The Cake Slice December 2011: Chocolate Hazelnut Buche de Noel

Wow I can’t believe its only 4 days until Christmas. Where has the time gone? I’m so behind on my Christmas baking and posting. At least with the Cake Slice I have an actual deadline which makes me post it on time. This months winning cake was perfect for this time of year – a Buche de Noel otherwise known as a Yule Log, roulade or swiss roll. A Buche de Noel or Yule log is made extra festive than other roulades or rolls as they are covered in chocolate buttercream and shaped to look like a fallen branch of a tree.

It used to be traditional to go into the forest and gather logs to burn in the hearth on Christmas day. This was meant to bring good luck and warmth to the family for the upcoming year. No important occasion would be complete without a cake and so this dessert was created.

The sponge used to make the log has to be soft and flexible in order for it to roll up without cracking. This is done by the use of lots of whisked eggs and very little flour which is great for me as it means it was a doddle to adapt to be gluten free. There are meant to be two differently flavoured buttercreams, one for filling and the other for frosting, but as we can’t get the specified hazelnut praline paste here in the UK (to my knowledge) I kept things simple by using the chocolate buttercream inside and out. This was a win for my brother who is home for the holidays and believes nothing goes better with chocolate than more chocolate!

I used a hazelnut liqueur syrup to lightly soak the sponge before it is filled and rolled. This helps keep it moist and adds a slight sophisticated flavour. You wouldn’t really be able to tell what it is, but it does make it taste that little bit more special. It made me smile that the rolled but unfrosted cake looked a bit like a submarine.

As I was short of time I went for a simple decoration of just a few fondant holly leaves and some dried cranberry ‘berries’ as decoration. I also only made half the recipe given below as we weren’t in need of a large cake at the time. Snow was actually falling outside as I baked this cake and I was singing along to Michael Buble’s Christmas on the radio which really helped put me in the festive mood.

The finished cake was tasty, but in my opinion if you want a roulade then nothing beats the chocolate roulade my mum bakes every year for dessert on Christmas day for the non Christmas pud eaters. In case I don’t get round to posting again, have a wonderful Christmas everyone! Click to see the Cake Slice blogroll

Chocolate Hazelnut Buche de Noel
(Recipe adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)

Chocolate Chiffon Cake
65g plain flour (I used Doves GF flour – maize, tapioca, rice, potato & buckwheat)
130g caster sugar
30g cocoa powder
1¼ tsp gluten free baking powder
2 eggs
90ml sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar

Hazelnut Syrup
80ml water
25g caster sugar
1 tbsp Frangelico – Hazelnut liqueur

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream
150g caster sugar
4 egg whites
45ml water
385g unsalted butter, soft
1 tsp vanilla extract
110g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
2 tbsp hazelnut praline paste (if you can get it!)

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 11½ x 17½ inch swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper.
In a large bowl whisk the egg whites and cream to tartar together until foamy. Weigh out half the caster sugar and slowly add to the egg whites, whisking constantly until thick and glossy. Set aside.
In a clean bowl, whisk the whole eggs, oil and vanilla together until combined. Scatter the remaining half of the sugar over the top, along with the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Mix until just blended into a thick batter.
Take one third of the meringue mix and fold it through the chocolate mixture using a spatula to slacken it. Add the rest of the meringue and fold in gently until just mixed in.
Pour the chocolate mix into the prepared tin and spread it out into an even layer. It will be quite thin.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until slightly puffed and springy to the touch.
Lay another piece of greaseproof paper over a cooling rack and lightly dust with caster sugar.
Flip the cake layer out onto the sugar dusted paper and carefully peel off the parchment attached to the cake. Leave to cool before brushing with syrup and filling.

Syrup
In a small saucepan combine the water and sugar and heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar has dissolved. Stop stirring and increase the heat to a rolling boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes before stirring in the liqueur. Set aside until required.

