“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight. “
M. F. K. Fisher
‘Danish Braid’ from Sherry Yard’s ‘The Secrets of Baking’
Hello from a Daring Baker who is now a Danish Braider!! The day is finally here when this ‘daring group of bakers’ present their monthly challenge. This month, we were dared to bake a Danish Braid…a challenge hosted by Kelly of Sass & Veracity, and Ben of What’s Cookin’?What a fun challenge it turned out to be, even though I was overtaken by agony & ecstasy when I read about it.
Agony because anything to do with pastry & oodles of butter doesn’t augur well at 40 degrees C + temperatures…I had visions of rivers of butter & runny pastry dough! Ecstasy because I love a good Danish & would have never attempted such a wonderful pastry had it not been posted in a DB challenge!
Up close & personal…check out my braid!
Thanks to the Danes who have popularised this pastry. It is a wonderful, wonderful pastry… flaky, light, addictive & high on flavour. When I read that cardamom is traditional in Scandinavian breads, I was quite surprised. Don’t often here of cardamom being used in the West; I tend to associate the flavour more with the Middle-East & the Indian sub-continent.
Thoughts flew though my head…the first one obviously being fellow DB Jasmine @ Confessions of a Cardamom Addict! Then thought of how the men in my house would love it because DH is almost a cardamom addict & the son is not far behind. The daughter is an ‘anything Mama makes’ addict….very safe ground for all culinary adventures. The only thought that bothered me was egg in the pastry dough…did put me off initially…but daring I have to be, so firmly banished any sucheggy thoughts from my mind!
A delightful experience it was… only wish it were winter. Chilling didn’t matter because of the ‘virtual oven’ outdoors & I procrastinated for LONG! Postponing the bake day by day. Destiny stepped in…the monsoons arrived 2 weeks ahead of time for the first time ever recorded( in a 108 years!!). Waited a day to make sure the weather would hold, & despite high humidity levels got started. Handling the dough was a pain, but the overall feeling was pure JOY!!! Thank you Kelly & Ben (my dear blogging friend who I share my ‘yeastly‘ strengths with)…this has been my most enjoyable & yummy DB challenge to date. Think you can fathom my sheer JOY by the number of pictures I clicked!!
Just before it disappeared…
The braid was wonderful…more so because I checked out theJulia Child link (it’s fabulous) & a you-tube video before I started; got an immense boost of confidence (which led to slight over browning!!). It was devoured before the day was done…& EVERYONE LOVED IT!! I gave it a ‘peach preserves & marzipan‘ filling (both from scratch as required)…delicious!
Peach preserves that I madethe Julia Child way… peel, pit & chop peaches. Put them in a microwaveable bowl with 1/2 cup sugar & any spices you like (I added cardamom & cinnamon to tie up the flavours). Microwave for 18 minutes, uncovered, mash around a bit, squeeze a lime in & cool. Chill until ready to use!! You can find my marzipan recipe here.
Danish pastry is a sweet pastry which has become a speciality of Denmark and is popular throughout the industrialized world, although the form it takes can differ significantly from country to country. The ingredients include flour, yeast, milk, eggs, and generous amounts of butter. A yeast dough is rolled out thinly, coated with butter, and then folded into numerous layers. If necessary, the dough is chilled to ease handling. The rolling, buttering, folding, and chilling is repeated several times to create a dough which is buttery and flaky.Savoury Danish…Mushrooms, Garlic ‘n’ Cheese
We were allowed any deviations in filling & appearance after making the 1 mandatory braid…so the mind began thinking. I made a savoury roll with a mushroom,garlic,cheese filling…
Here’s what I did for the filling…Sauteed some chopped garlic in olive oil for a minute, tossed in finely sliced button mushrooms & stir fried them till all the liquid dried up, added lots of finely chopped coriander leaves, seasoned it with salt & pepper, added the squeeze of a lime…
Cooled the filling, rolled out a 1/4 of the same (very slightly sweet but it was fine) dough to a rectangle. Spread the filling uniformly, grated cheddar on top & rolled it like a Swiss roll. Sealed the 2 open ends, gave it a brushing of egg-white , made some knife cuts on top & gave it a generous sprinkling of sea salt. Baked it for 10 minutes on 200degrees C, & a further 10-12 minutes at 165 degrees C. Was delicious!
