Gateau Marjolaine
This cake is one of my masterpieces. Years of trial-and-error experimentation went into its creation - not to mention hundreds of pounds of ingredients - before I was satisfied that I had achieved just the right combination of tastes and textures and could serve it proudly to my guests. The original recipe called for quantities four times those given here and produced a cake large enough to serve both the lucnheon and dinner guests at the restaurant on any average day. The recipe that follows generously serves twelve to sixteen persons. (Paraphrased from"Ma Gastronomie"/pg: 202-203)
Roast 2 cups of blanched almonds and 1 1/2 cups of hazelnuts in two separate tins in the oven. When the hazelnuts are roasted, rub off all the skins. Grind the almonds and the hazelnuts together and add 1 1/2 cups of sugar and scant 1/4 cups of flour.
Beat 8 egg whites until stiff and fold them gently into the nut mixture. Divide this mixture into four long, narrow bands (approximately 4 by 12 inches/10 by 30 cm each) on buttered baking sheets. Bake them in a slow oven for about forty -five minutes or until they are crisp on top but still pliable.Cool.
The cake will be stacked in layers with the following three fillings:
1) A chocolate cream made by mixing 1 cup of crème fraìche into 12 ounces of melted semi-sweet chocolate. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat and let it cool.
2) A butter cream made by carefully blending about 1 cup of sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla into 4 tbsp of softened butter. The whipped cream should first be drained in a sieve of as much water as possible, and added to the butter very slowly and gradually until the butter will not absorb any more cream.
3) A praline butter cream made by adding 1/3 to 1/2 cup of praline powder to another mixture of filling No. 2 above.
Spread half of the chocolate cream mixture onto the first layer, top with the second layer and spread with all of the butter cream, top with the third layer and spread with all of the praline butter cream, then top the fourth layer and frost the entire cake with the remaining chocolate cream mixture. Sprinkle some shaved chocolate on the sides and refrigerate for twenty-four hours .
Dust the top with confectioner's sugar before serving.
(Recipe from-"Ma Gastronomie"by Fernand Point & Thomas Keller)
