Gateau Citron

I keep asking myself when, when is the ball going to drop and I have another one of those spectacular cooking disasters I seem to be prone to. I feel like I’ve had too much good luck in the kitchen recently and if there were ever a cooking project that I was going to fail at, it was this cake that I was sure was going be the one. I must remember to leave offerings to the gods of baked goods because they were certainly smiling down on me for this one. I still can’t believe I pulled it off in time and without a failure. I actually didn’t find the recipe all that difficult, it was just very labor intensive, I had to prepare several other smaller recipes before I could even get to the actual cake, and that was what began to stress me out. I admit poor planning on my part too, I should have divided things over 2 days, but I didn’t. I now know better. A hard lesson, but a lesson learned!

I actually did look at the recipe the night before, just to read through and make sure I had my ingredients list together. Little warning bells were going off in my head as I read, “recipe, Pastry Cream, page 127, 1 recipe English Lemon Curd, page 173, 4 cups prepared whipped cream, page 258” and so on! After the warning bells started to become warning gongs, and my brain began to vibrate with questions and self doubt, I abruptly stopped reading, and hurled the book across the room and decided it would be no problem. I could complete the entire cake in one day because I was SUPERGIRL and if I could master the evil slicing machine of teenage nightmares then I could conquer anything!

The recipe for Gateau Citron came from the excellent book The Village Baker’s Wife by Gail and Joe Ortiz with Melissa Beers. I really admire this book, and yet I’m also a bit intimidated by it. Gail Ortiz along with her husband Joe (The Village Baker) are the owner’s of Gayle’s Bakery in California. In this book Gayle talks about her love of baking, she shares stories of baking with friends, stories of learning her craft from other more senior bakers AND gives out advice, recipes and tips. She covers technique in a way that is so precise and so thorough, that you can’t help but get caught up in the moment and think that you too can be a baker just like Gayle!

warning: Long (winded) entry ahead, proceed with caution

I started early Thursday morning, armed with grocery list and money. The list was small, considering the many steps and the recipes I had to prepare. I was about to find out that it was not an easy order to fill. I visited at least half a dozen stores in my neighborhood, looking for, but not finding heavy whipping cream that was not ultra-pasteurized and was preservative free (more on why later). I spent too much time wandering from block to block, store to store, getting blank looks or being handed heavy whipping cream that was can you guess… ultra-pasteurized. I finally gave up and settled on an organic brand of ultra-pasteurized heavy whipping cream that to my surprise contained preservatives. I had stopped caring at that point, I mean really, I think 45 minutes is enough time to spend on something that was becoming obvious I wasn’t going to find. I had to get home and start baking.

I decided the best way to tackle the cake was to follow the recipes in sequence, rather than pick out the ones that seemed the easiest to do first. I figured Ortiz listed them in a certain order for a reason and it wasn't necessary for me, Amateur Home Baker Chick to change the order of things. I eagerly began...

Pastry Cream

The first recipe was for Pastry Cream, the kind that comes in éclairs, or cream puffs and other yummy treats. Ortiz suggests one of the best uses is to scoop it right from the bowl and into your mouth! Yeah! You're my kind of gal, Gail Ortiz. Start by warming 11/2 cups half and half over medium heat until just starting to simmer. In a bowl, mix 6 tablespoons of cornstarch and 1/2 cup sugar, using a whisk, whip in 1/2 cup water until smooth. Add 4 large room temperature egg yolks and again, beat until smooth. When the half and half has begun simmering, slowly add about one half of it to the cornstarch mixture, whisking continuously to blend. Once blended, whisk this mixture back into the half and half on the stove and continue to whisk vigorously until the pastry cream is thick. Ortiz stresses the importance of whisking continuously because of the danger of the cream forming lumps. With that in mind, I made sure my arm had non-stop whirling action, whisking and beating and preventing lumps just like the pros, and silently praying my arm wouldn't fall off! Once I had thick, lump free cream, I removed it from the heat, added 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, mixed well and transferred it to a glass bowl covering it with a plate. From time to time, Ortiz had me lift off the protective plate and stir the cream; I was helping to prevent it from forming a thick skin. You know that skin right, the same crazy scary skin that forms on scalded milk and commercial instant puddings...eww! Once the mixture is cool, Ortiz says it can be refrigerated and used for up to 3 days but should never be frozen.