Made for a delicious meal with blanched green beans tossed in grill seasoning, a tsp of butter & a dollop of cream cheese; a cold potato-onion salad in hung yogurt with herbs & lime juice; & stuffed grilled chicken breasts. Stuffed the chicken with a bit of the same mushroom filling to tie up all the flavours together!
And the Danish adventure continued…
…In the evening, the last 1/4 of the dough went into smaller sweet Danish pastries. Shapes etc taken from an old baking book, ‘Baking Course’ by Isabel Moore which I had bought more than 20 years ago. Had always looked at the shapes longingly, & never thought I would get as far as making them. I DID!! This challenge gave us 3 days of delecable happiness!You can find the recipe at Bens‘hereor Kellys‘ here…it’s a great experience & shall most certainly be made again in winter, cardamom & all. Please do stop by HERE & see the rest of the Danish Braiders, ooops again, Daring Bakers (DB’s whichever way you look at ’em) enjoying braiding this beautiful pastry!
Time & again I return to making my first love in cakes, the pound cake. I have 1 bundt pan which I guard with my life & love the way it turns out my precious pound cake. Perfect & pretty every single time, for the ‘once in a while’ rich buttery cake that uses 200gms of butter, this is just the most satisfying bake.
A traditional British Pound Cake recipe would specify one pound each of flour, butter, eggs (8 eggs), sugar, and several kinds of dried fruit (currants, sultanas, and raisins, with perhaps a lesser quantity of glacé cherries). (These quantities are too great for most modern families, but the cake can be made with half quantities or less.) It is usual to weigh the eggs first and then use the same weights of the other ingredients; with a traditional pair of kitchen scales, the eggs are simply used instead of weights.
I made this version of the pound cake a few days ago with 2 things in mind…first I wanted to use flavoured orange sugar because I had bought some really orange oranges, & secondly, I wanted to use up some left-over ganache which was crying to be used every time I opened the fridge.
The original recipe is one I have adapted from Better Homes & Gardens & is my all time favourite recipe; it gives me a beautiful crumb & rich texture. The only deviation from the basic recipe is that I always substitute 1/2 a cup of plain flour with whole-wheat flour. Ingredients: Butter- 1 cup or 200gms Eggs – 4 (large) Sugar – 1 cup, granular
Zest of 2 oranges Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
Flour – 1 1/2 cups Whole-wheat flour – 1/2 cup Baking powder – 1 tsp Salt – 1 pinch Ganache – 1/2 cup (Recipe here)
Method:
Grease and flour a 10″ bundt pan. Preheat oven to 325deg/175deg .
Sift together both flours + baking powder+ salt .
Cream butter and orange sugar well, & then beat in the eggs 1 by 1, beating well after each addition.
Beat in essence .
On low speed, beat in the flour bit by bit till well incorporated (4-5 goes) .
Turn 1/2 the batter into pan, layer evenly with theganache, & then top with the rest of the batter. Bake for approx 1 hr till done . (If top seems to be getting too brown, loosely cover top with foil until done.)
Leave in pan for 10 mins to cool, and then turn it out on rack to cool completely.
Note: Can also make a Marble Pound Cake, by folding the ganache into 1/3 of the batter OR ……a Coffee &Dark Chocolate Chip Pound Cake one too.
Mix 1 tbsp of coffee into 1 tbsp of hot water & let it cool. Beat it in after the eggs & essence have been added. Fold in dark chocolate chips after the flour has been mixed in. This is a yummy version & my personal favourite!!
(Am off down South for a week…will be missing for a few days. See you soon!!)
“Cuisine is the tactile connection we have to breathing history. History and culture offer us a vibrant living society that we taste through cuisine.All cuisine is a reflection of the society from which it emanates … in the end cuisine is the result of culture”
Clifford Wright
Chicken Korma…home-made & finger licking good!
There was an article in the ‘Daily Mail’ a while ago, which was republished in the’ Mail Today’, here in India, more than a month ago (May 16, 2008 pg 15). It talked about junk food as ‘seen by most of us as an unhealthy but occasional treat. A survey in the UK has revealed just how bad a takeaway can be. Most meals surveyed exceeded safe limits of fat & salt content, the doner kebab being the worst offender, which can contain as much fat as a wine glass full of cooking oil’! PHEW!! ‘Overall, 86 percent of the meals had dangerously high fat content and 72 percent had high salt content, according to the research by UK’s Hampshire County Council.’
