#marjolaine cake

Once upon a time in a kingdom far a way, lived two princesses. The eldest, who had a curiosity in culinary alchemy, is often mischievous and channels her boredom in exploiting her sister’s lack of knowledge of the bounties of the land. “Eat this,” she said one day to her sister, “It is a hazelnut and it tastes just like unsweetened Nutella!” Hearing the word “Nutella”, the younger sister saw no harm and held out her hand, for who could refuse something akin to the velvety flavor of the content of the Sacred Jar? 

What the younger sister didn’t know was that there exist in the land something that looks exactly like a hazelnut. But the similarity ends there, for the candlenut is rather tough and very, very bitter. In she popped the nut into her mouth and gave it a few good chews. The next moment her face scrunched up and she spat it out, eyes watering. Before she could be very cross, her sister had ran away, cackling while quoting the wizened wizard Alastor “Mad Eye” Moody (“Constant vigilance!”).

Fast forward a few years and the Queen gave the eldest sister a bag of raw hazelnuts from a neighboring land. She contemplated on what to do with it - shall she whip up a batch of “rawtella” to combat the malady of the expanding waist? Nay, she decided at last. She will instead attempt to make a French gateau made of 7 layers; 3 of which are hazelnut meringue, layered with rum pastry cream, praline cream and chocolate ganache. A dessert fit for a Queen.

-In all seriousness though you guys, this is a great dessert for a Mother’s day dinner, particularly for those with a bit of a sweet tooth. It might look like a lot of loitering around in the kitchen, but I promise you it’s not. Each step takes no more than 15-30 minutes of active time and the ingredients are not hard to come by, so I hope you guys will give this a try.

GATEAU MARJOLAINE(Recipe from NYTimes, serves 16-20):

PRALINE POWDER:

[1 cup almonds, traditionally, but use whatever nuts you like. I’m using some walnuts here + 1 cup sugar]

Oil a baking sheet and set it aside. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Bake nuts in another baking sheet for 10 minutes and let cool.

Combine nuts and sugar in a heavy bottomed pot. Heat over medium-high until the sugar turns brown and syrupy. Quickly pour the caramel-nut mixture onto the oiled baking sheet and let cool until it hardens. Break into pieces and grind to a find powder with a food processor (I finally got myself one! Bliss.) Set aside. This can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in the fridge.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE:

[ 2 cup creme fraiche (don’t got no creme fraiche? combine 1 cup of sour cream with 1 cup heavy cream) + 15 ounces bittersweet chocolate]

Bring creme fraiche into a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and whisk in the chocolate, one to two piece at a time. Set aside to cool and thicken so it is spreadable.

PASTRY CREAM:

[ 8 large egg yolks + 1 cup sugar + ½ cup flour + 2 ½ cup milk + 1 1/4  cup unsalted butter ]

With an electric mixer or a whisk, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow. Gently whisk in flour. Heat milk to a boil and whisk 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk. Boil over medium heat for 2 minutes while constantly whisking until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and let cool. 

When the cream has cooled completely, beat the butter until soft and creamy. Whisk the softened butter into the pastry cream. Set aside in the fridge.

MERINGUE CAKE:

[1 cup hazelnuts + ¾ cup sugar + 10 large egg whites + ¼ cup unbleached flour]

Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees F. Generously butter two 14x10x1 inches jelly-roll pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the paper too.

Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and rub the warm nuts in a cotton dish towel to remove as much skin as possible. Cool the grind them with a quarter cup of the sugar in a food processor.

Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining sugar and mix until stiff but not dry. Fold in the flour and hazelnut mixture. Divide and spread the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake until the cakes are thoroughly browned, about 25-30 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and invert them onto racks to cool, paper side up. Cover the cakes with a damp towel for several minutes then remove the parchment paper while the cakes are still warm. Let cool completely. Cut each cake lengthwise in half.

ASSEMBLY:

[Praline powder + chocolate ganache + pastry cream + meringue cake]

Divide the pastry cream in half. Add the praline powder to one portion of pastry cream. Mix well to combine. Add rum (I omitted this) and vanilla extract to the other portion.

Place one cake piece on a rectangular serving plate. Spread half the chocolate ganache on the cake. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Cover the chocolate ganache with a second cake piece. Spread the vanilla-rum pastry cream on top, being mindful of the edges. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Top with the third cake piece and spread the praline cream on top. Refrigerate for 15 minute. Top with the final cake piece and frost the top and sides with the remaining chocolate ganache. Refrigerate for 15 minutes uncovered then cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1-3 days before serving.

Remove from the refrigerator 15 minutes before cutting, then cut into thin slices.

Enjoy!