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream

Place a large heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. In the bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg whites and water. Keep whisking until the mixture reached 160F on a sugar thermometer, it should turn white and glossy. Then remove from the heat and whisk with an electric mixer until the meringue thickens, becomes stiff and cool, about 5 minutes.
Reduce the speed of the mixer and gradually beat in the butter, small chunks at a time, until incorporated. Then beat in the vanilla.
Melt the chocolate and stir it through the half the buttercream, and fold hazelnut paste through the remaining half. (We can’t easily get nut pastes in the UK so I simply doubled the amount of chocolate and used that for everything)

Assembly

Lay the cooled cake, still on the paper, on a clean flat surface and spread with the hazelnut buttercream (or half the chocolate mix if only made one buttercream) nearly to the edge of the cake.
Starting at the long edge, fold over a thin strip of the sponge to start off your roll. Then confidently roll up the rest of the sponge to form a log. Use the paper underneath to help you lift and roll the cake.
Trim off one end of the cake at a diagonal and place it on top of the cake to create a ‘stump.’ You can cut off another smaller piece to attach to the side too if you wish.
Transfer the cake to a large serving plate and use the chocolate buttercream to cover the cake.
Decorate with leaves, holly, meringue mushrooms or however you choose.
Place in the fridge to chill for half an hour before serving. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

Upside-Down Pear, Chocolate & Ginger Cheesecake

It was my Dad’s birthday last week and what’s a birthday without a birthday cake? We’ve been eating lots of cake in our household recently and so I wanted something different to the traditional sponge and decided instead to bake a cheesecake! It still has cake in the title after all.

My Dad, like me, is a huge foodie and after tasting dishes he always like to discuss the good and bad points about it and what could be done to improve upon it next time, so I knew that this cheesecake couldn’t be any old cheesecake, it would have to be an extra special cheesecake.

Cheesecake is one of my favourite desserts, but I usually hate the bases. They are often damp and soft and I dislike the taste of mushy biscuits. I hit upon the idea of baking the base separately to the cheesecake layer and then putting the two together just before serving. I then moved onto thinking about the cheesecake itself. I knew I wanted to incorporate stem ginger somehow, as my Dad is a big fan of this, and decided to combine it with slices of pear and chocolate chunks as these three flavours always work well together.

I wanted the slices of pear to be arranged on top but thought I would have to simply place them on top after baking as I realised they would sink to the bottom of the pan if I’d put them on top of the unbaked cheesecake mix. However, I then had the most brilliant idea of making an upside down cheesecake! Arrange the pear on the base of the pan before pouring over the cheesecake mix. Once baked I would invert the cheesecake right side up, with the fruit now baked into the top of the cheesecake – just like a pineapple upside down cake! I’ve never seen this done before and I was so excited by the idea.

I was a little nervous turning my baked cheesecake out, unsure what I would find underneath. Thankfully the pear slices stayed in their ring formation and a few of the chunks of chocolate and stem ginger strips had gathered in the centre, creating a rather unusual yet quite attractive mosaic effect. All that was left to do was to place it on the pre baked (gluten free) biscuit base, chocolate for a nice contrast, and the cheesecake was complete!

All the family loved the birthday cheesecake and its quirkiness. To me it was almost perfect. The base had stayed wonderfully crisp and slightly nutty from baking, while the cheesecake top was rich, silky smooth and creamy. Each bite revealed something different, bitter chunks of dark chocolate, warming zingy strips of ginger or soft sweet pear.

I’ve never seen an upside-down cheesecake before, so I’m claiming this recipe as my own invention, and I’ll definitely be baking one again!

Upside-Down Pear, Chocolate & Ginger Cheesecake
(My own invention!)

Chocolate Base
200g digestive biscuits (I used GF ones)
10g cocoa powder
50g butter

Cheesecake
1 tin pear halves
500g cream cheese
2 tsp cornflour
3 eggs
150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 balls of stem ginger in syrup (approx 50g)
50g dark chocolate

Method

Line a tray with foil and place an 8inch/20cm ring mould on top. (If you don’t have a ring mould use a round springform tin without the base. Preheat the oven to 175C.
Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until the biscuits are broken down and resemble fine crumbs. Add the cocoa powder and blitz again briefly.
Melt the butter in the microwave, add to the biscuit crumbs and blitz again to incorporate.
Tip the crumbs into the base of the ring mould and press down firmly to form an even layer. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and carefully lift off the ring mould, leaving the base behind on the foil tray. Leave the base to cool before covering with clingfilm and storing until required.

