Little Cuties
Without becoming to mushy I want to dedicate this post to husband and daughter. This past week I have been a little, rhymes with, witch (we are a G-rated blog: you know) and they have gone above and beyond family help. I realized as I sat down to write about these deeply rich yummy peitit truffle cakes I needed to express to my very patient family unit how unequivocally and genuinely ashamed I am. So with my heart in hand I deliver not only some delicious baby truffle cakes, but a sincere apology.
I won’t trier you with the embarrassing details, however I am not sure this dedication will be sufficient, but knowing my husband and beautiful daughter they will graciously accept my apology without hesitation. Yes I know how very lucky I am to have a family who cares for me greatly.
Enough of blubbering in public, onto the truffle genoise. Sydney was the one who takes credit for their name; after sharing one she declared they were to “chocolately” to be considered just a cake. In fact though they might be small they are mighty, in other words they are quite rich.
I had ordered a few flexipats and pans, they arrived last wednesday, and while Sydney and I were looking over the order we started thinking of different pastries that would be perfect for their use. Like a child with a new toy I began to develop recipes around each of the pans. I love working with genoise, sponge, and joconde cakes, therefore the first type of pasty we decided, genoise cakes would be first and of course they needed to be chocolate flavored.
They were quite a good plan
While those little beauties were resting and poising for this photo Sydney whipped up an almond simple syrup using Amaretto di Saronno, YUM! We couldn’t resist having a little Amaretto ourselves.
Here is the Recipe:
Genoise:
28-grams/ 2-Tablespoons clarified beurre noisette
29 grams/ ¼-cup, plus 2 Tablespoons, sifted cocoa powder
62-grams/ 1/3-cup boiling water
1-teaspoon vanilla extract
2-teaspoon instant espresso powder
6 eggs/ about 300 grams
Pinch of salt
150-grams/ ¾ -cup superfine sugar
85-grams/ ¾ -cup, sifted cake flour, sifted 3 times
25-grams/ 1/8-cup cornstarch, optional
Preheat oven to 176ºC. /350ºF. move the rack to the middle or the 2/3 of the oven.
Sift cake flour and cornstarch three times and set aside.
Preheat oven for 20 minutes 350ºF/175ºC
2 6×2-inch cake pans lined with parchment paper.
In a medium saucepan heat butter on medium heat, as foam forms skim it off to clarify the butter. Watch the butter, so it does not burn, and heat till a deep brown color. Immediately strain through a sieve into a heat proof-measuring jug and keep warm.
In a mixing bowl combine cocoa powder, boiling water, instant espresso, and vanilla, stir or whisk well to create a smooth mixture, eliminating all lumps. With a balloon whisk gently fold into egg foam. (Temper the mixture).
Whisk together the eggs, salt and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer. Move standing mixer bowl over simmering water continue to whisk eggs and sugar continuously till sugar is no longer grainy and candy thermometer reaches 110º-120ºF/ 40º-50ºC. Remove bowl from heat, place on standing mixer with whisk attachment and beat on high speed till quadruple in volume and ribbons form when lifted. Turn the speed down to medium and continue to whip for a couple more minutes.
Remove ½ -cup of egg foam temper it to cocoa mixture by whisking. Gentle fold cocoa egg mixture back into batter.
Sift 1/3 of flour to the foam using a rubber spatula and fold very gently, but thoroughly. When the color of the batter is just about uniform, fold the rest of flour, retaining as much of the beautiful foam as possible. Spoon about 1 cup of the batter into warm clarified beurre noisette and fold until well blended. Spoon this beurre noisette mixture over the batter and fold in gently just till incorporated.
Amaretto Sugar Syrup:
119 grams/ ½-cup water
100 grams/ ½ -cup sugar
55 grams/¼-cup Amaretto
Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a heavy bottom saucepan; cook till the sugar is dissolved. Pour the syrup into a glass-measuring jug and add Amaretto. Brush each layer of the cake with the Amaretto syrup.
