I make genoise twice a year
whether I like it or not. I make it when I teach at Tante Marie’s Cooking School www.tantemarie.com because Mary Risley (Tante Marie) believes that all aspiring professional culinary students should be able to make genoise. Despite
its old school reputation, I do like genoise. And I agree with Mary, though I’m not sure working pastry chefs in
this country actually make it very often.
The problem with genoise is
that Americans like super moist cake and genoise was never meant to be moist.
The other problem is that, knowing that genoise is not meant to be moist, many
chefs make it inedibly dry—which perpetuates the bad rep for genoise. I don’t accept inedibly dry genoise. I appreciate the usefulness of a cake
that is dry enough to be soaked with flavorful liquids, but I pride myself on
nibble-worthy genoise, one that soaks well but might not really need all of the usual primping, poking,
soaking, and fussing that goes on in classical patisserie.
Meanwhile—and this is the
part I love— the production of good genoise is an ode to technique, a paean to
the details that make a difference.
I privately think it separates the women from the girls…
With only four ingredients
plus salt and vanilla, you can mix up a genoise in less time than it takes to
preheat the oven. Simple
right? But if you don’t measure
correctly (please buy a scale) or fold properly, or if you don’t know how to
prevent tiny flour balls or a rubbery bottom layer, then sister you are
cooked.
To raise the stakes still
higher, I like to use the smallest weight of flour possible. This means that there can be no unnecessary
moisture in the batter or the cake will sink in the center as it cools. To that end I use clarified or browned
butter or ghee—and I’ve even used olive oil. And, the quantity of flour called for in the recipe is
correct only for the type of flour called for. If you use flour other than the unbleached all purpose flour
called for, you may need to adjust the quantity of it to get my perfect
cake.
Here’s a preview of the
chocolate genoise that I’ll make at Tante Marie’s Cooking School on the day after tomorrow, February 8th. I will
use it to build a spectacular cake wrapped in a sheet of chocolate and filled
with rummy bananas, bittersweet chocolate mousse, and whipped crème
fraîche, and I’ll top it with chocolate
ruffles. You can do something similar with your genoise, or you can just nibble
the cake plain with your coffee!
Or, you can click on the
link above and sign up for the class. Mary always leaves a few spaces open for the public.
ALICE’S CHOCOLATE
GENOISE
I urge you to use a scale for this recipe and check
out the notes below for tips and greater understanding of what’s going on in
the recipe.
Ingredients:
1.5 ounces (3 tablespoons) hot clarified unsalted
butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.6 ounces (1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sifted)
unbleached all-purpose flour
1.2 ounces (3/8 cup unsifted) unsweetened cocoa
powder (see notes)
4 large eggs
4.3 ounces (2/3 cup) sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
Equipment:
8x2 inch round cake pan
Electric mixer with whisk attachment
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the
lower third. Line the bottom of
the pan with parchment paper. Do not grease the sides of the pan.
Combine clarified butter and vanilla in a 4-cup
stainless steel bowl and keep it hot until needed by setting it in a pan of
almost simmering water. Or put it
in a microwave safe bowl and be prepared to zap it just before using it.
Whisk the flour and cocoa together thoroughly and
sift it (or shake it through a sieve) three times and return it to the
sifter/sieve and set aside.
In a stainless steel mixing bowl (I use my 5 quart
Kitchen Aid mixer bowl) whisk the eggs, sugar, and salt to blend. Set the bowl on a low flame and stir
(sweeping the sides and bottom of the bowl constantly to prevent scrambling)
just until the eggs are lukewarm to the touch.
Remove the eggs from the heat and beat them at high
speed with an electric mixer until they have cooled, tripled in bulk, and have
the texture of very softly whipped cream (a ribbon of batter should dissolve
very slowly on the surface of the batter).
Sift about one-third of the flour mixture over the
eggs. Fold with a large rubber spatula
until the flour is almost blended into the batter. Repeat with half of the
remaining flour. Fold in the last
third of the flour. Add about 1
cup of batter to the hot butter.
Fold until blended. Scrape
the buttery batter over the remaining batter and fold just until blended.
Scrape the batter into the pan.
Bake until cake springs back when pressed gently with fingers,
25-30 minutes. Set the pan
on a rack to cool.
At your convenience (the cake can be warm or
completely cool), run a small spatula around the inside of the pan, pressing
against the sides of the pan to avoid tearing the cake. Invert the pan to remove the cake and
peel off the parchment liner. Turn
the cake right side up to finish cooling. The cake should be completely cool
before filling, frosting or storing.
The cake may be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature for 2
days, or frozen up to 3 months.
NOTES
Cocoa Powder? I like Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder. You can use a Dutch process cocoa if you prefer it.
Flour balls in your genoise? These are prevented by whisking the cocoa and flour
together and then sifting the mixture a few times before sifting it into the
batter, as described in the recipe. For plain genoise, (without cocoa) whisk 2 or 3 tablespoons
of the sugar from the recipe into the flour before sifting several times. Interspersing the grains of flour with
either cocoa or a little sugar plus fluffing and aerating the mixture separates
the grains of flour (to prevent clumping) and makes it easier to fold it into
the egg foam without deflating it.
Rubbery bottoms on your genoise? This is
prevented by folding a little of the batter into hot butter before folding
everything together, as decribed in the recipe.
Awkward folding? If your mixer bowl is tall and narrow (like Kitchenaid mixer bowls), you
might want to transfer the egg foam into a larger wider bowl to make it easier
to fold in the flour and butter.