English Lemon Curd

I was delayed starting on this delightful confection because I was required to have 2 tablespoons of grated lemon zest ready and I did not. Grating lemon zest or any zest for that matter kind of sucks. I don't have a rasp, I have a teeny mini grater that takes forever to use and manages to withdraw a little blood from time to time. I swear to myself every time I use it I'm going to get myself a rasp...but then I forget and the cycle begins again. With the zest crisis over, on the top of the stove in a double boiler I whisked 3 eggs with 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. (My smooth actually looks kind of frothy, no?) Ortiz says you can use up to 3/4 cups sugar but I wanted things a little tart so I used less. I then added 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice that I had strained of pulp, seeds and other debris, 2 tablespoons of room temperature unsalted butter, and the 2 tablespoons of hard earned lemon zest . I cooked this over medium heat whisking vigorously the whole time. Ortiz says the curd is done when the mixture resembles slightly whipped cream. I think I may have removed mine from the heat too early, this resembled slightly whipped cream to me at the time, but it ended up being a tad more watery than I would have liked. I removed it from the heat, covered it with a plate and stirred it frequently while it was cooling. My guess is Ortiz was trying to get me to prevent that freaky skin from forming but she didn't say this time. She does say that once cooled, you may strain the mixture and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. I opted out of the straining part of the deal. I'm sorry but I could see the mess in my minds eye and it wasn't pretty, I chose wisely. This stuff was incredibly tasty, and so easy to make that I would consider making this, packaging it up in nice little jars and giving it as little treats to friends.

4 cups prepared whipped cream

I mentioned earlier that I would tell you why Ortiz had me running crazy for non-ultra-pasteurized, preservative free heavy whipping cream... because it tastes better sillies! Now before you boo me, she does too say that, but she also goes on to say that ultra-pasteurized has a tendency to take longer to whip, weep water and break down faster. The higher fat content in the non-ultra-pasteurized preservative free stuff just makes better whipped cream. I'll have to take her world though, because like I mentioned, I couldn't find any of that kind. I chilled my mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for 15 minutes before putting 2 cups of the heavy cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of vanilla into the bowl then turned on my electric mixer and beat the hell out of everything. I stopped when the mixture was just holding soft peaks. I covered it with plastic wrap and refrigerated it until I was ready to use it. Did you know that 2 cups of whipping cream yields 4 cups of whipped cream when done? Me either, but now we do! This I may have stopped too soon too because I thought the whipped cream was a little too runny when I was using it. Oh wait! Maybe it was weeping water like Ortiz said. No matter, I used it and no one noticed anything but me.

1 recipe soaking solution

Now do you see why I was starting to get crazy? I STILL hadn't made the cake! The soaking solution was pretty easy to make and....OK, OK, I'll admit, I made the soaking solution and toasted the nuts before I prepared the recipe for the cake, so I did go out of sequence after all. In a saucepan, heat until just boiling, 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup sugar. Remove from heat and let cool. Ortiz suggests adding a teaspoon of dark rum or other liqueur (its an optional step) to the solution once it's cooled a bit, but I didn't have dark rum so I decided a teaspoon of cognac would do nicely. I ended up with more solution than the cake needed, Ortiz did say that would happen. I dumped mine when I was done using it, but Ortiz does say that it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month.

1/2 cup ground toasted, skinned hazelnuts

I won't go into how I toasted nuts because I know you know how to do that. I'll just note that I could not get whole, skinned hazelnuts so I used chopped with the skin on hazelnuts. I did not try to attempt removing the skins. Once everything was toasted and ground the skins were hardly noticeable and one person even commented on how much she like the taste of the nuts, (there's a bad pun there, I just know it) so I saved myself at least a little bit of aggravation.

1 recipe Genoise Layer Cake

I know you're thinking "Finally, she's come to the cake!" and at the time, that was my thinking too, but no, not quite yet. I was delayed again by having to stop and prepare cake pans the way Ortiz instructed. I thought about skipping Ortiz's way of preparing cake pans, it seemed over the top to me and having made cakes before, preparing cake pans wasn't something I thought needed so much attention, but then I decided at least this once, to try it her way and see if it was better.

