For my cousin Cindy's birthday, I doubled down on the combination of chocolate and pistachio. I made "Chocolate and Pistachio Whirligig Buns" as part of the brunch menu and decided that Flo Braker's "Pistachio Cake" from The Simple Art of Perfect Baking would make a great birthday cake; it's single layer of chocolate génoise enrobed in pistachio Bavarian cream.
I've gotten so much better at making génoise after a lot of practice. To make the cake batter, you whisk eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a double boiler until the mixture is warm and the sugar is dissolved; whip the egg mixture until thick and cool; add vanilla; gradually fold in the sifted dry ingredients (flour, sugar and baking powder); and fold the batter into a cooled mixture of melted butter and semisweet chocolate. I used my 18-inch balloon whisk to incorporate the flour and mix in the chocolate; I've found a big whisk to work better than a spatula when it comes to getting everything evenly incorporated without deflating the eggs. I poured the batter into an 8-inch pan greased with shortening and dusted with flour. The cake rose nicely and evenly in the oven.
The first step in making the Bavarian cream is steeping ground pistachios in milk. Then you strain out the nuts, add sugar to the pistachio milk, and bring the mixture to a boil. You add in tempered egg yolks, cook until the mixture is thickened, add gelatin dissolved in water, rapidly cool the mixture, and fold in whipped cream beaten with almond extract to soft peaks. The Bavarian cream had a slight greenish-brown tinge from the pistachios.
To assemble the cake, I put a cardboard round inside an 8-inch cake ring, trimmed the cooled cake layer to a 7-inch circle, put the cake on the cardboard inside the ring, and poured the freshly made Bavarian cream over the cake. I put the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes to help set the cream and then moved it to the refrigerator to chill overnight. The following morning the cake easily slid out of the ring when I pushed up on the cardboard from the bottom. I pressed ground pistachios onto the sides of the cake and put it back into the fridge until right before serving.
The cake sliced beautifully; the slice in the photo above happens to be the first one I cut from the cake. I loved this cake and so did everyone else. The chocolate cake is very good (I did give myself a pat on the back for making a perfectly textured génoise), but honestly, I think this cake is all about the Bavarian cream. The smooth cream was so light and silky and delightfully full of the essence of pistachio, heightened by the almond extract. I would happily eat the cream all by itself.
Everyone appreciated ending the meal with a dessert that was not too heavy and not too sweet. And Cindy, the pistachio-loving birthday girl, was very appreciative of the chocolate-pistachio bookends to the meal. This cake is so lovely and elegant but it doesn't last. Braker says you can store the cake for six hours after it's unmolded; when Tom and I ate a leftover piece the following day, the texture of the cream had deteriorated noticeably. So if you make this cake, gather enough people together to consume every last wonderful bite.
Recipe: "Pistachio Cake" (composed of "Chocolate Génoise" and "Pistachio Bavarian Cream") from The Simple Art of Perfect Baking by Flo Braker, recipe available here at Leite's Culinaria.
Cindy's Previous Birthday Cakes:
I've gotten so much better at making génoise after a lot of practice. To make the cake batter, you whisk eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a double boiler until the mixture is warm and the sugar is dissolved; whip the egg mixture until thick and cool; add vanilla; gradually fold in the sifted dry ingredients (flour, sugar and baking powder); and fold the batter into a cooled mixture of melted butter and semisweet chocolate. I used my 18-inch balloon whisk to incorporate the flour and mix in the chocolate; I've found a big whisk to work better than a spatula when it comes to getting everything evenly incorporated without deflating the eggs. I poured the batter into an 8-inch pan greased with shortening and dusted with flour. The cake rose nicely and evenly in the oven.
The first step in making the Bavarian cream is steeping ground pistachios in milk. Then you strain out the nuts, add sugar to the pistachio milk, and bring the mixture to a boil. You add in tempered egg yolks, cook until the mixture is thickened, add gelatin dissolved in water, rapidly cool the mixture, and fold in whipped cream beaten with almond extract to soft peaks. The Bavarian cream had a slight greenish-brown tinge from the pistachios.
Everyone appreciated ending the meal with a dessert that was not too heavy and not too sweet. And Cindy, the pistachio-loving birthday girl, was very appreciative of the chocolate-pistachio bookends to the meal. This cake is so lovely and elegant but it doesn't last. Braker says you can store the cake for six hours after it's unmolded; when Tom and I ate a leftover piece the following day, the texture of the cream had deteriorated noticeably. So if you make this cake, gather enough people together to consume every last wonderful bite.
Recipe: "Pistachio Cake" (composed of "Chocolate Génoise" and "Pistachio Bavarian Cream") from The Simple Art of Perfect Baking by Flo Braker, recipe available here at Leite's Culinaria.
Cindy's Previous Birthday Cakes:
- "A Blonde Bombshell of a Cake: Rathaustorte (Town Hall Cake)," May 3, 2015.
- "Petite Pistachio Flavor: Pistachio Petit-Four Cake," April 19, 2014.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Aunt Sassy Cake," April 7, 2013.
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