Christmas Frangipane Almond Cake

The Frangipane is an almond filling use in France to make the  famous “Galette des rois” ( translated king cake) this simple pastry item is made out of a thick layer of creme Frangipane ( which is in fact an almond cream mixed with pastry cream) sandwiched between 2 layer of pure butter puff pastry.

today  to make make things easier for home cooking we are going to use some good quality pre-made puff pastry and create a simple rectangular shaped cake that we will be able slice and serve on your christmas table for  dessert. However when making this recipe it is vital to make a true Frangipane and not an almond cream (creme d’amande) which many people seems to do nowadays. An authentic Frangipane is made with a pastry cream mixed with almond cream. Only that combination will provide you with the true taste of the cake filling that you may have tasted back in France.

In this recipe I will give you the ingredients to make a cake for about 4 people:

Let’s begin.

The first step is to make a small amount of pastry cream:

Ingredients you will need:

• 175 ml whole milk ( full cream milk)
• 2 teaspoons good quality vanilla essence
• 2 egg yolks
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 15 grams corn flour
• 15 grams of plain butter

Utensils and pans :

• 1 small saucepan
• 1 medium size bowl
• a whisk
• a small sieve

Instructions:

1. place a small pan on the stove on low heat. pour all of the milk and the 2 teaspoon of vanilla essence. leave the milk to warm up slowly while you continue making the rest of the preparation
2. use a clean medium size bowl and add in the 2 egg yolks plus whole of the sugar. whisk for 2 minutes until the egg get whitish color.add now the corn flour in the mix and whisk again just to incorporate the corn flour.
3. By now your milk should be warm. turn the heat off and pour the warm milk over you egg and sugar mixture, stir well making sure you add the milk in two times filtering it through the sieve as shown in the video.when done remove the excess of foam that has been created while whisking and pour the mix back into the saucepan you use to warm up the milk.
4. put the pan on the stove over medium heat and keep stirring until the mix thick and transform in to a thick cream. as soon as it does turn the heat off and pour that cream a clean container.
5. add now the butter in the pastry cream and incorporate with the whisk. when done leave to cool down at room temperature while you make the Almond cream.

Making the Almond cream:

Ingredients:

• 50 grams plain unsalted butter
• 50 grams icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour
• 50 grams almond meal ( ground almonds)
• 1 whole egg ( medium caliber)
• 1 drop a bitter almond essence
• 80 grams of freshly made pastry cream

To make the cake 1 roll of pre-made pure butter puff pastry

For the egg wash : 1 whole eggs ( beaten and mixed with a tablespoon of water)

Bakeware:

• 1 medium size bowl
• 1 rubber spatula or wooden spoon
• 1 sieve
• 1 baking brush
• 1 baking tray
• 1 silicon mat

instructions:

1. Add the softened butter in the bowl and pour over the sifted icing sugar. Incorporate slowly with the spatula. add now the almond meal ( ground almond) and the corn flour, and incorporate slowly. finally incorporate the egg gently.
2. when done add the 80 grams of pastry cream and incorporate slowly with a spatula.
3. put that mix in the fridge and leave until cold ( for around 15 minutes)

Making the cake.

1. roll out the puff pastry into a 2 large rectangle  around 20 cm by 14 cm or any shape you like that can hold the amount of Frangipane you have. once done place the base rectangle of dough on a baking tray (covered with a silicon mat or parchment paper)
2. Spread a thick even layer of Frangipane on the bottom rectangle then cover with the other rectangle of puff pastry.
3. Seal the edges with a fork and brush with egg wash.
4. leave to rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.
5. Take out of the fridge, brush the top of the cake again with egg wash then decorate the top with a fork ( as shown in the video)

Baking the cake:

Place the cake in a preheat oven at 220 Celsius.

Leave to bake for 10 minutes at 220 c (428f) then reduce the heat to 170 ( 338) degrees c and continue to bake for another 20 minutes. when cooked take the cake out and glaze the top with a mix o sugar and water or honey and water ( up to you)

Serving:

this cake is best eaten when lukewarm. you can keep it at room temperature for several hours and warm it up a little bit when it is time to serve. to serve just cut the cake in large slices and present on plate.

Video tutorial:

Stephane