I tore off a large piece of parchment and set the cake pan, bottom down, on top. With a marker I traced along the edge of the pan completing a full circle, then removed the pan and cut out the circle. I also did the same thing with a large piece of cardboard that I knew I would be needing later on. (more on that later). I then lightly coated the edges of the pans with some butter, (but not the bottom of the pans), and then coated the buttered edges with flour. Ortiz then had me place the cut out parchment into the bottom of each pan and that was it, the pans were ready. This took about 15 minutes more time than if I had just buttered and floured everything.

The cake, once I finally got to make it, was kind of easy, but quite unusual. First, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, well actually, it was already at 350 degrees because earlier I had toasted the hazelnuts out of sequence, remember?. In a bowl, I whisked together 5 eggs then whisked in 3/4 cups sugar. I placed the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and using my hand (!) like a whisk, stirred the eggs until they started to feel very warm. The constant movement kept the eggs from scrambling, and Ortiz notes that they should remain liquid and not looking opaque or cooked. Once the eggs started getting too warm for my hand (my hand!) to be in there much longer, I removed the bowl from the boiling water and started immediately whipping them with a hand mixer for about 4 minutes. While the eggs were whipping I melted 1 tablespoon of butter and put that into another bowl with 1 teaspoon of vanilla. I sifted 1 cup of cake flour and set that aside. Actually, I didn't have cake flour, loser that I am, so I substituted with all-purpose four. 1 cup of sifted all-purpose flour less 2 tablespoons is equal to a cup of cake flour (I hope I got that right). I sprinkled about a fourth of the flour over the egg mixture and gently folded that in. Ortiz notes that if you are too rough with the folding then you will hear the batter crunch. Well, I couldn't pass an opportunity to hear that happen, so I got rough with the batter, and sure enough it CRUNCHED! I was so tickled, I started giggling madly and was so tempted to continue making the batter crunch as I added the rest of the flour, it was that cool sounding, but I didn't want to mess up the cake if it was imperative to fold gently, so I stopped abusing the batter and finished folding in a neat and lady-like manner. After adding the flour to the egg mixture I then scooped out a generous cup of it and added it to the waiting butter/vanilla bowl, and folded it in. I then took THAT mixture and folded it back into the egg/flour mixture, gently and slowly, otherwise Ortiz notes, the butter would sink to the bottom and reduce the volume and make the cake tough. The batter went into my waiting cake pans and into the oven for 25 minutes. At this point I wandered off and started making the sugar-frosted berries I mentioned in the previous entry. Ortiz notes that the cakes are done when they begin to pull away from the sides. I removed the cakes from the oven, placed the pans on a cooling rack, ran a knife around the edges, then waited 5 minutes before removing them from the pan and setting them to cool on a rack. After flipping the cakes over I peeled away the parchment. I admit, that was kind of cool, I could easily spend at least an hour peeling parchment from cakes, it reminded me a little of how I used to let Elmer's glue dry on the palm of my hand then peel it away. Fun. I don't think I prefer Ortiz's method of preparing pans for cake though. The bottom of the cake stuck a little to the parchment and made the cake look sloppy, so for what it's worth, the next time I try making the cake, I'll prepare the pans the way I'm used to, so that I can compare my way vs. the Ortiz way.

The Assembly

I couldn't have been more excited to get to this point (and I'm sure Dear Reader, you are too). I was getting tired, and time was beginning to run out, so when I read that I needed to combine pastry cream with lemon curd and set it aside, then combine lemon curd with whipped cream and set that aside, I almost broke down and cried, when were all these effing steps going to end! I did it though, I had a minor breakdown first, but then I pulled myself together and did it. NOW, I was ready to assemble the cake.

Because the cake was intended to be a three-layer I had to slice one of the layers in half. What I didn't mention before was that I had poured more batter into one pan before baking, to insure that I got a thicker cake for slicing in half. Even though I made the extra effort to have a thicker cake, I was a little skeptical of being able to slice the cake with ease, it looked kind of thin. I held my breath, and sliced into the cake slowly, letting the serrated knife guide me. When it met with resistance I stopped and turned the cake and sliced again. I kept repeating this sawing, turning step until I had gone all the way around and then lifted the 2 halves apart. I DID IT!

