Fancy Cakes

This is a Genoese base given as a formula rather than a method — the book assumes the cook already knows how a Genoese is built. The proportions are the classic ones and they work, but the technique has to be supplied.

• The hinge: warm the eggs and sugarA Genoese takes all its lift from air whisked into whole eggs. Whisk eggs and sugar in a bowl over barely simmering water until the mixture is lukewarm and holds a thick ribbon off the whisk, then whisk off the heat until cool. No baking powder is involved and none should be added.
• Butter goes in last, and just meltedMelt the 3 oz butter and let it cool to tepid, then trickle it down the side of the bowl after the flour is folded in. Butter that is hot, or added early, collapses the foam and gives a dense, greasy crumb.
• Fold the flour, do not stir itSift the 3 oz flour and fold in in three additions with a large spoon or spatula, cutting through and lifting. Overworking at this stage is the usual cause of a flat Genoese.
• Castor sugarSuperfine (caster) sugar. Granulated will work if the eggs are warmed properly, but it dissolves more slowly and risks a gritty crumb.
• "Four small eggs"Small eggs of the period run roughly 45-50 g each in the shell, so something like 160-180 g of shelled egg in total; three modern large eggs plus a yolk is close enough.
• Oven and tinThe book specifies neither. A moderate oven, about 350F, suits a Genoese; the quantity would fill roughly one 7-inch round tin or a shallow 8-inch square frame, allow something like 20-25 minutes in the round tin and 12-15 in the shallow frame, until the surface springs back.
• What abricotine means hereOnly the Genoese base is given. The name points to apricot, and the usual treatment for such a base was to bake it flat, cool it, trim or split it, spread and mask it with sieved apricot jam boiled to a glaze, then ice it -- but none of that finishing is printed on this page.
• YieldAbout 24 small petits fours from a shallow frame, or one modest layer cake.