Thing #47 on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days: Make a very fancy cake.
One of the nice things about having excellent humans in your life is that sometimes you get to surprise them with fancy cakes, and there’s nothing they can do about it. This is a post about Bene’s birthday cake, which was a phenomenally decadent pistachio and lemon curd layer cake from Natalie Paull’s iconic recipe book Beatrix Bakes.
This isn’t a recipe blog, and I’m not going to make anyone scroll past a lengthy story to get to the point. Instructions are below, I’ve also included some of my own tips which would have made the process much smoother for this infrequent baker. Click ‘read more’ for the recipe.
INGREDIENTS
For the cake:
100g (3½ oz) blanched pistachios
260g (9 oz) superfine caster sugar
150g (5½ oz) unsalted butter, soft and squidgy
100g (3½ oz) eggs (approx 2 eggs)
240g (8½ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
12g (½ oz or 2½ teaspoons) baking powder
3g (¼ teaspoon) fine sea salt
260g/ml (9 oz) milk, room temperature
80g (2¾ oz) blanched pistachio slivers, crushed to a course crumb
For the lemon curd:
150g/ml (5½ oz) strained lemon juice (from approx 5 lemons)
225g (8 oz) superfine caster sugar
1g (¼ teaspoon) sea salt flakes
120g (4½ oz) egg yolk (from approx 6 eggs)
90g (3 oz) unsalted butter, softened to squidgy
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
For the meringue buttercream frosting:
120g (4½ oz) egg white (from approx 4 eggs)
175g (6 oz) superfine caster sugar
2g (¼ teaspoon) cream of tartar
2g (¼ teaspoon) fine sea salt
270g (9½ oz) unsalted butter, diced and squidgy soft
5g (½ teaspoon) vanilla paste
50g/ml (1¾ oz) warm water
STOP. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PREPARE.
I’m going to be honest with you. I love this book more than I love life itself, but I do have some strong opinions about the way that the method is set out. Experienced bakers will be able to see at a glance what kind of preparation goes into a cake like this, but for an overconfident improvisor like me I felt into a few traps.
Nobody cares what I think, but what I felt was missing from this recipe was the thinking that should go into this cake in advance. Here are my tips:
TIP 1: Natalie Paull’s book contains instructions for blanching your own pistachios. This is a scam, do not waste time doing this, it sucks and it also takes forever for the pistachios to dry out afterwards. Either buy them blanched or use them raw. Blanches pistachios give that vibrant green colour but it is not worth the agony. If you really must do this, do it the day before and turn up the music loud enough that your neighbours can’t hear you swearing.
TIP 2: Make the lemon curd the day before. If you make a triple batch like I did, you’ll be whisking over that stove for a long time and then you need to factor in the time it’ll take to set in the fridge. It just makes sense to be doing this the day before you need to smear it between two layers of very fresh, very crumbly cake.
TIP 3: Definitely make a triple batch of the lemon curd, though. This is the greatest lemon curd you will ever taste, and you will want to spread it on EVERYTHING. Don’t forget to add it to your crumpets.
TIP 4: Did I mention that you should make a triple batch of the lemon curd? Great, glad we agree. But you’re about to commit to the yolks of 18-20 eggs, so consider in advance what you’re planning to do with all of those egg whites because mine ended up being wasted.
TIP 5: Finally, spend some time working out a double boiler setup if you don’t already have one. I burned the absolute shit out of my fingers because the bowl I grabbed to whisk the lemon curd did not create a perfect seal, and so my skin was directly over steam for most of an hour.
Say goodbye to your loved ones, because this cake really does take two days to make. They’ll understand once they’ve tasted it.
METHOD
THE LEMON CURD
STEP 1: Fill a 20cm (8 in) wide saucepan with 5cm (2 in) of water and bring to a low simmer on the stovetop. Choose a heatproof bowl that will nestle on top of the pan without touching the water.
Note: you’ll want a deeper saucepan with more water in it if you’re making a triple batch like me, or the water will evaporate before you’re done.
STEP 2: Put the lemon juice, sugar and salt in the bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk in the egg yolks.
Note: We add the egg yolks last so they have limited contact with the acid and sugar. The sugar will start to draw moisture out of the yolks, causing the mix to form into hardened yolky lumps.
STEP 3: Place the bowl over the simmering water and whisk with a medium tempo until the curd is thick and wobbly and registers 85°C (185°F).
Note: This is a little over the egg yolk setting temperature of 90°C (176°F), but the high ratio of sugar will protect the mix from overcooking.