‘The chicken korma, with a fat content of 95.4g (136% of a woman’s GDA) & a salt content of 1.1g 18.3% of GDA, made it to the list too. Others included a king prawn chowmein, a lamb curry, a medium pizza with garlic bread.’ It was heartening to read that ‘there are attempts in UK to encourage chefs to use less fat & salt.’ To quote Jen Green, a scientific consultant on the survey, ” If the chef is looking to make a curry or a stir-fry, it would be useful if they had in mind how much fat & salt they put in it. It is surprising how little you need to put flavour.” I couldn’t agree more…with health issues looming large, in an already hectic & stressed lifestyle, this is food for thought!
To convert the thought back into food, here is a flavourful, simple chicken curry for the soul & spirit!
The kormais a mild, pale, creamy, curry dish originating in India. Korma has its roots in the Mughlai cuisine of North India. It is a characteristically creamy and silky Persian-Indian dish which can be traced back to the 16th century and the Mughal incursions into the North-Western parts of India and modern day Pakistan and Bangladesh.
This recipe comes from my sis in the US, also known as our family’s ‘chicken queen’, for never failing to come up with chicken in every avatar possible, from varied cuisines. North African, Mediterranean, Mexican, Indian, Middle-Eastern…the list goes on. This particular recipe is one she put together as an ‘amalgamation’ of several versions; fits the bill for a perfect & simple korma; one that uses everyday ingredients found on an Asian spice shelf. It’s been bookmarked in my folder for eons, so has to be on its way to Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments for her Bookmarked event….
Recipe…
Ingredients: Chicken – 1 broiler cut into pieces, the smaller the chicken the better , about 800gms (on the bone) Onion – 3-4 md/ 250 gms, sliced fine Green cardamom / Chotielaichi – 8-10 Cloves – 10-12 Cinnamon – 1 inch piece Peppercorns – 8-10 are optional Ginger paste – 2 tbsp Garlic paste – 2 tbsp Coriander / Dhaniapwdr – 5 tsp, sifted Chili pwdr – 2tsp / as per taste Paprika/Deghimirch – 1tsp Yogurt – 250 gms / 1 cup, whisked
Method:
Take oil in a heavy bottom pan and fry onions till a dark golden brown. Take them out, drain on kitchen towel and grind in a coffee grinder. Should be crisp dry when cool. (I crushed them between 2 sheets of absorbent paper; that absorbed some of the oil too, overall reducing the fat content)
In the same oil, put in cardamom, cloves,cinnamon & pepper and roast a little till the cloves swell up.
Immediately add ginger and garlic paste followed by the chicken and roast really well till the water reduces and the chicken looks light brown on all sides.
Cover and simmer for a few minutes on low heat.
Add coriander pwdr, chillipwdr and paprika and mix well..keep heat medium-low…
Then add well beaten yogurt, a little at a time, and roast for a while till it is well incorporated and makes a thickish gravy and the oil comes to the side.
Turn flame to simmer (very low), cover pan and cook for 10 minutes till the chicken is almost done. The chicken will cook in the water left behind by the yogurt.
The colour of the curry, at this point, will look insipid; don’t worry. The curry will come to life with a rich colour once the onion paste is added.
Now add the ground fried onion paste and mix well. Add some water, if required to make gravy…as much or as little as you like.
Let it come to a boil, then cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes for a last time.
“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Lewis Carroll
Drop Scones with whipped cream & mango
There are some meals that leave a mark on you, a stamp in your mind (or as in my case, on the DH’s)! The memories of the quintessential American breakfast my sister stirred up for us in Dallas last year is a case in point, & features in our foodie conversation ever so often. Whinge, whinge the man goes…why don’t you ever make pancakes? There is some block in my brain where I stubbornly DO NOT wish to get up early, hit the kitchen & make pancakes. But sometimes there are compulsions, & I had mine…a chef singing to me to make sure I delivered my promise of a ‘breakfast under 15 minutes’!! Heavens…I swung madly between mangoes, stuffed baked peaches, parfaits, smoothies! Then again, it had to be challenging, & something special. Was just a coincidence that night I was reading a very old baking book I had bought in 1986 (over 20 years ago!!)…‘Baking Course’, edited by Isabel Moore. Turning pages I stopped at scones…hmmm! A further read led me to Drop Scones (Pancakes) & my ‘breakfast under 15 minutes’ sang back to me. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone the brain said…have DH singing like a canary & have the Singing Chef join the chorus too! YAY!!