At this point I was getting delirious and was having trouble comprehending Ortiz's very thorough but somewhat involved assembly instructions. In an effort to maintain the last of my sanity, I decided to use Ortiz's notes as a guide rather than follow it to the letter. I gave up on that about halfway and winged the rest of it, decorating the cake the way I felt like decorating it.

The cardboard that I had cut out earlier was supposed to be used as a base for the cake. I think Ortiz meant it to be used in tandem with a cake stand but since I don't have a cake stand I had to improvise. I lay the cardboard cutout on top of the bottom part of a cheese dish, the result was a makeshift cake stand. Ta-Da! Placing the first layer on the cardboard, I brushed it with soaking solution, then added a thin layer of cream, (it was supposed to be lemon curd, but somehow I had mysteriously run out), then piped a ribbon of whipped cream all along the edge. One day I'd love to own a real cake decorating kit, complete with tips cast in metal and made in assorted shapes and sizes, one that comes with a real, re-useable bag and a cute little case that neatly holds everything, but until that day, these disposable ones are great, but I digress.

Ortiz then instructed me to add a layer of pastry cream/lemon curd mixture in the middle of the piping. I thought it lacked something, but what? Looking around my kitchen my eye spotted the leftover raspberries and I quickly grabbed the pint and added them. Pretty, no? I added the second layer, brushed it with more soaking solution, added the pastry cream/lemon curd mixture, then the piping, I thought it looked too plain and added the leftover blackberries for some contrast. Better, no? Finally...the last layer. I brushed the top with more soaking solution and then the fun began. Icing the cake was not easy. I messed it up quite a few times and had to layer thick globs of whipped cream in certain areas to cover uneven spots. I wasted more than I actually used, getting quite a lot on myself, the counter and the floor. I'm not sure how long it took to ice the cake but I was pretty well covered in a thin layer of moisture when I was done, the cake fared better than me. Ortiz had some complicated instructions, (well, complicated to me considering my mental state at this point) for slipping the cake to the edge of the cardboard and using a sweeping motion to make a 1 inch border of ground hazelnuts around the bottom edge of the cake. HA! I could just see me slipping the cake off the cardboard...right onto the floor. There was no way I was even going to attempt that, so I just scooped up handfuls of nuts and threw them onto the cake, making a border of nuts that covered the sides from top to bottom, I made a HUGE mess. I did manage to get the cake off the cardboard and onto a cookie sheet by slipping two spatulas underneath the cake and lifting quickly. I zest-ed lemon rind over the cake for color but decided that it didn't do much for contrast, and looked for something else to add. I had a pomelo lying around and decided that the yellow and green would look nice together, so I zest-ed the skin of that too. I have to tell you, that wasn't one of my brightest moments. The pomelo was bigger than my grater, it was awkward and took a long time and I bled, but it sure looked better. I was starting to feel better, since I was almost finished, and in my good mood I piped a layer of cream along the bottom of the cake for decoration,immediately decided it looked horrible and scraped it off. I grabbed the waiting sugar fruit and alternating between a layer of mint, a dab of whipped cream and a berry I finished decorating the cake with an hour to spare. I thought the final product looked nice, but the real test would be later on that evening when the group ate it.

The cake was a big hit in both presentation and taste. I was proud of how it looked but I thought the taste was just eh. Maybe it's my wacky pregnancy taste buds but I was hoping for a tarter more lemony taste and didn't get it. The cream, which was delicious, seemed to be the dominating flavor and that was a disappointment for me, I really wanted more lemon flavor. The Genoise was interesting. So light, almost like an angel food but a little less airy and a bit denser. It reminded me of the fresh savoiardi (ladyfingers) I used to get at the pastry shop as a kid. I would make the cake part of the recipe again too; it was light and delicious tasting, almost like it had no calories! The group had no complaints and there wasn't any cake leftover to take a piece home to Tom so I'm guessing they enjoyed it. As for the Ortiz book, I think it's a terrific book. It's more geared towards the advanced baker but contains lots of instructions and interesting information for the beginner too. I just think that the recipes might be a bit too labor intensive. I'm all about making things from scratch, but this was a little too much to do in one day. Not the books fault, but mine, with a little bit better planning, I just might try making this again.

Written by Deb on November 10, 2003 12:55 AM