Genoise au Chocolat and Some Growing up and the Magic of Rose

Fancy Schmancy!

Chocolate cake!

Just 3 tablespoons of fat!

Light as a kiss of air...

Directed by the queen of baking herself...

And then I had to go and weigh it down with butter cream frosting and crushed oreos and Fondant!

Why???

Because I can!

And because a bunch of 30 seventh graders working hard ,cramming for their final exams,wanting to party just this last one time together deserved it!

This was a short notice ,last minute demand from sweet child...I would have rather helped him revise than spend time over a beater...but he insisted!

And I gave in.

What else does poor mum do!

Except extend best wishes for sweet child and his class mates in the seventh grade.

With a Genoise au Chocolate.

Genoise ,is a light as a feather cake -a sponge cake made faithfully with Rose Levy Bernanbaum's Cake Bible.

Something that I had been planning and procrastinating about for the longest time...as I am doing so now...

to blog or not to blog...

I have been meaning to make /bake so much stuff ,but with fewer friends around here...the thought of a full fridge is not so inviting.

Any ways this cake is worth the effort...light in calories and super light in texture...

less guilt and quick to disappear.

This cake was less...but I had less time...

So if you need to feed 30 chocolate deprived kids...make double!

for the 

Genoise au Chocolat and Some Growing up and the Magic of Rose...

you need

3 tbsp beurre noisette -fancy name for desi ghee or clarified butter

3/4 cup cake flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 cup boiling water 

1 tsp vanilla essence

5 large eggs-to make 1 cup

1/2 cup sugar

Before you start out...read instructions at least twice...it seems a little complicated the first time,the second time is easier!
Cake flour- 1 cup plain flour ,from which two tables spoons are removed and replaced with cornflour.Simple.

Education comes from many places...buerre noisette-is just clarified butter where the butter is to be heated till the milk solids become brown and lend a lovely nutty aroma and flavour to the liquid!Simple.

I generally forget to turn off the gas on time while making ghee,so mine is generally noisette!

To be kept HOT! at 120 F or about as 45C.

Pre heat the oven to 180C/350F.

Grease  a 9 inch cake pan.Cover the bottom with non stick paper and grease and flour it again.

Whisk the cocoa with the boiling hot water and vanilla and set aside-cover with a lid or cling film.Leave the whisk/fork in-you'll need it later.

Bain Marie...

A bowl over a pan of simmering water...

Place the eggs and the sugar-exactly measured out...Exact 1 cup!

I took the recipe literally-in the bowl and beat.

Place over the bain marie and continue to beat till the eggs triple in volume. At no time should the bowl touch the water or you will have sweetened scrambled eggs left behind.

5 minutes...and off the bain marie.

From this mix, pour about 2 cups into the cocoa mix and whisk well to get a light and creamy chocolate liquid mix. This chemistry helps the cocoa mix well and not sink to the bottom of the cake making for a super feathery light cake.

Sift the flour over the eggs and fold in with a metal spoon or a spatula.

I'm not that confident about the folding yet...so I used a whisk also...
Quickly poured into the prepared tin and popped into the oven...the cake wont rise much...but will be softer than a sponge cake for sure!

Exactly 30 minutes...the cake began to come away from the sides...you don't need to poke the skewer into the belly of the cake to check out that the cake is done...if it moves away -its done!
All you need to do is wait for 5 minutes, run your knife around the cake and overturn the cake...
And turn it over again...

Et Voila!
Since I was short of time...sliced and set to cool and frost with butter cream frosting from here .Crumb coated Centre and all around and then stashed in the fridge...

Oreo Butter Cream Frosting from here...
this cake was for 30 seventh graders..it had to be sugar high...so that they could get a sugar rush....
APT!
Then a wee bit of fondant and ...

All my best wishes...
OK the exams ended and the results are out...the kids did well and start with the eighth grade this week...
So this cake carried the wishes...long for them...

Kids ...have a wonderful year and do well!



So what are you baking today???