For the Cheesecake

Leave the oven at 175C. Clean the ring mould used for the biscuits base and place on another foil lined tray. This time, gather up the excess foil, wrapping it around the edge of the ring mould to prevent any leaks.
Drain the pear halves and cut them into long slices. Arrange them in the base of the ring mould, in an even layer, fanning them out around the edge.
Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until no lumps remain and the cream cheese is soft and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Scatter over the flour and beat again to incorporate.
Roughly chop the chocolate into small chunks and slice the stem ginger into thick matchstick shaped pieces.
Fold the chocolate and stem ginger into the cheesecake mix.
Pour the cheesecake mixture over the layer of pears in the mould.
Place in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes. The cheesecake should be puffed up and slightly cracked around the edges, but still wobbly in the centre.
Remove the cheesecake from the oven and leave to cool for 1½ hours before refrigerating for at least 4 hours, although ideally overnight. (Don’t worry if it cracks as this will be the base later on.)
When ready to serve, run a hot knife in-between the edge of the cheesecake and the tin and carefully lift off the ring mould. Place the cooled chocolate biscuit base on top of the cheesecake.
Carefully place a serving plate, right side down, over the top of the whole cheesecake and invert the whole thing right side up. Use the tray the cheesecake is on to help you.
Remove the baking tray (from the now top) and carefully peel away the foil to reveal the arrangement of pear slices that has now become the top of the cheesecake.
Refrigerate until required and serve in generous slices.

The Daring Bakers November 2011 Challenge: Chocolate Hazelnut Sans Rival

On reading this title I expect you are thinking ‘what on earth is a Sans Rival?’ If so, then rest assured I was thinking the exact same thing when I first heard about this challenge. It turns out that Sans Rival is a delicious layered meringue cake comprising of four nutty layers of meringue, sandwiched together with a French buttercream. ‘Sans’ means ‘without’ in French, so I assume this dessert is so good that it is to be considered without rivals – as in it beats all others!

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog. This month I stuck to just the Sans Rival cake.

We were having some relatives round for dinner and so I thought this cake would make the ideal dessert. It’s traditionally made with ground cashew nuts, but I chose to use hazelnuts instead and to add melted dark chocolate to by French buttercream as I adore the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts together. On assembling the dessert I also added a little raspberry jam between each layer, which made for a delicious trinity of flavours. I was especially delighted as this dessert was also naturally gluten free – hurrah.

I had high hopes for this dessert and it sounded simple enough. However, for some reason my meringue layers just refused to go crisp in the oven. They were meant to be baked for 30minutes, after which time they were nicely golden on top, but when I gave them a prod they were still sticky and gooey. I gave them another 20 minutes by which time they had developed a crisp outer crust. ‘Good’ I thought and took them out to cool. As they cooled they turned back to being soft and a little gooey. Back into the oven they went. This continued for 2 hours by which time I had had enough and decided they would just have to stay as they were.

Thankfully the French buttercream came together quickly and easily and resulted in a gorgeously silky dark chocolate cream that tasted divine. I could have (and did) eaten it by the spoonful. I really should make the effort to make this more often for other cakes as it’s just incredible, so smooth and creamy.

When it came to serving the dessert later that evening, my meringue layers had turned into something resembling more nougat than meringue. It was soft, gooey and chewy and actually made for a lovely tasting dessert with the chocolate and raspberry filling, but was definitely not the crisp layers it should have been.

Although my meringue layers were a disappointment the flavours of the desert itself more than made up for it. There was even one dinner guest who stole a forkful off someone else’s plate after she had finished her own! In summary, it tasted good, but after the stress of the meringue layers I probably wouldn’t make it again (well not this particular meringue recipe anyway). I was also disappointed in my presentation but the meringue just wasn’t playing ball. I halved the recipe below and baked a 6.5inch cake.

Click here to see the blogroll of other Daring Bakers Sans Rival Cakes

Sans Rival

Ingredients
10 large egg whites, room temperature
225g caster sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar
20g cocoa powder (optional and not traditional – I left this out)
240g roughly ground, toasted cashews (I used hazelnuts)

Method
Note: You will need four layers which will mean that you might have to bake in two batches. Be sure to use fresh parchment paper and cooled pans for each batch.
1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. Line cake pan bottoms (9inch/23cm) with parchment paper and butter and flour the sides really well.
3. In a large clean, dry glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium until foamy (2 mins). Sprinkle with cream of tartar. Gradually add sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, continuing to beat now at high speed until stiff shiny peaks form. (about 7-10 mins.)
4. Fold in nuts, reserving enough to use for decoration.
(Note the more finely ground for folding into meringue. The coarsely ground for is decoration of finished cake.)
5. Divide meringue into four equal parts. Spread in pans, evenly to edges. If doing batches, use fresh parchment paper and cooled pans for each batch.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the meringue from the baking pans while still hot; allow to cool slightly. Peel off the parchment paper while it is still warm, it is difficult to remove sometimes when they have completely cooled.
7. When cool, trim edges so that all 4 meringue layers are uniformly shaped. Set aside.

