Classic Genoise Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 8 inch round cake pan. Line with parchment paper and grease it as well. Lightly flour pan and paper.
• Sift together the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt onto a piece of wax paper.
• Place the eggs into a mixing bowl set over a pan of hot (not boiling) water. Add the 1/2 cup sugar to the eggs and whisk until the mixture feels warm (not hot) to the touch, about body temperature. Place the bowl onto a mixer and beat on medium speed until the mixture becomes pale yellow in color and falls off the end of the whisk attachment in long ribbons. Add the vanilla. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the beaten egg and fold in. Continue to add the remainder of the flour, folding it in each time.
• Place about 1 cup of the batter into the bowl containing the melted butter and combine the butter with the batter. Add this back to the main batter and fold it in. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
• Immediately bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 25 minutes or until the top is a light brown. Cool in pan on a rack about 10 minutes and then invert onto a rack. It is best to invert it again onto another rack so that it cools with the top up. Let cool completely before cutting or frosting.

Steps:

• Place a 1-quart saucepan half filled with water over high heat and bring it to a simmer. Make a double boiler by setting a large mixing bowl over the simmering water. Place the whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and honey in the mixing bowl and make an egg foam by whisking the mixture to 113 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 7 to 10 minutes. The egg foam passes through various stages becoming foamy, then smooth and finally it thickens. When it is thick, it will be hot to the touch, tripled in volume, and light in color and the sugar will have completely dissolved. If you dip the whisk into the mixture and pull it out, the batter should fall back into the bowl in a thick ribbon.
• Remove the mixing bowl from the heat and whip the batter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until it cools, increases in volume, stiffens slightly and becomes pale yellow, about 7 to 10 minutes. Take the time to whip it well; if the mixture is under whipped, the baked genoise will be dense. Very, very carefully, fold in the flour with a rubber spatula until the flour is no longer visible, making sure to fold to the bottom of the bowl. Do not over mix or the batter will deflate. Fill buttered and parchment paper-lined 8-inch round cake pans 3/4 full with batter. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven until well-risen and golden brown, about 30 minutes.
• Let the genoise cool slightly. Unmold, remove parchment paper and finish cooling on a wire rack. The baked genoise can be stored in the freezer for 2 to 3 weeks if well wrapped in plastic wrap. Return it to room temperature before using it.
• VARIATION: Make this recipe into a Chocolate Genoise by substituting unsweetened cocoa powder for 10 to 20 percent of the weight (a scant 1/4 cup to a full 1/3 cup) of the flour. Weigh the cocoa powder before you sift it.
• Jacques' Tip: Genoise can be made with butter. In this recipe, you can substitute butter (5 1/2 tablespoons) for the 3 large egg yolks. Melt and cool the butter and fold it in after the flour is added.

Steps:

• One 9 by 2-inch round layer pan, or a 9-inch springform pan, buttered and the bottom lined with a disk of parchment or wax paper
• Set a rack at the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
• Sift together the cake flour, cornstarch, and cocoa through a fine-meshed strainer over a piece of waxed paper to break up any lumps in the cocoa. Set sifted ingredients aside with the strainer.
• Whisk together the eggs yolks, sugar, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and continue whisking gently until the mixture is lukewarm, about 100 degrees. This should take only a minute or two.
• Whip with the electric mixer on high speed until the mixture is cooled and increased in volume, about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Remove bowl from mixer and sift in dry ingredients, in three additions gently folding each third in with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread the top even with a spatula.
• Bake the layer about 30 minutes until it is well risen and the center is firm to the touch.
• If necessary, loosen the layer from the side of the pan with a small knife or spatula and invert the cake onto a rack. Place another rack on the cake and invert again. Remove the top rack, so that the layer cools right side up, still on the paper

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in center. Butter a 12-by-17-inch jelly-roll pan or rimmed baking sheet. Line with parchment paper; butter and flour parchment. Set aside.
• Combine sugar, eggs, and salt in a heat-proof mixing bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
• Attach bowl to mixer; using whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture is very thick and pale, 6 to 8 minutes. Gently transfer to a large, wide bowl. Combine butter and vanilla in small bowl. Sift flour over sugar mixture in three batches, folding gently after each; add butter mixture in steady stream with the third. Pour into pan; smooth with an offset spatula.
• Bake until cake is lightly golden brown and springy to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Steps:

• 1 Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
• 2 Half-fill a medium saucepan with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat so the water is simmering.
• 3 Whisk the eggs, yolks, salt, and sugar together in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Place over the pan of simmering water and whisk gently until the mixture is just lukewarm, about 100 degrees (test with your finger). Attach the bowl to the mixer and, with the whisk attachment, whip on medium-high speed until the egg mixture is cooled (touch the outside of the bowl to tell) and tripled in volume. The egg foam will be thick and will form a slowly dissolving ribbon falling back onto the bowl of whipped eggs when the whisk is lifted.
• 4 While the eggs are whipping, stir together the flour and cornstarch.
• 5 Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the beaten eggs. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture, making sure to scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl on every pass through the batter to prevent the flour mixture from accumulating there and making lumps. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture and finally with the remainder.
• 6 Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
• 7 Bake the gênoise for about 25 minutes, or until well risen, deep gold, and firm to the touch.
• 8 Immediately use a small pairing knife to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Invert the cake onto a rack, then reinvert onto another rack and let the cake cool right side up on the paper. Remove the paper when the cake is cool.
• Variations
• Chocolate Genoise: Reduce the bake flour to 1/3 cup, increase the cornstarch to 1/3 cup, and add 1/4 cup alkalized (Dutch-process) cocoa powder to the flour and cornstarch mixture, sift.
• Genoise Sheet: Bake either the plain or chocolate batter in a 10 x 15-inch jelly roll pan that has been buttered and lined with buttered parchment at 400 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes. Make sure the cake doesn't overbake and become to dry, especially if it is tot be rolled. (Makes on 10 x 15-inch layer.)