Timeless Elegance
Valentine’s Day proposal is happening this evening as I write. Sean, the boyfriend of Sydney’s good friend (Carrie) confided to Sydney, Saturday night, he was planning to propose (on Valentine’s Day) to Carrie. Sean wanted Sydney to be a sounding board to his evening. He went into great detail explaining the candle light dinner he was cooking for her, how he planned to decorate the table with red rose petals, and rented a limousines to bring Carrie to his apartment. Sean had not, however, quite figured the proposal timing and thought Sydney might have an idea. While Sydney was brainstorming a romantic pre dessert proposal, a look of shear terror shaded across Sean’s face. Sydney thought maybe Sean was experiencing “cold Feet;” alias it was not “cold feet”, he had completely forgotten dessert. Sydney calmed Sean down while offering to bake a romantic cake to compliment the spectacular dinner.
Sydney was so elated she awoke me at 2:00 am, informed me about Carrie and explained we needed to design a very special cake. Sydney knew the cake should be a a génoise and I pictured a white champagne cake, we put both our ideas together.
Romance is in the cake
Champagne Rosé Génoise:
- 72 grams/ 1/4-cup butter, for beurre noisette
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1-teaspoon almond extract
- 170 grams/ 1 5/8-cup cake flour
- 80 grams/ 5/8 cornstarch
- 270 grams/8 to 9 egg whites
- 3 grams egg/ 1/8 white powder
- Pinch of salt
- 255 grams/2- 1/4-cups, plus 2-teaspoons superfine sugar
- 177/ 3/4-cups rose champagne
- 3 drops rose essence
Preheat the oven to 163C/ 325 F. Prepare an 8×2-inch heart shaped pan with baking spray and parchment paper, sift the flour and cornstarch, and set aside.
Mise en place
Place the butter in a small saucepan.
Melt the butter on low and slow
Clarify and strain the beurre noisette.
straining the beurre noisette after clarifying is extra insurance
Add the almond extract to the beurre noisette, set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites, egg white powder, and salt and beat till foam.
I find adding a little egg white powder helps stabilize the egg whites
Slowly add 250 grams/1-cup of sugar and vanilla seeds, continue to whisk till medium stiff peaks form. Now add the remaining sugar, whisking until stiff peaks form.
Stiff peaks
Gradually add the champagne till amalgamates.
Remove one cup of the egg white mixture and whisk thoroughly into the beurre noisette.
Sift the flour mixture in two half batches completely, gently and quickly. Now fold in the butter mixture just until incorporated.
Place the meringue in a large bowl; sift and fold
Pour immediately into the prepared cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Cut a heart shape piece of parchment paper, spray and flour
Once the cake is light golden brown, springs back when gently pressed in the center of the cake, and begins to pull away from the sides, the cake is done. After about 20 minutes check the cake for doneness.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow to sit in the cake pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack, remove the parchment paper and allow the cake to completely cool.
This is the perfect color
Once the cake has cooled wrap in parchment paper and plastic film, and store in the freezer for at lest 6 hours.
Now the cake is ready to frost and decorate. We chose an Italian white buttercream which I will give the tutorial later.
The filling:
Crème Frâiche Filling:
- Crème Fraiche Cream
- 18 grams/ 2 ½ Tablespoons icing sugar
- 250 grams/ 1 1/8-cup crème fraiche
- 250 grams/ 1 1/8-cup whipped cream
- 15 grams/ 1-Tablespoon vanilla powder
Place the bowl of a standing mixer, or a large stainless steal bowl if using a hand electric mixer, in the freezer with the whisk attachment or beaters about 30 minutes prior to preparing the filling.
Sift the icing sugar and vanilla powder in a bowl, set aside.
Add the crème frâiche and whipped cream to the cold bowl on medium speed begin to beat the crème/cream mixture until you see the mixer retain the lines of the whisk. Add the vanilla/ icing sugar and continue, on medium speed, to beat the crème/cream mixture to medium stiff peaks. Do not allow the mixture to go any further or you will have the beginning of sweet vanilla butter.
Use a serrated knife
Brush with rose simple syrup.
Use a soft pastry brush and gently brush enough to moisten the cake
Place the filling on the bottom layer.
Use an off-set spatula to spread the filling
Place the second layer of cake over the filling and spread a crumb layer of buttercream to the cake.
We do not color our crumb layer of buttercream
Color your remaining buttercream pink and frost the cake.
Smooth the buttercream
Pipe your roses with an Ateco tube #824 and enjoy!
Voila!
That is the most beautiful cake I have EVER seen!
mary x
Thank you mary!
very nice !
in witch country are you ?
You use demarle mold ! but not the earth ..
I sell Demarle mold in France !
You do you do the rose ? Kitchen sleeve ? whitch one ..
my english is not so good , sorry .
my mail : rohmer.flexipan@me.com thanks for the answers
Congratulations Bobbie to this gorgeous Cake!!!! The Champagne makes it so special, just love it 🙂
Judit & Corina
This is probably the most elegant Valentine’s cake I have seen. Not only does it have unique flavor ingredients, but the presentation is fabulous! I am not sure if you could have made anything better for Sean and his girlfriend on Valentine’s day! Very impressive.
It looks so good, I would hate to eat it….just gorgeous..
Thank you for sharing a wonderful recipe!
You’re welcome
Gostaria de saber qual bico você usou pra dar o efeito das rosas, ficou lindo.
Obrigado, a dica é de 1M
Great looking cake! How did you make the rose simple syrup? I’ve been up and down and probably just missed it, but I can not find the recipe or sub-recipe for it. Thanks…
Will
Simple rose syrup is:
50 grams or 1/4-cup sugar
59 grams or 1/4-cup water
5 drops rose essence
Thanks!
No problem have fun and please let me know how your cake turns out!
My niece wants this cake…but with three drops rose in the cake and five in the syrup, it won’t be too “rosey”? And are the yolks left out for whiteness, as with an angel food? I have to hand it to you- it seems unique on the entire internet.
It is an egg white cake for the pure white look; the rose essence is very subtle. If you want to substitute raspberry liqueur or raspberry essence in the simple syrup, the flavor fusion will be heavenly!
Thanks again, Bobbie. And many compliments to you for your hard work on a very impressive site.
Good luck, and please let me know if your niece enjoys her birthday cake! 😉
I am the niece Will made the cake for. Needless to say I was thrilled. The cake was as delicious as it was beautiful! It truly is the best cake to say, I love you:)
Erika, I am ecstatic you enjoyed your cake!!