Pain de Gêne, Almond Bread !

Think almond cream, frangipane... oh my god this cake is sooo good :)

evrybody agreed :

" This cake si soooo good ! "

For 8 to 10 people

   Il vous faut :   

0,5lb of almond powder/ground almond

0,5 lb of white sugar

1.2 oz of butter (120gr)

4 eggs

3.5 oz of flour (100gr) de farine

3 tsp of kirsch

- more almonds ! -

Turn on the oven at 450°F

Melt the butter in a casserole on low heat, it must be tepid, not hot

Stir the grounded almonds with the sugar,

do a well in it and add the beaten eggs, 

stir it with a wooden spoon from the center of the bowl

stir in the melted butter

Add the flour, stir it by hand

At the end, stir in the kirsch

Pour in a buttered pan or with parchment paper

Put in the oven and change the settings to 370°F

Vovoi says 40 minutes cooking, but it took me 1h20 in a silicone mold...

It was a pretty thick mold

Take a regulat meat loaf pan :)

By using so much almond powder, I'll have to bring back some more from France ! :)

It's kinda hard to find here, but I saw an "almond meal" that looked like it at Trader's Joe, it might be interesting to check it out.

Crème panachée with no eggs - chocolate & kirsch cream

Among the first recipes of Vovoï's cookbook, there is a creme panachée (mixed flavoured cream).

A really foamy cream, light and delicious. She made it chocolate & coffee, but I'm not a huge fan of coffee dessert, so I changed it to make a chocolate-vanilla cream the first try, and a kirsch-chocolate cream the second time.

Flavours can be easily changed depending on your taste. They are added at the end of the recipe.

The contrast of colour and of taste is really pleasant, black and white is always a pleasant mix :)

The recipe is easy and quick, the only thing you could miss is the flour dilution.

For 4 small yogurt-size cup

   You will need :   

17 fl. oz of whole milk (50cL)

1.1 oz of flour (~ 30gr) (1 big tbsp.) 

- diluted in 1.7fl oz.of not cold milk (5cL) -

0.9 oz of white sugar (2tbsp / 25gr)

Put the milk in a wet casserole to boil

- the boiling milk and the whisk will make the cream rising, you need to pick a casserole with high sides -

Dilute the flour by putting it in a bowl, digging a well in it and pour the milk (1.7 fl oz) little by little in it, blending with a spoon. Flour has to be perfectly diluted in the milk

As soon as the milk starts boiling, pour the milk/flour in it and use a whisk to mix it.

The boiling must start again, keep using your whisk for 5 minutes while boiling.

Be careful the milk isn't burning/cooking on the inner surface.

After those 5 minutes, turn the heat off and keep mixing for 1 to 2 minutes,

Then pour your cream in to separate bowl, it's time to flavour it

- if you have some issues with the flour you can filter it -

 For the chocolate part, melt 1.0 to 1.4 oz of chocolate and mix it with it

for the vanilla half, add 1tsp. of vanilla extract and mix it with it

- for the kirsch half, 2tsp of kirsch -

Pour at the same time in your recipient/yogurt pot.

Let it rest in the fridge for at least 8 hours

This cream reminds me, at the taste and texture to the "viennois" I used to buy in stores, 

- the part under the whipped cream -

You cans erve it with a whipped cream, some  langues de chats or cigarettes :)

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Suggestions

chocolate and raspberries (mix raspberries and sugar together and add it to the cream)

chocolate and mint (1tsp of mint extract)

chocolate and orange (grated frozen orange)

lemon and raspberries (2tbsp of lemon juice)

coconut ?

You can do almost everything !

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