Instant Gourmet: Walnut Genoise

I was really surprised at how quickly this cake went together.  You can have it baked and cooling within an hour, and on the table in less than two.  The thing is, it just looks incredible and fancy and people will think that you have been working all day.  Now THAT is my kind of dessert!

Yesterday when I was trying ot figure out what to do with my unexpected time I found an old Bon Appetit magazine from 2005 that I had bought and not read yet.  That probably sounds silly but sometimes that happens to me, and in 2005 we were in the midst of trying to make the tea room work.

Anyway, so I started paging through and found a recipe that was just beautiful.  Remember I said I was going to practice my genoise skills? It seemed the perfect moment to do it.

The only thing was this cake was topped with coffee flavored whipped cream only and i was craving something rich and chocolate.   No worries! Just adapt the recipe!

What resulted was pure bliss.  The cake is rich with walnuts, and given a rich coffee flavor from my inspired idea of grinding coffee beans up to add with the walnuts. I added a thick layer of coffee infused ganache between the cake and the whipped cream.

This made 8 servings for us, but my family eats even the richest cakes like they were potato chips.  I would think most people could get 10 or even 12 servings from this cake.

After it is baked, while it is cooling, the top will sink down some.  It is supposed to do that and gives the ganache a place to nestle.   I think I may do this again and try it with a chai infused ganache…

Walnut & Coffee Genoise with Coffee Infused Ganache

cake:

1 1/3 cup walnuts

2 tablespoons espresso coffee beans

2 tablespoons flour

4 eggs separated, room temperature.

1/2 cup sugar

ganache:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon ground espresso beans

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

topping:

1 cup of heavy cream, whipped and sweetened to taste

Instructions: 

Preheat the oven to 350.

Butter the bottom only of a 9" springform pan. Set aside.

Grind the walnuts, 2 tablespoons of flour, and 2 tablespoons of espresso beans in a food processor or blender.  They should be ground fine but not pasty.   Set 2 tablespoons aside for garnish.

Beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon colored.  Slowly add in the 1/2 cup sugar continuing to beat until thick and a ribbon forms when beaters are lifted.  Carefully fold the coffee and nut mixture into the yolks.  Be careful not to deflate the mixture. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, but the eggs are not dry. Fold half of the whites into the nut  and yolk combination.  Fold in the rest of the whites, again, be careful to work quickly but gently.

Spoon batter into pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Cool in pan for 5  minutes. Run knife around the sides to loosen the cake and then remove springform.  Finish cooling while you make the ganache.  Middle will drop slightly.

Add the 2 tablespoons ground coffee to the 1 cup of heavy cream and bring to a simmer.  Remove from heat and allow to steep for 5 minutes.  Strain out coffee grounds.  Bring the cream back up to a simmer, remove from heat and add chopped chocolate.  Stir  until the chocolate is melted. Cool.

Spoon cool ganache onto the top of the genoise.  Set int he freezer to firm up while you whip the cream for the topping.

remove from freezer, cover with a layer of whipped cream, sprinkle with the reserved nut-coffee bean mixture and serve.

Images: Marye Audet