French Buttercream
5 large egg yolks, room temperature
225g caster sugar
60ml water
285g unsalted butter, room temperature
55g dark chocolate, melted
1 tbsp hazelnut liqueur (my addition)

Method
1. Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Beat at high speed until the yolks have doubled in volume and are a lemon yellow.
2. Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan and cook over medium heat, stirring the sides down only until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup reaches 112C (or thread stage).
3. With the mixer on high, very slowly pour the syrup down the sides of the bowl, until all has been added. Be careful as the very hot syrup could burn you if it splashes from the beaters. Add the hazelnut liqueur. Continue beating on high until the mixture is ROOM TEMPERATURE (about 15 mins). Still on high, beat in the soft, room temperature butter a tablespoon at a time. Add the melted chocolate and beat well. Refrigerate the buttercream for at least an hour, and whip it smooth just before you use it.

Assembly
4 tbsp raspberry Jam (my addition)

Set bottom meringue on cake board with a dab of butter cream to hold it in place. Spread a thin layer of buttercream and then place another meringue on top. Repeat with a thin layer of buttercream, meringue, thin layer of buttercream, meringue, and finally buttercream the top and sides. Decorate with reserved nuts. Refrigerate until ready to serve. I also added a thin spreading of raspberry jam between each layer.

Fresh Fig & Almond Steamed Puddings

(The pudding in the photo was a leftover that I ate the following day. I think the fig juices had made the sponge go a little gooey and fall apart, not great for photos, but just as delicious!)

Fresh figs are in season right now and so when I saw them on offer in my local shop I snapped up about eight! I’ve enjoyed eating them in various ways, but a girl can only eat so many before they start to look past their best. I decided to incorporate my remaining 3 figs into little steamed puddings.

The idea of steaming puddings can put some people off. They don’t like the idea of playing around with saucepans, steamers, boiling water and their lovingly prepared puddings! However, you can also steam a pudding quite successfully in the oven with the minimum of effort or fuss. You simply put your dish(s) into a deep baking tray and pour boiling water half way up the side – just like you would a cheesecake. This is known as cooking in a water bath, or to give it its proper name, a bain marie.

Using a bain marie ensures a moist and fluffy cooked sponge as the sides of the dish are never exposed to dry hot heat, protected by the outer layer of water. The water also creates steam, preventing the top from overbrowning and again ensuring a moist pudding that won’t dry out even if you over bake it.

When I sliced into the figs they looked stunning with their ruby red centres and little clusters of seeds. They were so attractive that I decided to place a thin slice of fig in the base of each of my moulds, which then formed the top when they were turned out. This worked well, although I was a little disappointed that their ruby red colour faded slightly on baking.

I flavoured the puddings with a little ground almonds and almond extract, which together with the sweet juicy figs and moist sponge made for one gorgeous pudding! Serve warm with lashings of piping hot custard (courtesy of Birds custard powder, just like mum always made!) Nothing nicer on a cold blustery day.

Fresh Fig & Almond Steamed Puddings

Ingredients
3 fresh ripe figs
80g Doves self raising gluten free flour mix
40g ground almonds
70g butter
60g caster sugar
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp almond extract

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease the base and sides of 6 dariole moulds (or ramekins) and set to one side.
Slice the figs so that you get two thin whole slices from the middle/tallest part of each fig. Place one slice in the base of each of the moulds.
Chop up the remaining fig pieces into 1cm pieces and set to one side.
Make sure your butter is soft, if not give it a quick blast in the microwave, before adding the rest of the cake ingredients, expect the figs, and beating together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
Gently fold in the chopped figs so as not to break them up to much.
Divide the cake batter between the moulds, covering the fig slice in the base.
Place the moulds into a deep baking dish and carefully pour just boiled water into the tin until it reaches about half way up the sides of the moulds. Cover the top with a sheet of foil.
Transfer the dish to the oven and bake for 30 minutes until springy to the touch and ever so slightly golden on top (they won’t raise much).
Remove from the oven and the water bath. Run a thin sharp knife around the edge of each mould and boldly invert it onto the centre of a serving plate. It should release from the mould easily.
Serve straight away, hot from the oven with lashing of piping hot custard
Makes 6