STEP 4: Take the bowl off the pan and add the soft butter, a few pinches at a time, whisking them in, until all the butter has been added and has dissolved. Whisk in the lemon zest. Adding the zest at the end preserves the zingy punch of the zest, which diminishes with cooking.
STEP 5: Scrape the mix into a plastic tub or bowl. Immediately press a piece of baking paper on the top to prevent a skin forming, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. The lemon curd will look loose but will become firmer as it cools.
STEP 6: Store for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator, or for up to 3 months in the freezer.
THE CAKE
If you took the time to read my tips above, then today is Day 2 and you’re ready to tackle the cake itself.
STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Lightly spray the sides of two 20cm (8 in) round, 5cm (2 in) deep cake tins with cooking oil spray. Line the base of each tin with a circle of baking paper (there’s no need to line the sides).
STEP 2: In a food processor, whiz the pistachios with the sugar until the nuts are finely ground.
Note: this was by far my favourite step – I could have eaten this mixture by the spoonful. Whizzing nuts with sugar (or flour) slows down the release of their oil so you can grind them finer without making nut butter. This also lightly tints the sugar green, which, in turn, tints the cake batter a natural pale green hue.
STEP 3: Put the butter and pistachio sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, cream the ingredients on speed 4 for about 10 minutes until the mix is paler, scraping down the bowl once or twice. The mix won’t be super fluffy and that’s okay. Add the eggs and beat for another 5 minutes on speed 4.
STEP 4: Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside with a sieve.
STEP 5: Remove the bowl from the mixer and push the batter off the paddle. We are working by hand now. Sift over half the flour mix and fold in with a study plastic spatula. When it is almost fully mixed in, fold in half the milk. Repeat with the remaining flour and then milk. Make sure the final mix is very thorough, so no flour or milk streaks remain.
STEP 6: Divide the batter equally between the two prepared cake tins – about 540g (1lb 3oz) in each – and lightly smooth the tops. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the cake feels fluffy, is pale golden and a skewer inserted into the ventre comes out clean (internal temperature is 95°C / 203°F).
STEP 7: Put the cakes on a wire rack and leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes. Carefully flip the cakes out onto the rack, then invert them again so they are top side up. Leave to cool completely.
THE MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
(This makes a double batch – freeze the other half for later)
STEP 1: Choose a saucepan that will allow you to nestle the stand mixer bowl on top, without it touching the water below. Fill the pan with 5cm of water and bring to a bare simmer on the stovetop.
STEP 2: Put the egg white, sugar, cream of tartar and salt in the bowl of an electric stand mixer and whisk together. Nestle the mixer bowl over the pan of simmering water and whisk well for about 3 minutes while it becomes hot. Test the temperature by putting your finger into the mix, it will naturally feel hot to the touch at around 70°C / 158°F.
STEP 3: Remove the bowl from the heat and place onto the stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip on speed 8 for about 5 minutes until the mix looks like thick, glossy whipped cream. When your hand cups the base of the mixed bowl it will feel just warm (approx 30°C/86°F).
STEP 4: With the mixer still on speed 8, add 2 or 3 tablespoon sized pieces of the butter, allowing them to dissolve before adding the next few pieces.
Note: This step is crucial. If the butter is too cold when added, it won’t whisk in properly and the buttercream can look curdled. To fix it, allow it to keep whisking (motion = friction = warmth) while you soften the remainder of your butter further. If the meringue mix is too warm when you added the butter and it melts and looks like soup, remove the bowl from the mixer, chill for 10 minutes, then resume whisking. Imagine the meringue and butter being the same consistency and able to meld effortlessly – that sweet spot of temperature where the meringue and butter become friends.
STEP 5: Halfway through adding the butter, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then continue to add the butter. After all the butter has been added, add the vanilla, stream in the warm water and whip for a further 5 minutes until a thick moussey consistency.
STEP 6: Store in a plastic container in the fridge for 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
ASSEMBLE THE CAKE
Now for the fun part! All of our components are made, and now it’s time to put them together.
STEP 1: Using a large, sharp knife, trim the tops of the cake layers so that they are level.
STEP 2: Spread half of the lemon curd over one of the cakes, and sandwich with the other cake. Mix the remainder of the lemon curd into the meringue buttercream.
STEP 3: Ice the cake with the lemon curd buttercream. While the buttercream is still soft, hold the cake (on its board or stand) at a slight angle over a bowl of pistachio crumb. Scoop and lightly press the crumb into the side and over the top of the cake, swiping the loose crumbs back into the bowl.
Serve at room temperature.
Recipe by Natalie Paull from Beatrix Bakes. While you’re there, grab her latest book Beatrix Bakes: Another Slice which was released in March this year.