We made the Bittersweet Cocoa Almond Genoise (RLB pg 134, pictured in front) and the Queen Mother's Cake from Maida Heatter (back). Rose says her genoise is based on Maida's so, knowing us, we had to compare and contrast.
At first, we weren't really too impressed with either one. It seems that the Queen Mother's Cake got a bit over cooked. Like a lot over cooked. Bottom too brown (really almost blackened) and the sides were way too dark and dry. We cooked it for the specified amount of time, even shaving off some time, and it still was too dark.
Since we cooked both of them at the same time, it wasn't because the temp was off as Rose's genoise came out perfectly.
The process for these two cakes was similar. Make the almonds into a flour -- they offer the only structure as these are flourless cakes. Then you combine the butter, sugar, egg yolks and then, after they are in add the chocolate or cocoa. Beat up the whites, till soft, add sugar and beat till stiff. Fold them together. Bake.
The difference between them is that Rose's genoise has cocoa powder and Maida's has semisweet chocolate. We expected more depth of flavor with the cocoa powder and we were right.
Rose's was by far the prettier one when finished. At the initial tasting, Rose's suffered because it was still warm. When it's 90 degrees outside, it can take a long, long time for cakes to cool off, even if you have an air conditioner in the kitchen! 
After it cooled and hung out in the fridge, I found it to be quite nice. M liked it quite a bit too. I wasn't sure that I liked it enough to make it again, but it really grew on me. I might just have to try it again.
Robb
1 comment:
I just ordered the Cake Bible from Amazon- i've got the Bread Bible and love it- and i'm so excited to find that there's a blog dedicated to baking cakes from the book. I'll definitely be dropping by to see what you guys are up to, in between baking my own way through the book :)
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