Jester Cake
Source of Recipe
Mary Armstrong
Recipe Introduction
"Rich but not too sweet, this elegant cake is formed from sheets of coffee and chocolate genoise. The sheets of sponge are cut into small triangles for the sides and into large circles for the bottom, middle, and top. (You will need a cake ring or the rim of a springform pan to assemble it.) The cake is sandwiched together with chocolate ganache and chopped toasted hazelnuts and finished with a smooth chocolate glaze."
Kahlua Rum Syrup
4 ounces (1/2 cup) Simple Syrup (recipe below) combined with 2 tablespoons Kahlua and 2 tablespoons dark rum
Simple Syrup
1 pound (2 cups) sugar
1 pint (2 cups) water
Heat sugar and water in a saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved, and let boil for 5 minutes. If adding flavoring, do so after the syrup has cooled. It will keep for a few days in the refrigerator, tightly covered. Makes 2 cups.
Hazelnut Decoration and Filling
4 ounces (2/3 cup) hazelnuts
Chocolate Ganache
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, soft
2 ounces (1/2 cup) confectioners' sugar
1 pound bittersweet chocolate
8 ounces (1 cup) milk
Chocolate Glaze
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 ounces (1/4 cup) corn oil
Make sheet cakes according to the recipes and let cool.
RICH CHOCOLATE-ALMOND SPONGE CAKE
(Sheet Cake)
7 eggs, large
7 ounces (3/4 cup) generous sugar
6 ounces (1 1/4 cup) scant all-purpose flour
3 ounces (3/4 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 ounce (1/3 cup) almond meal (see below)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
Almond Meal
Most supermarkets carry blanched slivered almonds. To make the almond meal, just measure the required amount for the recipe, and grind to a powdered consistency.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a 17-by-12-by-1-inch sheet cake pan with baking parchment.
Place eggs in bowl of electric mixer and pour sugar on top, beating vigorously by hand with a wire whisk. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water; the water must not touch the bottom of the bowl. Whisk until the egg-sugar mixture is warm to the touch, at 100 F. Remove bowl from heat and place on mixer stand. Beat mixture well with wire whip at medium speed until it cools and forms a complete emulsion, about 10 minutes. The batter should increase greatly in volume and become very pale in color, and will fall from a spatula in a slowly dissolving ribbon. Remove bowl from stand.
Sift the flour, cocoa, almond meal, and baking powder together onto a sheet of wax paper. Fold lightly into batter. Pour the lukewarm butter around the edge of bowl and quickly fold in. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until cake feels springy to the touch. Unmold onto rack, peel off paper after 1 minute, and let cool. Makes one 17-by-12-inch sheet cake.
COFFEE GENOISE
(Sheet Cake)
5 eggs, large
5 ounces (2/3 cup) scant sugar
1 ounce (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee powder
1 tablespoon boiling water
5 ounces (1 cup) scant all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a 17-by-12-by-1 inch sheet cake pan with baking parchment.
Place eggs in bowl of electric mixer and pour sugar on top, beating vigorously with a wire whisk. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water; the water must not touch the bottom of the bowl. Whisk until the egg-sugar mixture is warm to the touch, at 100 F. Remove bowl from heat and place on mixer stand. Beat mixture well with wire whip at medium speed until it cools and forms a complete emulsion, about 10 minutes. The batter should increase greatly in volume and become very pale in color, and will fall from a spatula in a slowly dissolving ribbon. Remove bowl from stand.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Dissolve the espresso coffee powder in 1 tablespoon boiling water and add to butter. Cool to lukewarm by placing pan in cold water. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into batter. Pour the butter-coffee mixture around the edge of bowl and quickly fold in. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cake feels springy to the touch. Unmold onto rack, peel off paper after 1 minute, and let cool.
TO MAKE THE HAZELNUT DECORATION AND FILLING
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread nuts out on a baking sheet and toast until lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Pour onto a clean kitchen towel and rub nuts together to remove skins. Reserve 18 nuts for top of cake and coarsely chop the remainder.
TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
Beat butter and confectioner's sugar together until light and creamy, and set aside. Cut chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Bring milk to a boil and pour over chocolate, stirring until melted and smooth. Let cool. While still liquid, beat in the butter-sugar mixture.
TO ASSEMBLE CAKE
Cut a 2 3/4-by-17-inch strip from both the sheet cakes. Using a cake pan as a guide, cut an 8-inch circle from the remaining coffee-flavored cake and two 8-inch circles from the remaining chocolate cake. Stack the two strips of cake on top of each other, smooth sides together, and make diagonal cuts, forming 2 3/4-inch-high triangles. (By cutting the triangles simultaneously, they will fit together properly.) Place a 9-inch cake ring on a cake board and line the sides with triangles of cake, alternating the coffee and chocolate flavors and fitting them snugly together. Make sure that the smooth sides face inward. Lay one of the chocolate cake circles in the bottom of the ring and brush generously with Kahlua-rum syrup. Spread with half the chocolate ganache and sprinkle with half the chopped hazelnuts. Lay the coffee-flavored circle of cake on top and brush well with syrup. Spread remaining ganache, saving two teaspoons for securing nuts on top of the cake. Sprinkle with rest of chopped hazelnuts and cover remaining circle of Chocolate Genoise.
The assembled cake should be about 1/4 inch below the top of the cake ring. Brush cake generously with remaining syrup. Arrange reserved whole hazelnuts on top in one outer circle and one inner circle, securing them with a dot of ganache. Freeze cake for two hours.
TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE GLAZE
Cut chocolate into small pieces, place in bowl, melt over hot water. Stir in corn oil. Remove cake from freezer and quickly pour liquid glaze over the top, covering the hazelnuts, and tilting the cake to let the glaze run.
Wipe excess chocolate off cake ring, and refrigerate cake for 30 minutes to set. Run a sharp knife inside ring and lift it off the cake. Return the cake to refrigerator to thaw completely, about 1 hour.
Transfer cake to serving plate and allow cake to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving. Cut with a hot knife. Serves 8.
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