Ingredients:
220g Marzipan -- 28% almonds, from Odense
180g whole almonds -- roasted
45g cornstarch
5 jumbo eggs
1/4 tsp salt
32g cocoa powder
80g butter
10g vanilla extract
Melt butter. Take off heat, and toss in the cocoa powder. Whisk until smooth right away.
Whilst blending, it is important to scrape down the sides and bottom of the blender every so often.
Put the marzipan and almonds into the blender and grind until fine. If there are some almond chunks still, that is fine. It is more important that you do NOT hit the nut butter stage. Toss in the cornstarch, and mix briefly.
Add eggs one at a time, blending in between. Add the vanilla extract and salt.
Pour in the cocoa + butter mixture and blend some more.
Divide into tins, and bake at 180C. It is ready when a toothpick comes out clean.
After 5-10 minutes, turn them out onto a rack. You should do this while the cakes are still hot, before they start steaming in the pan.
Notes:
When grinding the marzipan and almonds together, it is very important that you do not reach the point where the almonds start releasing oil. If there are still chunks of almond, it will blend down as you add in the eggs.
I am mostly doing this because I have marzipan with a very low almond content. The good stuff has a minimum of 53%. You might be able to use that straight up. My proportions of almond to marzipan is adjusted to achieve 60% almonds.
I poured out the almond + egg mixture into the pot with the cocoa powder + butter and whisked it in by hand. I only did this because I was not sure if my blender mixed everything properly. The next time, I'll just pour the butter mixture into the blender.
I divided the batter into 5 bear-shaped tins. They contain 150g of batter each, with leftovers. The original recipe suggests a 20cm tin, and I think that sounds about right to me.
For 150g of batter in a short tin, I only needed 20 minutes before the toothpick came out clean.
Tasting Notes:
Very dense and heavy. I might see about using less eggs next time.
Pierre Hermes has a similar recipe that involves heating the egg + marzipan mixture to 60C, I might give that a shot the next time.
Either skip the cocoa powder altogether -- some almond extract or rum might be nice -- or add more. The chocolate favor was not strong enough.
The cakes popped out of the tins nicely, and the lines from my bear tins were clearly delineated.
One of the bears had a giant bubble. Next time, rap the pans on the table before baking, or pour the batter in from a greater height.
Friday, 23 January 2015
Cinnamon Tarta de Santiago
Original Recipe by Poires au Chocolat
Ingredients:
250g ground almonds -- I used natural for a speckled look
250g sugar
6 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
Line the base of a 25cm round tin. Preheat oven to 180C.
Separate 5 eggs. Crack the last egg into the bowl with the egg yolks.
Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks.
Whip the egg yolk + egg mixture until pale, then tip in the sugar and continue whipping. It is ready when you can draw a letter A with the mixture, and the letter does not disappear until it is complete.
Whisk in the almonds and cinnamon and ginger and salt. This mixture will be quite stiff, but keep whisking until it is uniform and there are no clumps of dry stuff. Use a spatula to wipe off the beaters / whisk, and then scrape the bottom to make sure.
Fold the egg whites into the almond mixture in thirds carefully, to avoid deflating the egg whites too much. Make sure there are no streaks of egg white or clumps of almonds mixture, then scrape the bowl into the prepared tin.
Bake at 180C for 40-45 minutes. It is ready when the middle no longer jiggles and a skewer comes out dry.
Let cool in tin, then turn out to a plate.
Notes:
I made the changes after trialling the original recipe a couple of times. This version is moister, without losing too much lightness.
You can change the spices, or omit them completely. The original recipe uses lemon zest, but my man does not like lemons very much.
Ingredients:
250g ground almonds -- I used natural for a speckled look
250g sugar
6 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
Line the base of a 25cm round tin. Preheat oven to 180C.
Separate 5 eggs. Crack the last egg into the bowl with the egg yolks.
Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks.
Whip the egg yolk + egg mixture until pale, then tip in the sugar and continue whipping. It is ready when you can draw a letter A with the mixture, and the letter does not disappear until it is complete.
Whisk in the almonds and cinnamon and ginger and salt. This mixture will be quite stiff, but keep whisking until it is uniform and there are no clumps of dry stuff. Use a spatula to wipe off the beaters / whisk, and then scrape the bottom to make sure.
Fold the egg whites into the almond mixture in thirds carefully, to avoid deflating the egg whites too much. Make sure there are no streaks of egg white or clumps of almonds mixture, then scrape the bowl into the prepared tin.
Bake at 180C for 40-45 minutes. It is ready when the middle no longer jiggles and a skewer comes out dry.
Let cool in tin, then turn out to a plate.
Notes:
I made the changes after trialling the original recipe a couple of times. This version is moister, without losing too much lightness.
You can change the spices, or omit them completely. The original recipe uses lemon zest, but my man does not like lemons very much.
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