Quick ‘n’ Easy… Scrumptious Scotch Pancakes
This recipe was EASY. Say it loud, yell it out…EASY! I joined the chorus too, & was singing by the end of making my pancakes. The daughter was very excited, was up early & helped whisk the batter…2 minutes & it was done. Dropping them onto the griddle to putting them in the basket was a matter of minutes. Still my heart was beating like a timer for ‘the singing chef’s‘ 15 minute deadline for the call for an ‘Express Breakfast’…what absolute madness! I served these lovely pancakes/drop scones with unsweetened whipped cream, chopped mangoes, peach preserves & jam. Didn’t have maple syrup, but that didn’t matter.
DH said they reminded him of the ones he had had for breakfast at The Oberoi’s in Mumbai a while ago, & mine were better! WOOHOO!! They sold out like hot cakes, & the kids had a blast putting theirs’ together. Crossed another invisible barrier of stuff I stubbornly wouldn’t try…& now I wonder why?
Making them…
Pancakesare a type of flatbread prepared from a sweet batter that is cooked on a hot griddle or in a frying pan. They exist in several variations in many different local cuisines. Most pancakes are quick breads, although some are also made using a yeast-raised or fermented batter. Pancakes similar to the North American pancake but smaller (usually about 3.5 in / 9 cm in diameter) are known in the UK as Scotch pancakes or drop-scones (after the traditional method of dropping batter onto a griddle (a girdle in Scots)), and in northern England, Australia and New Zealand as pikelets. They can be served with jam and cream or just with butter. In Scotland pancakes are served at teatime but mostly as breakfast. Scottish and Irish pancakes, locally known as drop scones, pancakes or griddle cakes, are made from self-raising flour, eggs, sugar and milk with Irish pancakes being made with soda-flour and buttermilk.
THEY WERE GREAT…EXPRESS PANCAKES!!
I have pages of azillion books of pages bookmarked, enough to bind into more books, I have pages on the net bookmarked, I have blogevents to participate in bookmarked….& I have this one life to do it all & more in!! A day has 24 hours & the blessed month only about 30 days. Phew… to top it all off, the firm intent to make sure I leave a footprint at The Singing Chefs event at WBB for sure. I promised & then got to know of the theme…‘ExpressBreakfasts’ ie ‘in UNDER 15 MINUTES’!! O boy… it took me a good ten to calm the palpitations down & begin thinking in an organised manner; the next few hours were lost in futile searches online.My old book came to my rescue; ‘Baking Course’ is a quaint little book, just about 60 odd pages, on pastry, cakes and bread. Talks you through the processes & techniques of making each of these, & puts down a handful of recipes on each of the three.
Dropping scones for the chef who sings…
This recipe is especially for Raaga, the Singing Chef, who is hosting the 2nd anniversary of Weekend Breakfast Blogging this month. WBB is an event that started almost 2 years ago. The brainchild of Nandita of Saffron Trail, this event to popularize breakfast has been hopping all over the blogosphere. Thank you sweet Singing Chef; had it not been for you, I would have never attempted these wonderful pancakes!! GRACIAS!!
Kids @ Work – The boy……& the girl!!
The recipe as adapted from ‘Baking Course’, pg 45 Ingredients: Flour – 2 cups Baking powder – 2 tsps Pinch of salt Golden (light corn) syrup – 2 tbsps Eggs – 2 Vegetable Oil – 2 tbsp Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp (I had to add this; but can be omitted if you are not ‘eggphobic’) Milk as required
Method:
Sift the flour + baking powder + salt ( or use 2 cups self-raising flour).
Lightly grease the griddle with a little oil. ( I used a non-stick griddle).
Put all the ingredients except milk in a bowl & whisk with as much milk as required to make a thick batter, of a consistency like thick cream.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter on to a heated griddle & cook for 3 minutes until bubbling.
Turn over & cook the other side till golden (2-3 minutes more).
Remove the cooked scones & cover with a clean cloth. Use the remainder of the batter in the same way.
Makes about 24 drop scones / pancakes.
Serve with unsweetened whipped cream, chopped mango (of seasonal fruit), peach preserves, jam, butter, fresh mint etc.
“Please… tell me who you are and what you want. And if you think those are simple questions, keep in mind that most people live their entire lives without arriving at an answer. “ Gary Zukav
I’m not a very keen meme person & tend to gasp if I hear I’ve been tagged…never easy to spill some beans on myself & kinda bare my soul to the world. Having said that, was tagged by Chreisi for a 6 word memoir & by Ivy for a 30 question meme…almost fainted!! 36 beans to spill on silly ole me….but these were fun memes!
