Suzanne and Michael come back from Venice and Florence tonight, having celebrated her birthday 5 days ago at Carnivale in Venice. Joel explains that "carnevale" signals the advent of Lent with its translation of "meat farewell." This cake is definitely not for mardi gras, there being no gras in it. The meringue and cake bake in pans together. The cake layer consists of 1 c. eggbeaters, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 t. vanilla and 6 oz. roasted almond oil, mixed. This is in lieu of Joy's "Cream Merinque Tart Cockaigne"'s butter, egg yolks, and cream. Mix in the recipe's 1 c. cake flour, 1 t. baking powder and 1/4 t. salt. Line the pan and pour this in. Whip 1 c. eggwhite, then add gradually 1 c. sugar and 1 t. vanilla. Whip some more, then spread this on top of the cake batter. I had to use my fingers to do this. Sprinkle roasted slivered almonds on top of one layer and bake both for 40 min. If you ignore the distinct possibility that the meringue will rise and forget to allow ample separation between your oven racks, you can let the pans sit there, glued to the rack above, after the cake is cooked, with the door open, and let the meringues deflate. Not ideal. Meanwhile, in the blender chunk up 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate with 1/4 - 1/2 c. sugar. While running the blender, pour in 3/8 c very hot milk and 1/2 t vanilla, and 1/8 t. salt. Let it cool in the frig. To assemble the cake, take the layer without the almonds and place it, meringue side down, on the cake platter. Then spread the cooled chocolate mixture on top. Then add the second layer, almonds up. Happy Birthday, Suzanne!
3 comments:
Thank you for the beautiful cake!!! I am sorry I was not in the mood to celebrate when I got home. I think had I not scurried upstairs to pass out in my bed I would've passed out at the table (a la 1988.)
happy brithday lauragay
[twilight zone music . . . ] I was just enjoying the photo of the kitchen when out of the blue (ha!) the frig started beeping. Somehow the door had edged open enough to get the door alarm going, or something. And I thought to myself as I went in there and realized it was just the door, well, no big deal, even if the frig is saying farewell after nearly 30 years, I've got the new kitchen pretty much planned, the new frig selected, we can just install it and put the new cabinets around it later, etc, etc. So maybe that was a good-bye from a very faithful frig, which did so much to support the cooking of this blog [cue strings . . . ]
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