Chocolate Mirror Glaze:
59 grams/ 1/4 -cup water, ice cold
6 grams/ 3 sheet gold gelatin sheets or 1¾ -teaspoon powder gelatin
133 grams 2/3-cup superfine sugar
79 grams/ 1/3 cup water, room temperature
22 grams 3-teaspoons light corn syrup
6o grams/ ¾-cup, plus 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1-teaspoon cocoa powder
1/8-cup heavy cream, optional
Soften the gelatin in cold water while you prepare your mise en place.
In a small heavy bottom pan add water and sugar. Swirl till completely dissolved (this is a simple syrup) remove or turn heat off, whisk in corn syrup, cocoa powder, and cocoa powder until smooth, make sure to reach the corners of the pan.
The mixture should be glossy and completely dissolved.
Turn the heat on medium, if chosen add warm cream and cook an additional minute after brought to a light boil.
Pour the glaze into a measuring jug and whisk for about ½ a minute . Add gelatin to the chocolate mixture. Whisk well, if your using the gelatin sheets ring the excess water out of the sheets prior to placing in the chocolate glaze.
Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture coats a spoon well use immediately. Pour directly over each individual cake, by placing the cakes on a cooling rack on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour the run off chocolate glaze that has collected on the paper back into the measuring jug, and continue to pour over the cake till they are completely covered.
Interesting report! 😉 Its hard to discover writers as passionate as you nowadays. Constantly searching for special and original content and this i must say its one of a kind. A jewel. Keep posting good materials like this.
I know I have said this prior, but I absolutely dig this post; your raw honesty is refreshing. I have to say you go to great length and exceptional research for your reader, not very many bloggers go that extra mile! I can’t wait till the next post
You really know how to grab people attention because when I started to read I wanted to know what will be in the end.
You just hit my heart, I love everything chocolate
Your pictures are simply wonderful!! I am from France and your site reminds me of some of my favorite pâtisseries
Links swap request… hi, do you want to swap inbound links with my site. This time, I offer a three-way backlink coming from my another site. My swap backlink request email is at the home page.
These cakes are adorable!
I found you site in a search, looking for something else. I could not stop reading about the baby cakes, you have me hooked. grab your rss fedd. Btw I was also able to find information on the original search. Your have a gift
You don’t disappoint, I was thrilled to see this post and recipe in my email.
Bobbie, I feel like your an old friend after reading most of our blogs. Those petit gâteaux look delicious!
Well I found a blog that caters to my pastry addiction.
WOW, these look yummy!!! You are always sharing wonderful recipes, that are creditable. You are truly an amazing person
I’ve died and gone to chocolate heaven!
Hi! I love your stuff and I’ve even tried out a few recipes! Thank you for sharing!
Those petit cake are adorable!
Looks like a delightful site, your a great writer.Those tiny chocolates cake are just perfect!
Hello, I’m Julie I just wanted to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day. Your pastries are so beautiful and your blog is so clean. I’m starting a blog and was wondering if you might help me? PLEASE!
Hey I found your site just surfing the web, you are an awesome blogger. Love the little cakes
I’m curious if it’s okay to copy some piece of this post to use for my powerpoint project.
You may link it back to my post, but I am uncomfortable with people copying my work. It is copyright protected
Hi there. This is Anne Livingers, pleased to meet you.
I like the title you gave the post: “Petits Gateaux au Chocolat Geniose. I love how scrumptious they look.
What adorable little cakes, thanks for sharing!
Hi I like this article and it was so good and I am definetly going to save it. One thing to say the Superb analysis you have done is trully remarkable.Who goes that extra mile these days? Well Done!!! 🙂
I love genoise cake! My only problem was that my cake was more dense than anything. Now that I’ve read your post, I will be able to attempt it again and hopefully get the cake lighter.
Those are absolutely gorgeous! I wanna come over to your house for dinner & dessert
this cake looks beautifulllll
These look so adoreable! thanks for sharing this recipe!
Wow! This looks absolutely amazing! Sounds like it tastes spectacular!
I love the look of your little cakes. I bet they tasted great.
I think it’s yummy lovely and delicious looking!
Those baby cakes look gorgeous! Looks sooo good!
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I do not know who you are but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
Very enticing and beautiful!