Chreisi @ Almond Corner tagged me for a ‘6 Word Memoir’, where you describe yourself using only 6 words. Sorry Chreisi, I’m extremely sorry for being this long overdue, so with no further delay, shall try bare my soul a bit in 6 words, & then attempt to unravel some more in the next 30 questions…
PHEW…here I go:
Creative…give me any empty surface, cake, cookie, paper, cloth; I’ll fill it. I love decorating, craft, painting.
Impatient…wish I wasn’t, especially with kids in the kitchen.
Multitasker…or virtual octopus; usually trying to kill myself trying to achieve more than possible!!
Rational…on most days…
& Exasperating…on others!! I need logical reasoning for anything & everything.
Efficient…*blush*…that I like to believe!!
Am currently fascinated by a little plant growing in the crook of our tree. We planted this tree 9 years ago around when our son was born…I like this tree a lot. Now it’s got this cute little seedling taking shape inside it!! Quaint!!
I have also just been tagged for another meme by Ivy @ Kopiaste, my dear Greek friend & I’m delighted to say that this tagging is fairly recent. (Note, the efficiency fits in quite well here). Thanks for tagging me and for once I can say I’m not late… 1) LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATRE? The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian
2) WHAT BOOK ARE U READING? The Secret life of a Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill (It’s hilarious) 3) FAVOURITE BOARD GAME? Scrabble 4) FAVOURITE MAGAZINE? Anything with ‘Food’
5) FAVOURITE SMELLS?
Coffee, Citrus , First monsoon rain on dry ground, Fresh bread baking…
6) FAVOURITE SOUNDS? The chirping of birds early in the morning, the pitter-patter of rain… 7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? Have I forgotten something very important?? 8) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN U WAKE? What shall I cook today!!! (Ivy, just had to cut & paste from yours!!)
9) FAVOURITE FAST FOOD PLACE? Don’t like fast food; it’s quite tasteless. (Flabbergasted daughter weeping on my shoulder) 10) FUTURE CHILDS NAME? Shiver-me-timbers…just the thought does that to me!!! 11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—’IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D’ Open a baking ‘thing’(in my daughter’s words who is still perched on my shoulder!!) & renovate the entire kitchen!
12) DO U DRIVE FAST? Rarely but yes, when the road’s empty & it’s early morning. 13) DO U SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? NO!! 14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY?
Cool…
15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? Maruti Suzuki 800 16) FAVOURITE DRINK? Chilled coffee 17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD… Make an Opera Cake & visit Le Cordon Blue…ho humm!! 18) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI? Yes I give a few the odd nibble; chop up the rest & toss them in. 19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE? None whatsoever…OK as I am (the daughter begs blue!!) 20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN? Delhi, Bangalore, Gurgaon
21) FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Cricket, Soccer, Tennis 22) ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? She ROCKS, has a big heart & is always nice to blog to. (I had to write more than one; one just wasn’t enough) 23) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED? Green goblins that the son is scared of; but nothing actually!!
24) WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?? Yes, but a little more patient & maybe a little taller!
25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL? Both… 26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP? Hmmmmm…would go with sunny-side-up as a matter of elimination. Over easyaint me!! 27) FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX? In the garden, early in the morning! 28) FAVOURITE PIE? Am not a pie person & haven’t tasted too many. (daughter calls for blueberry!!)
30) OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
I can guess who the last will be…but will leave the suspense hanging here!!
Thanks a million Ivy. This was a nice ‘n’ easy one & got me doing a SWOT on myself at times!! Attempted this after reading yours & am off to tag a further 5 for both memes!! SPILL THE BEANS ON YOURSELVES MATEYS….else ‘walk the plank’!!!
Amy @FamiliaBencomo (double tagged; take your time though coz I know the vacations are on)
“Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.” Unknown
Chocolate Genoise Sponge with a ganache topping & marzipan
Time for the son’s 9th birthday & his level of excitement has the rest of us crawling up walls!!! The countdown began 2 months ago, & reached a frenzy in the last week. Each morning of the last week was announced with 7,6,5,4,3,2…tomorrow, “I just can’t wait for tomorrow”!! That night a calm overtook him (as my friend commented, “must be the calm before the storm“). Dead right she was, because we were all so wound up by the end of it we were all riding waves of stormy seas…& suddenly a ‘Pirate Cake’ made quite a lot of sense!!
