I’ve also made a few procedural edits to make things easier for me (like preparing the egg mix before concentration on the making the milk mixture in the pastry cream, which can be easy to burn). I used to adjust the procedures for my chemistry labs too so that things would go more smoothly for me in the experiment (and many times, safer too). Also, I recommend reading though the results/discussion section to get some tips on what I did during the experiment to make it work (and the lessons I learned from things that didn’t work!)
Total time: ~2 ½ - 3 hrs. (including cooling time)
(Adapted from Tartine by Elizabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson)
Part 1: Génoise Cake Base
The recipe given below makes one 10” cake, which will be split into two to assemble the entire cake.
Ingredients
5 Tbsp of unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp of cornstarch
6 large eggs
A pinch of salt
1 cup + 1 Tbsp of sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350oC and line a 10” x 3” springform pan (bottom x side) with parchment paper.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Set aside and keep warm.
3. Sift together the flour and cornstarch and set aside.
4. Get a saucepan that is big enough to fit the mixing bowl of your stand mixer without it touching the bottom of the pan. Fill the pan with ~2” water, but don’t let the bowl touch the water. Heat over medium heat until the water reaches a simmer.
5. In the meanwhile, combine the eggs, salt and sugar into your mixing bowl. Whisk together and place it over the saucepan of water. Keep on whisking until the mixture is hot to the touch (120oF), which will take 5-7 minutes.
6. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and place into mixer stand. Using the whisk attachment, mix on medium-high speed (“8” on my KitchenAid mixer) until the batter is: 1. pale yellow; 2. tripled in volume and 3. drips off the whisk in wide ribbons that dissolves slowly back into the surface of the batter. (see below)
7. When the batter is ready, fold in the flour/cornstarch mixture (step 3) in 3 batches into the batter. Mix from bottom to top to ensure even distribution of flour. [Elizabeth advises not to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl wall to remove any flour that ends up along the sides, but instead, to spread the batter along the sides of the bowl to incorporate the flour stuck on the sides. This will help prevent lumps in the batter.]
8. Scoop out a small portion of the batter into a bowl and whisk in the melted butter (step 2). Then mixed the butter/batter mixture back to the main batch of batter, mixing carefully as to not to deflate the batter.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan (step 1). Bake for ~40-45 minutes, or when the top of the cake springs back slightly when pressed. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack.
Go ahead and prepare the pastry cream while the cake cools.
Part 2: Pastry Cream
This recipe makes 2 ½ cups of cream…perfect because that’s how much I need to assemble the entire cake!
Ingredients
2 cups of whole milk
½ a vanilla bean
¼ tsp of salt
3-4 Tbsp of cornstarch
½ cup + 1 Tbsp of sugar
2 large eggs
4 Tbsp of unsalted butter
1. Have a bowl and a fine-mesh sieve handy for when the pastry cream is finished.
2. In another bowl (preferably one that has a rubber-grip bottom), whisk together cornstarch and sugar (more cornstarch if you want a stiffer cream). Add eggs and whisk till smooth.
3. In a heavy saucepan, add the milk, vanilla bean scrapings, and salt, and heat on medium-high heat until the mixture is just under a boil. Stir occasionally to make sure that the milk does not burn or stick to the bottom.
4. When the milk mixture has almost reached a boil, slowly ladle 1/3 of it into the egg mixture (step 2), whisking constantly (the rubber grip on the bottom of the bowl should help with the challenge of pouring and whisking at the same time).
5. Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the hot milk, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens (~2 minutes). Continue heating until the mixture is just starting to boil (you should see a few bubbles); be careful not to heat too vigorously or the eggs will curdle.
6. Once the mixture just starts to boil, immediately remove it from the heat and pour the cream through the sieve into the bowl (step 1). (Use a spoon to push the cream through the sieve if its too slow). Cool and stir occasionally to prevent a “skin” of cream from forming on the top.
7. When the pastry cream has cooled to ~140oF (10 minutes), whisk in the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Make sure the butter is well-incorporated into the mix before adding the next.
Part 3: Assembling the cake
Ingredients
1 Génoise cake (Part 1)
Assorted berries, stems removed
Fruit puree or liquor syrup:
½ pint of berries + ¼ cup of sugar + a pinch of salt
or
½ -2 tablespoons of sugar + ½ cup of water + 2-4 tablespoons of fruit-flavored liquor
Filling:
1 ½ tsp of gelatin
1 tsp of water
2 ½ cup of Pastry Cream (Part 2)
2 cups of heavy cream (very cold)
Topping:
1 ½ cups of heavy cream (very cold)
4 tsp of sugar
1. Using a serrated knife, slice the génoise cake in half horizontally using a sawing motion.
2. I decided to go with a liquor-based syrup to moisten the cake instead of the fruit-puree (what can I say, I like liquor ;)). To do this, put ½ cup of sugar minus 2 tablespoons into a small saucepan. Add ½ cup of water and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Cool in fridge then add 2-4 tablespoons of your liquor of choice (mine was Grand Marnier). If you want to make the fruit puree, blend the berries, sugar, and salt in a blender until smooth.
3. To prepare the filling: prepare the gelatin by adding 1 ½ tsp. of gelatin with 1 tablespoon of water (gelatin will absorb all the water to form a gel). Then take ½ cup of the pastry cream you just made and add it to a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of water (I used the same one that I used for making the pastry cream). Warm over medium heat, whisking constantly until hot to the touch (120oF; 5 minutes). Add the moist gelatin, and whisk until it is completely added. Remove the bowl from the water bath and add in the remaining pastry cream in two batches.
4. In a mixing bowl, whip with stand mixer on medium-high setting (“8” on my Kitchenaid mixer) the heavy cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks (see below). Then fold gently into the pastry cream with pastry cream.
5. To assemble the cake, place one half of the cake base in the bottom of a springform pan lined with plastic wrap (see results and discussion below). Moisten the cake with the prepared syrup of fruit puree with a pastry brush. Add ~1/2 of the pastry cream and even out with rubber spatula. Add the prepared fruit (I used whole strawberries and blueberries, pushing the stemless end of the strawberries into the cream).
5. To assemble the cake, place one half of the cake base in the bottom of a springform pan lined with plastic wrap (see results and discussion below). Moisten the cake with the prepared syrup of fruit puree with a pastry brush. Add ~1/2 of the pastry cream and even out with rubber spatula. Add the prepared fruit (I used whole strawberries and blueberries, pushing the stemless end of the strawberries into the cream).
6. Add the remaining filling and smooth over fruit. Moisten the last layer of cake and place it on top of the filling. Press gently into the pan to smooth out the filling. Wrap up the cake and refrigerate for 4 hours or preferably overnight.
7. When ready to serve the cake, prepare the topping by whipping the heavy cream in a stand mixer until thickened, then add sugar and continue whipping until the cream holds soft peaks. Using a rubber spatula, transfer cream onto cake and smooth out with off-set spatula.
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