The Perfect Génoise

When I started this blog adventure I was in the process of re-thinking my life. Don’t think that the only thing I did was thinking ….I quit my super job in the fashion industry. No more New York for a while!! No more crazy traveling, crazy working hours and corporate BS. I also closed my Lugano apartment and moved back to Geneva.

In the mean time I went to my Asturias country house to spend the summer with my family. The best I could have done! Nothing like Asturias, Patria Querida!!! Sleeping in ones bed, showering in ones shower, finishing a jar of your favorite preserve and make plans for next week knowing you will be in the same place!

With my ideas clear about what I want and what makes me happy I got myself moving.

I found a very nice job in Madrid, close to my apartment and horse! I know what you are thinking: how many places does she keep??!! Exactly!! It is going to be so nice to have my life just in two places!!!! Now I will know where is home, where do I live and where are my black patent Manolos.

So now I can say I am happy. I will be soon leaving Geneva and moving back to Madrid, I could ride my horse almost everyday, bake and cook non stop, go to Asturias every since and be with my loved ones.

With all this joy in my heart I baked a cake using the recipe of the “Perfect Génoise” from Julia Child. You can find it in the book “Baking with Julia”.

The results are great and you do not need to heat the egg-sugar mixture!

I hope you like it!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 cup sifted cake flour

½ cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven at 180º (350 degrees).

Cover with parchment paper a 20 cm cake pan.

Melt the butter and reserve.

Return the sifted flour to the sieve and add 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the salt; sift onto a piece of waxed paper and set aside.

Put the eggs and remaining sugar into the bowl of a heavy –duty mixer. With the whisk attachment in place, whip the mixture on medium speed until it is airy, pale, and triple in volume, like softly whipped cream, around 5 minutes.

You will know that the eggs are properly whipped when you lift the whisk and the mixture falls back into the bowl in a ribbon that rests on the surface for about 10 seconds. Pour in the vanilla extract during the last moments of whipping.

Detach the bowl from the mixer. Sprinkle about one third of the sifted flour mixture over the batter. Fold in the flour with a rubber spatula, stopping as soon as the flour is incorporated. Fold in the rest of the flour in 2 more additions.

Gently spoon about 1 cup of the batter into the bowl with the melted butter and fold the butter in with the rubber spatula. Fold this mixture into the batter in the mixer bowl. This is the point at which the batter is at its most fragile, so fold gingerly.

The batter should be poured into a prepared pan and baked immediately.

The Glaze

Ingredients

12 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

2/3 heavy cream

Directions

Put the chopped chocolate into a medium bowl and pour the cream into a saucepan. Heat the cream into a boil and then pour it over the chocolate, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. When the glaze is creamy smooth, push it through a strainer into a bowl.

Use the glaze when it´s still warm and liquid.