Fit for a Princess Cake Part II

Trying out the Princess Cake. Photo by John H. Ostdick

Just how hard is it to make that stunning Princess Cake as seen at Gayle's Bakery in Capitola, Calif.? Follow Gayle's recipes for the genoise, pastry cream, whipped cream and marzipan and you'll make it.

It's a two-day effort. Make the components on Day 1, build the cake on Day 2. Here's what I found when giving it a go.

Tinting Marzipan: In Gayle and Joe Ortiz's book "The Village Baker's Wife," they emphasize adding food coloring gradually, kneading in more color by hand as needed, because it's easier to add a little more color at the end than to make a new batch. I added the first amount, found it too light, then globbed more food coloring into the mixer bowl, instead of adding small amounts by hand as directed. That's how I overshot the perfect mint green color. The book does a good job explaining what to watch for, so FD, folks, follow directions.

Weather and Sugar: North Texas has suffered drenching rains. In such heavy humidity, the marzipan on my cake fairly glistened on top. Was it because the hygroscopic nature of sugar in the marzipan and in the confectioner's sugar pulled moisture to the cake's surface, which turned the powdered sugar into a glaze? Hard to say, but before the photo was snapped, the entire surface was snow white with sifted sugar. Look at it now. The wet nature of my marzipan also softened it up, so it melded into the whipped cream underneath, instead of retaining its soft but firm texture. Better that than to turn rock hard by drying out, but still.

Bottoming out: Notice the leaves placed along the cake's bottom? They cover up the marzipan's trimmed edge. It takes practice to get a smooth edge without folds or bad trims, so you may need to hide the evidence. Roll the marzipan too thin and you may get rips and tears. Leave it too thick, and it's harder to smooth out the folds. I couldn't just pop it off the cake and re-roll it, because it goes on top of whipped cream. Give it your best shot. Less is more with the Princess Cake, so I'd rather see the cake without the leaves.

Why the fake flower? Those drenching Texas rains have pummeled our roses, so I didn't have a good topper to snip. Eh bien tant pis, as the French say.

Genoise cake: Vanilla genoise is the only vanilla cake sold at the bakery, the book says. Gayle describes it as a French butter sponge cake, light and eggy, with a wonderful texture. I seem to remember typical genoise being heavy and dry but decided to try Gayle's recipe. I used the soaking solution the recipe suggests. To my surprise, voila! This genoise won me over.

When layering a cake, it can be a bit ticklish to cut one cake into three layers, so consider baking a second batch if you don't like making thin, precise cuts. I made a 9-inch practice cake and then a smaller one, preferring the smaller cake size (like the one in the photo). I trimmed the layers from 9-inch baked cake to 6-inch using a cake ring. Another option is to bake the cake in a sheet pan, then cut the layers from it. Why smaller? Easier to get the dome effect over a smaller surface area.

Pastry Cream: The book includes a recipe, but I have one that never fails me (see below), so I used something familiar. You'll have enough left over to make a second cake if desired. Fill a few cream puffs while ye may.

Whipped Cream: Gayle's recipe = scrumptious.

Jam: If you have no raspberries but you've got fresh apricot, go with that. A bit of tang is a good choice compared with something overly sweet. Balance that sugar with zing fruit. See below for a fresh apricot jam recipe that belonged to Ruth Reichl.

Where I cheated: Had some buttercream on hand, so I piped a ring around the inside layers to help hold in the jam and the pastry cream fillings. That's a trick from pastry school, making buttercream dams. These fillings can squirt down the sides when the weight of the cake layers is added, so I wanted to avoid this. Note to self: If you run out of buttercream, whipped cream is too light a replacement for the buttercream dam. My jam filling did scooch out the sides. If this happens, do what you can to scrape it off, use the freezer to firm things up a bit, then catch your breath. With marzipan over the whole thing, that jam won't leak through as it might with a frosting. Nobody sees. It could puddle slightly at the bottom of the marzipan, though, so gently wipe it off with a paper towel.

Would I make this cake again? Absolutely, with the same recipes from The Village Baker's Wife. I served it to the 23-26 age group and to the 45 and up group. Both liked this cake's lightness quality - not overly sweet or sugar rushy. They gave high marks for appearance and ability of the layers and fillings to work beautifully together. It's a cake fit for a fancy dress party or bridal shower - even as a topper for a tower display of cupcakes or macarons.

What I'll do differently: Avoid making it in wet weather. Follow directions on tinting marzipan. Work more carefully to roll out the marzipan to a consistent thickness, smoothing out the lower edges and trimming with more finesse. Bake the cake in a smaller pan, perhaps make a higher number of layers to emphasize the dome effect. Use a tart raspberry jam. Try Gayle's pastry cream.

Final note: Short shelf like on this cake, so plan for it. Best served the day it's made, but it should hold in the fridge, boxed, for two days.