Raspberry Hazelnut Tart with Triple Hazelnut Ice Cream

Today’s date will always hold a great meaning for me. It was on this date (28th September) last year that a pivotal life changing event occurred – I was told I had coeliac disease and could therefore no longer eat wheat, gluten, rye, barley and oats in all its weird wonderful and often delicious forms. I remember vividly sitting there as mixed emotions flooded through my mind. Relief, that they had finally found out what was wrong, devastation at the loss of some of my favourite foods, excitement about what this could all mean and bewilderment about where to start.

One year on I am feeling happier and healthier and have only had one big meltdown, rather embarrassing in the cereal isle of my local supermarket. I adore cereal and used to snack on it straight from the box and weirdly enough have found this much harder to give up than bread. I happened to go down the cereal isle one day and was looking at all the different, new and yummy cereals on offer and just broke down in tears. Thankfully it was early in the morning and no one saw me as I cried over a box of cranberry granola. Aside from that, life is good. I currently have a few other health issues brought on by my late diagnosis of coeliac disease, but over time I should be back to fighting fit. Onwards and Upwards is my motto!

To celebrate my one year gluten free I decided to make a delicious gluten free dessert and serve it to friends and family without them knowing it was gluten free. I wanted something impressive and indulgent to show that missing gluten in no way means missing out!

I decided on a variation of a frangipane tart, replacing the ground almonds with hazelnuts, using fresh raspberries instead of jam and baking it in chocolate gluten free pastry. As I was on a roll I also made some triple hazelnut ice cream by using ground toasted hazelnuts, hazelnut spread and hazelnut liqueur. I presented this in a dark chocolate tear drop shell and also made a few chocolate pastry batons with the scraps of leftover pastry.

The photo of the dish is a little fuzzy as it was dark by the time we sat down to eat, but I was pleased with the results. My favourite part was the hazelnut ice cream which was divine! It had an intense hazelnut flavour with a thick texture from the ground hazelnuts. The hazelnut liqueur added an extra dimension and also meant it stayed wonderful smooth and creamy. Enjoyed by all, gluten free or not!

Raspberry Hazelnut Tart with Triple Hazelnut Ice Cream

Raspberry Hazelnut Tart
250g Gluten free chocolate shortcrust pastry (below)*
60g butter
60g caster sugar
60g ground hazelnuts
1 egg
100g fresh raspberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 190C and place a baking tray into the oven to heat up.
Roll out pastry and line 8inch/20cm fluted tart tin. Cut off any excess and place in the fridge until required. Keep any scraps to make the pastry batons (below)
Make sure the butter is soft, then cream it together with the sugar until well combined.
Beat in the egg, followed by the ground hazelnuts.
Pour the hazelnut mixture into the tart case and arrange the raspberries on top, pushing them into the frangipane.
Place the tart on the hot baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden and set.
Serve warm or at room temperature with the hazelnut ice cream and batons.
Serves 8
*Note: If you don’t want to make your own pastry, use standard pre made sweet shortcrust pastry.


Hazelnut Batons

Reroll any scrapes of chocolate pastry and cut them into thin strips. Place on a baking tray and scatter the top with a little extra caster sugar and ground hazelnuts. Bake for 15 minutes until crisp.


Gluten Free Chocolate Shortcrust Pastry

225g gluten free flour mix (I used 100g white rice flour, 80g potato flour, 50g white teff flour)
20g cocoa powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
120g butter
1 egg
50g icing sugar
1 tbsp cold water

Method
Have an 8inch/20cm tart tin ready.
Mix all the flours, icing sugar, cocoa powder and the xanthan gum together in a bowl to combine.
Make sure you butter is soft, if not blast it in the microwave for a few seconds. Add to a separate mixing bowl along with half the flour mixture, the egg and water. Beat with a spoon or spatula to form a paste. (Yes I know this goes against all traditional pastry making!) Add the rest of the flour and bring the mixture together to form a dough, switching to your hands at the end. Knead the dough gently for 1 minute to ensure everything is well combined.
Roll out the pastry between two large sheets of clingfilm to the size and shape of your tart tin, plus an extra 1-2 inches for the sides.
Peel off the top sheet of clingfilm, and use the base sheet to help you flip the pastry into the tin and press it down gently. Trim off the excess. Patch up any cracks with the off-cuts of pastry.
Place in the fridge while you prepare the filling.


