French Génoise Cake

You may not know, but I live in a country called Hungary. My family and I are missionaries. Since we live in Europe there are so many possibilities to visit nearby! Last summer we drove to Italy! Recently, prices were crazy, so for my moms birthday we went to Paris for 4 days and it was incredibly cheap! I got to taste so many wonderful things. But even better were the sights. I also bought a cookbook! It’s in English, and has so many wonderful iconic french pastry recipes! Some include croissants, eclairs, tarts and génoise! Génoise cake is a light and airy vanilla cake, without much flavor so make sure to add in some fruit in the frosting or in between the layers! And I figured out the hard way that it is not very good with buttercream, it’s too dense and heavy, so use a lighter frosting type, like an Italian Meringue or whipped cream.

Recipe from the cookbook “Bake Like a French Cookbook”, find the link in Other Helpful Resources

Entremets ring https://www.google.com/search?q=entremets+ring&oq=entremets+ring&aqs=chrome..69i57j33.5192j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 cup sifted cake flour

directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter and flour, or grease/spray a cake pan(s) (preferably a springform) or entremets ring.
• Beat the eggs and sugar using an electric mixer and wire whip attachment until you get the ribbon effect: When your batter falls, it should leave a trail or “ribbon” that clings to the whip for a few seconds.
• Add the flour and fold it in gradually using a rubber spatula, mixing from the center of the batter outward. Keep the bowl directly in front of you to avoid awkward contortions. Using your right hand to mix while your left hand rotates the bowl (Vice versa for lefties!)
• Pour the batter into prepared pan(s). If using an entremets ring, make sure it is sitting on a parchment lined baking sheet as it has no bottom. Fill half way, it rises a lot.
• Slip it into the oven for about 20 minutes. Use the toothpick method to check if it’s done or not. Let it cool on a wire rack, then take the ring off!

notes

Makes as much as the cake pans will hold! Don’t fill your ring too high or else it will go over the edge and will look like a mushroom, henceforth “The Mushroom Effect”. Don’t let your eggs and sugar sit too long or else they will become semi-solid! It should take about 5 minutes to create a firm ribbon, depending on your mixer. Be patient! Don’t stop the mixture when its beating the eggs and sugar. Don’t take the génoise out of the oven until it’s completely done. WATCH OUT! All-purpose flour is too heavy for this recipe. If you can’t get cake flour, you can use this mix instead: 1 cup all-purpose flour with 2 Tbsp of cornstarch. Sift the two together! If you want to make it chocolate, Subtract the amount of cocoa powder you want to use from the total amount of flour! And if you want to soak these in a simple syrup then trim the top to expose the cake before you do, then you can either eat the top or throw it away! ( I recommend eating it!)