Now go dream up a tea party and march out this royal confection; in fact, get a paper doily for it like they do at Gayle's Bakery.

Next up: Let's try Gayle's Rich Chocolate Cake with the devil's food interior and ganache blanket. Because hey, the book says it never fails to impress and astound, two awesome qualities every cake should aspire to. The recipe even includes my friend apricot jam.

In the previous post Fit for a Princess, I mentioned waiting more than 20 years to visit Gayle's Bakery in person. Words escape me. The sound of my jaw dropping to the floor should tell you everything to know about the quality of what they do.

Julie Powell had something when she worked through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and it became a movie. For me, think I'll just hang out in The Village Baker's Wife for a year now that I've seen the pastries up close. Know what's on the book's cover?

Princess Cake.

Did you know: Joe Ortiz knew Julia Child and was one of the bakers chosen to tape segments for the PBS series Baking With Julia. He carried five sourdough starters from Capitola to Cambridge, Mass., in a carry-on bag through the gauntlet of airport security.

That, mes amis, is devotion to the craft.


Pastry Cream (Crème Patissiere)

Ingredients

Milk, 16 ounces (2 cups)

Sugar, 2 ounces (1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon)

Egg yolks, 1.5 ounces (about 3 large egg yolks)
Eggs, 2 eggs
Cornstarch, 1.25 ounces (3 tablespoons)
Sugar, 2 ounces (1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon)
Unsalted butter, 1 ounce (2 tablespoons)
Vanilla extract, ½ tablespoon

Method

1. Line a shallow pan with plastic wrap, set aside in freezer.
2. In a heavy saucepan over medium high heat, dissolve first sugar in milk and bring just to a boil.
3. In a separate stainless steel bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and whole eggs. Sift the cornstarch and 2^nd sugar into the eggs. Whisk until smooth.
4. Temper the egg mixture by slowly pouring the hot milk into the eggs and stirring constantly. Return the mixture to the stove and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Mixture will thicken within a few minutes. If lumps form, don't panic and don't toss it out. As the mixture cooks, many of them will disappear. Hang with it.
5. Keep stirring as you look for bubbles indicating the mixture is boiling. Cook the mixture for 1-2 minutes, while stirring, to ensure you’ve cooked the cornstarch completely. Remove from heat, add butter and mix until butter is completely mixed in, then add vanilla and stir to combine.
6. Pour the cream mixture onto the shallow pan, cover with plastic directly on surface to prevent crust from forming. If remaining lumps freak you out, throw everything in a blender and process. This should take care of it. Otherwise, know that when you re-whisk the mixture before using, they will disappear. Allow to chill several hours before use. To use, whip the chilled pastry cream until smooth or whisk it thoroughly. It will start out thick but loosen up.

*Note: Although some pastry cream recipes use flour, cornstarch should be used as the thickening agent when the cream is used for a pie so cut slices hold their shape. Flour pastry creams can taste pasty, too.
Tip: Take a cookie sheet and line it with 2 layers of plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer. Then when your pastry cream is done you strain it directly onto the cold tray and spread it out. Fold the plastic wrap up around it into like an envelope and refrigerate it. It cools in no time!
For coffee flavored pastry cream: add 1/3 cup espresso, cooled (or amount to taste) and lightly whisk espresso into chilled pastry cream.
Or, 2 tablespoons of instant coffee powder to the milk in Step 2.
For chocolate pastry cream: For each 12 ounces of pastry cream, stir in 4 ounces melted dark chocolate while the pastry cream is still warm (100 grams chocolate for each 300 grams of pastry cream).
For praline pastry cream: For each 12 ounces of pastry cream, stir in 4 ounces softened praline paste (such as Nutella) while the pastry cream is still warm.

Fresh Apricot Jam (as created by Ruth Reichl)

¼ cup water
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 pounds apricots, including skin, pulled apart, divided 
vanilla bean, optional, or t tablespoon vanilla bean paste
juice of half a lemon

Stir the sugar and water together in a small heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring until clear, 1-2 minutes. Pull apart the apricots, and add half of them to the syrup. Simmer until they disintegrate, stirring, for about 10 minutes. Add the remaining apricots and vanilla bean, and stir for another 5-7 minutes, until the apricots soften.

Remove the vanilla bean.  Slice it the long way, and run a knife along the inside edge to remove the seeds. Stir the seeds into the jam.

Add the lemon juice and cook for another 3 minutes. (My one change here is to use an immersion blender on the jam after it's cooked. I like a smooth consistency as opposed to pieces of apricot.)

This keeps well in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks - I freeze it.