Triple Hazelnut Ice Cream

4 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
300ml double cream
300ml milk
2 tbsp Nutella
75g freshly ground hazelnuts
1 tbsp Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
1 chocolate transfer sheet & 50g dark chocolate (optional)

Method
Lightly toast some skinned hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until lightly toasted. Use a spice ginger or small food processor to grind the nuts and 20g of the caster sugar until they resemble very fine crumbs. Be carful not to overdo it or it will start to form a paste.
Place the milk, cream and Nutella together in a saucepan and heat until hot but not boiling. Meanwhile, lightly whisk the egg yolks and remaining 80g sugar together until combined. Mix in the ground hazelnuts.
Carefully pour a little of the hot cream mixture over the top of the egg yolks and whisk well. Add the rest of the cream, whisking constantly.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and stir over a low heat with a spoon or spatula for around 5-6 minutes until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Do not let the mixture boil as this will cause it to split and curdle.
Once ready, pour into a clean bowl and stir in the hazelnut liqueur. Leave to cool before transferring to the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours until very cold.
When chilled, churn in an ice cream machine until thick and set, or transfer to the freezer until required.
Serves 6-8

How to made a chocolate tear drop shaped ice cream mould

Cut a plastic strip from a special chocolate transfer sheet, about 3-4cm high. Coat the side imprinted with the design with melted dark chocolate and form into a tear drop shape, with the chocolate coating facing inwards. Secure with a paper clip and place in the fridge to set for 5 minutes. Once set fill the mould with the still softly frozen hazelnut ice cream and place in the freezer to firm up until required.
Just before serving peel away the plastic outer sheeting, leaving the chocolate shell and imprint surrounding the ice cream. Top with a few extra fresh raspberries

Daring Bakers July 2011 Challenge: Strawberry, Blackcurrant & Almond Frasier

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

This months challenge, a French fresh frasier was my kind dessert. A light chiffon cake, soaked in a light syrup, layered with fresh fruit, filled with crème patisserie and topped with a layer of marzipan. A combination of all my favourite things!

As long as we made all the main components ourselves, the style and flavour was completely up to us. My grandmother had just given me some fresh blackcurrants from her garden and so I decided to include these in the cake layers to make it extra fruity. Blackcurrants can be a little sharp, but baked into the cake they tasted perfectly sweet and I loved how they popped, creating little pools of moody purple juice dotted throughout the cake. To tie in with the almond marzipan on top I also included a little almond extract as I think almond and fruit make a delicious combo.

The crème patisserie was meant to include gelatin to help stabilize it, but being vegetarian I left this out and decided against adding a veggie alternative, as I’ve found in the past that a crème including whipped double cream is usually firm enough to hold up if given time in the fridge to chill and set. I kept my crème patisserie quite plain and simple, allowing its natural rich creamy flavour to shine through.

I made the cake and components in the morning, assembled it in the afternoon and then chilled it overnight before cutting it the following day. It’s not a dessert to make if you need something in a hurry, but it was well worth the wait. Allowing it to chill overnight gave time for the crème to thicken and set, the flavours to develop and the fruit juices to seep into the cake, making them soft and moist. It ended up tasting a bit like a sophisticated trifle.

Chiffon cake is quite a fragile delicate cake, and I also made it gluten free meaning it was even more in danger of falling apart. Thankfully I was able to cut and assemble the cake quite easily, but when it came to cutting the first slice, it sort of toppled over slightly. This didn’t effect my overall enjoyment of the cake though, if anything it meant I could dig in with gusto without feeling I had to be too dainty about it.

The cake was divine! I adored the thin layer of marzipan on top, which stayed soft and gooey and complemented the strawberry and blackcurrant flavours wonderfully. The sponge had soaked up all the juices and flavours and was so moist it was almost like a drizzle cake. Crème patisserie takes a little time to make, but is completely worth the extra effort. Thick and lusciously creamy it really gave the dessert that professional patisserie flavour. It’s so good I could eat it by the bucket load!

