No. 3241

Hazel-Nut Cake

Gateau aux Noisettes

Prepare a fine paste with two eggs, four ounces of almonds and four ounces of hazel-nuts, both well pounded. Put into a basin a pound and a quarter of sugar with twenty egg-yolks, beat till quite frothy, then stir in the almond and nut paste, continuing to beat for a few moments longer; mix in lightly three-quarters of a pound of flour and twenty egg-whites whipped to a stiff froth. Divide this preparation in three rings eight inches in diameter lined with paper; bake the cakes in a slow oven; turn them out as soon as done and leave cool off entirely, then mask each with a thick layer of pastry cream (No. 46) highly flavored with vanilla, adding to it a few roasted hazel-nuts pounded with a little cream. Lay one round on top of the other to form into one large cake; pare it well rounded and very uniform with a knife and cover it entirely with reduced apricot marmalade (No. 3675); ice the cake with vanilla icing (No. 102). As soon as this is hard and dry slide the cake on a dish covered with lace paper and decorate the top with a fine display of royal icing ornamentation. Surround the bottom of the cake with small lady bouchees (No. 3376) iced with white fondant (No. 58), laying each one in a small paper case.

← No. 3240 Gugelhopfen Large Cakes for Entremets No. 3242 Jamaica Cake →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

A three-layer nut sponge in the grand style: no leavening but twenty eggs, and a finish of pastry cream, apricot glaze, fondant and piped royal icing. The mixing is the whole game.

Scale firstAs written this is roughly 1 lb 4 oz sugar, 12 oz flour, 4 oz almonds, 4 oz hazelnuts, two whole eggs for the nut paste and twenty more eggs separated — three 8-inch layers that assemble into one tall cake for a large table. Quartering the separated eggs to five gives a single manageable layer if you want to test the batter.
The hinge is the foldingThere is no chemical leavening. The yolk-sugar foam must reach the ribbon stage and the whites a stiff but not dry peak; Ranhofer says only to mix the flour and whites in lightly, and modern practice is to add them alternately, in thirds, with a spatula. Overwork it and the cake bakes dense and rubbery, and no amount of cream will hide it.
Slow oven300 to 325F. An 8-inch layer of this depth takes 30 to 40 minutes; it is done when the centre springs back and a skewer comes out clean. Higher heat sets a crust before the interior rises.
Pounding the nutsA food processor replaces the mortar, but nuts ground with sugar or with the two whole eggs called for here stay a paste rather than turning to oily butter. Pulse in bursts.
HazelnutsToast at 350F for 10 to 12 minutes and rub off the skins in a towel before grinding; the papery skins are bitter and speckle the crumb. The "roasted hazel-nuts pounded with a little cream" for the filling are a second, separate batch.
Rings lined with paperThis most likely means flan rings set on a baking sheet with a paper collar and base. Buttered 8-inch cake pans with parchment rounds behave the same; fill them no more than two-thirds.
The cross-referenced componentsNo. 46 is pastry cream, No. 3675 a reduced apricot marmalade, No. 102 a vanilla icing, No. 58 white fondant. In practice: thick vanilla pastry cream between layers, sieved apricot jam boiled down to a tacky glaze over the whole cake to seal the crumb, then the poured vanilla icing, then royal icing piped once that has set.
Assembly and chillingFill and stack only when the layers are completely cold, then chill the stacked cake before paring it round with a long knife — warm sponge tears and the pastry cream slumps. A cake filled with pastry cream keeps in the refrigerator and should be eaten within two days.
The bouchées are optionalThe ring of fondant-iced lady bouchées in paper cases (No. 3376) is banquet presentation, not structure. Skip it without affecting the cake.

A Little History

This comes from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous record of his decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it sits in the chapter of large cakes meant to be served as entremets — the sweet course carried to the table as a set piece. The formula is a biscuit or genoise-type nut sponge of the kind French pâtissiers built on egg foam alone, and the name is simply the French for hazelnuts, noisettes. What dates it is not the cake but the finish: apricot glaze under poured fondant, royal icing ornamentation piped on top, lace paper beneath and a border of small iced bouchées each in its own paper case. Ranhofer wrote for a brigade with a pastry department and unlimited eggs, and the cross-references to numbered pastry cream, marmalade and fondant recipes show a kitchen where those components were standing preparations rather than things made specially for one cake.