Plans had been made in his mind ages ago about what the cake was going to be; only thing is that he wanted a ‘skeleton’ on his cake. Much negotiation resulted in ‘flames leaping towards the sky’, and finally we settled for a ‘pirate‘! To me even that was an uphill task given the wonderful weather in this part of the world…melting moments with 40 degrees C & 80% humidity!
Check out the doodling….little hands sat making pirate faces for ages. After many sheets of paper (recycled) & many scary pirates which were crossed out, we finally had a tick mark from him on one!! Phew…concrete thoughts at last & I could move on!!
His little hands tried hard to make alphabet bones, eventually demolished by the ever watchful elder sister who found them most imperfect. So she did the alphabets, & he happily carried on to mix blue into the marzipan & made the waves. I did the face & the dagger; he came back to add silver to the teeth, & an ear-ring! We made the marzipan deco 2 days before to try & beat the stress. Lesson learnt – marzipan cannot beat birthday stress, but does a yummy cake make!! The cake was delicious & the kids thought it very COOL!!
Grin & bear it!
It’s of course another matter that I have suffered a tragedy of sorts where I have lost all the birthday pictures due to some strange 11th June bug sitting in my computer. All the pictures I downloaded during the course of the day have disappeared completely, sadly all the ones of the kids & their friends, the cake cutting…every one of them (except a couple of the cake which I had mailed in the morning). I could have howled coz I had edited them etc & was having a jolly good time with them! I have a few of the cookies I made a couple of days before, but the mini muffins pictures etc are history. Having spent a good 2 days looking for the evasive images, I have decided to let go & move on. (BTW, it’s Friday the 13th today; hmmmmm!!)
The basic cake is a Chocolate Genoise from one of my favourite baking sites, Joy of Baking. Genoise is named after its place of origin, Genoa Italy and belongs to the family of light and airy sponge cakes. While the technique for making this batter is similar to that of any sponge cake it does differ in that it contains melted unsalted butter (or clarified butter). The adding of melted butter does produce a more tender and flavorful sponge cake but it also requires us to perform a few extra steps when making the batter.
Recipe as adapted for the basic cake fromJoy of Baking. (I made 2 cakes)
Ingredients: Hot melted unsalted butter or clarified butter – 3 tablespoons Vanilla extract – 1 Cake flour – 1/2 cup Cocoa powder – 1/3 cup Eggs – 4 large Granulated white sugar – 2/3 cup Note: When warming the eggs and sugar, whisk constantly to ensure the the eggs do not overheat and curdle.
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Butter, or spray with a vegetable spray, a 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pan and then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, combine the melted unsalted butter with the vanilla extract. Keep this mixture warm. If needed, re-warm for a few seconds just before using.
In a medium bowl sift together the flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
In a large heatproof bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, heat the eggs and sugar until lukewarm to the touch (this will take approximately 5 minutes depending on the temperature of the eggs and the simmering water).
Remove from heat and transfer the egg mixture to the bowl of your electric mixer. Beat on high speed until the egg mixture has cooled, tripled in volume, and looks like softly whipped cream. This will take approximately 5 minutes and the batter is beaten sufficiently when the batter falls back into the bowl in a ribbon-like pattern.
Then sift about one-third of the flour mixture over the whipped eggs and fold in using a large rubber spatula or whisk.
old in half of the remaining flour, and then fold in the rest. Do not over mix or you will deflate the batter.
hen take about 1 cup of the batter and fold it into the hot butter mixture with a small spatula. (This will lighten the butter mixture and make it easier to incorporate into the egg batter without deflating it.)
When completely combined, use a spatula to fold the butter mixture completely into the rest of the egg batter. Pour the batter into your prepared pan, smoothing the top.
Bake until the cake shrinks slightly from the edges of the pan and the top springs back when lightly pressed (about 20-25 minutes). Cool on a metal rack. When the cake has cooled completely, run a small knife or spatula around the edges to release the cake. The génoise will keep well-wrapped two days in the refrigerator or else three months frozen.
I sandwiched the layers with a chantilly cream, after brushing the layers with melted mixed fruit jam.
Topped the cake with a dark chocolate ganache, decorated it with marzipan made from scratch (eggless) & chocolate scrolls dusted with powdered sugar.