Serve in small dainty slices if you wish, but its so good people will be asking for seconds. So my advice is to serve it in large generous slices and watch peoples faces light up as they eat it. I even licked my plate clean! This cake is firmly on the ‘make again’ list.

Click to see the Fresh Frasier creations of the other Daring Bakers.

Strawberry, Blackcurrant & Almond Frasier

Gluten Free Blackcurrant Chiffon Cake
150g plain flour (I used GF white teff flour)
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
170g caster sugar
60ml vegetable oil
3 large egg yolks
95ml water
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used almond)
¾ tsp lemon zest, grated
5 large egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
50g blackcurrants (my own addition)

Method
Preheat the oven to 160C.
Line the bottom of an 8 inch/20cm spring form pan with parchment paper. Do not grease the sides of the pan.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Add in all but 3 tablespoons of sugar. Stir to combine.
In a small bowl combine the oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla (I used almond) and lemon zest. Whisk thoroughly. Combine with the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly for about one minute, or until very smooth.
Put the egg whites into a large bowl and beat on medium speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat again until the whites hold soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining 3 spoonfuls of reserved sugar and beat until the whites hold firm and form shiny peaks.
Scoop about a third of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in gently before folding in the remaining whites just until combined. (I folded in the blackcurrants at this stage).
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Removed the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack.
To unmold, run a knife around the sides to loosen the cake from the pan and remove the spring form sides. Invert the cake and peel off the parchment paper.

Crème Patisserie

Ingredients
250ml whole milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
10g cornflour
55g caster sugar
2 large egg yolks
30g unsalted butter
250ml double cream
¾ tsp gelatin and ½ tbsp water (I didn’t use this)

Method
Pour the milk and vanilla into a heavy sauce pan. Place over medium-high heat and scald, bringing it to a near boiling point. Stir occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a clean bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together. When the milk is ready, gently and slowly pour the heated milk down the side of the bowl into the egg mixture, whisking all the time.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and continue to cook over a medium heat until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil.
Remove from heat and pass through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl. Allow to cool for ten minutes stirring occasionally.
Cut the butter into four pieces and whisk into the pastry cream a piece at a time until smooth.
Cover the cream with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap onto the top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator until completely cold.
(I didn’t use the gelatin, so when the chilled mix was cold, I simply whisked the cream until it formed stiff peaks and folded it into the pastry cream. This made it a little soft, but it did firm up on chilling of the finished assembled cake. See below for gelatin instructions).

If using gelatin:
In a small dish, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand for a few minutes to soften. Put two inches of water into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over a medium heat.
Measure 60g of the chilled pastry cream into a small stainless steel bowl that will sit across the sauce pan with the simmering water, without touching the water.
Heat the cream until it is 48.8C. Add the gelatin and whisk until smooth. Remove from the water bath, and whisk the remaining cold pastry cream in to incorporate in two batches. Whip the cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks. Immediately fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream with a rubber spatula.

Simple Syrup
75g caster sugar
75ml water

Method
Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. Stirring is not necessary, but will not harm the syrup.
Remove the syrup from the heat and cool until required.

Assembly

Ingredients
400g strawberries
125g marzipan

Method
Line the sides of your 8inch/20cm spring form pan with clingfilm. Do not attach the base, simply use the outer ring. Place the ring on your serving plate.
Cut the cake in half horizontally to form two layers.
Fit the bottom layer into the prepared spring form pan. Moisten the layer evenly with a little of the simple syrup. Hull and slice in half enough strawberries to arrange around the sides of the cake pan. Place the cut side of the strawberry against the sides of the pan, point side up forming a ring. Use the leftover bits of strawberry to cover the top of the cake layer in the pan.
Carefully pour the crème patisserie over the top, spreading up to the edges in an even layer, reserving two tablespoons for the top of the cake.
Place the second cake layer on top, press down lightly and moisten with a little more of the syrup.
Roll out the marzipan into a large disc, only about 3mm thick. Use the base of the spring form pan to cut out a disc the size of the top of the cake.
Use the reserved crème patisserie to spread a thin layer over the top of the cake before placing on the marzipan disc. Cover the ring and cake with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
To serve release the sides of the spring form pan and peel away the clingfilm.
Dust the top with icing sugar and decorate with a fanned out strawberry.
Serves 10-12