 

Fit for a Princess Cake

The stunning Princess Cake at Gayle's Bakery in Capitola, CA.
All photos by John H. Ostdick

In your travels, have you found the most visually delicious bakery in the USA? Here's a hint: It's in California, but not in San Francisco or Napa. For a jaw-dropping experience, make your way to Gayle's Bakery and Rosticceria, 90 miles south of San Francisco in the seaside town of Capitola. The address is 504 Bay Avenue. You can't miss it.

Gayle and Joe Ortiz opened their village bakery in 1978 with just 10 items. Today they employ 150 people; that alone is remarkable in this era of chain stores with breads of chance.

I've waited more than 20 years to see Gayle's Bakery, after reading about it when Joe published The Village Baker, his compelling book about artisan bread in Europe and the US. Then Gayle came out with The Village Baker's Wife, which is like having an entire pastry shop in your hands. Taken together, these cookbooks are guidebooks for what Julia Child was trying to tell us: Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.

 
This is where Joe and Gayle excel; it's what led me to Capitola. While driving the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Francisco, I spent the night there to see for myself where the joys are. And they are at Gayle's Bakery.

A parade of fresh, handmade pastries

I could write for days about everything I saw and tasted at Gayle's, the inner glee I felt at finding something absolutely wonderful and true to the books. Would you rather just see it? Have a look at some of what we saw, then be gleeful yourself that Joe and Gayle happily shared their Princess Cake. (Willingness to share is the mark and the heart of a true artisan.) The recipes posted here are adapted from The Village Baker's Wife, (Ten Speed Press, 1997). Merci, Gayle and Joe.

What Gayle's looks like from behind the counter - bright, sparkling and how about those fresh flowers? 

Make it a goal to visit the real deal Princess Cake and the endless rows of handmade pastries, the sourdough and other artisanal breads, the entrees that are picnic perfect. Gayle's is open 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily but closed Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. If you can't get there now, find the books and taste the cake. Do try.

Just one of the many pastry cases with attention to every detail

Princess Cake
Makes one 9-inch, 3-layer cake

1 recipe marzipan made at least 1 day in advance
1 vanilla genoise layer cake
1 recipe soaking solution
1/3 cup raspberry jam
6 cups whipped cream
1/3 recipe (1 cup) pastry cream
confectioners' sugar
1 fresh organic pink or white rose

Bring the marzipan to room temperature at least 1 hour before assembling cake. Using a long serrated knife, level the genoise, then cut into 3 even layers. Place the top of the cake cut side down on a 9-inch cake board. Brush it lightly with soaking solution, being careful not to oversoak. Spread the cake with a thin layer of raspberry jam. Spread a 1/4-inch thick layer of whipped cream over the jam. Set the middle layer over the whipped cream. Brush it with soaking solution, then spread with a 3/8-inch layer of pastry cream. Place the remaining cake layer cut side down on top of the pastry cream. Brush it with soaking solution.

Using a metal icing spatula, skim coat the sides of the cake, icing them with a 1/8-inch-thick coat of whipped cream. There should be just enough whipped cream to seal in all the crumbs and to prevent the marzipan from resting directly on the cake.

Mound the remaining whipped cream on the top of the cake and, with the spatula, spread into a dome so the cake almost looks like an upside down bowl. Soften the edge where the top of the genoise ends and the dome begins by beveling it with the flat part of the spatula.

Lightly dust a work surface with confectioner's sugar. Place the marzipan on the surface and, using an 18-inch-wide rolling pin, roll out the marzipan as you would roll out pie dough into a 16-inch circle, 1/8 inch thick. Frequently dust the marzipan with plenty of confectioners' sugar and turn the circle to make sure the marzipan doesn't stick to the work surface. Using your hand, brush off the excess sugar. Don't worry if a lot of it clings to the marzipan; it will be absorbed.

Set the cake near the rolled out marzipan about 6 inches away from the edge of the work surface so you can see and reach around the entire cake. Loosely roll the marzipan onto the rolling pin, starting at the back and rolling toward you.

Lift the rolling pin with the marzipan wrapped around it. Unroll the marzipan over the cake, starting at the front and unrolling toward the back while making sure to cover the entire cake and cardboard. When finished, some marzipan should drape onto the work surface all around the cake.

The dome of the cake will be smoothly covered but there will be folds or creases on the sides. To remove the folds, lift the outside edge of the marzipan with one hand on either side of a fold and, without tearing or stretching, gently pull the marzipan out and down until the fold disappears.

Work your way around the cake. Once the folds are gone, rub the palm of your hand around the side of the cake to further smooth it and eliminate air pockets.

With a rolling pizza cutter or small sharp knife, carefully cut off the excess marzipan along the bottom edge of the cake cardboard. (The cardboard should not show.) Slide the icing spatula under the cake cardboard and tilt the cake up enough to get the palm of your other hand underneath to lift if without touching the sides. Turn the cake, checking to make sure the cake and cardboard are completely covered with marzipan. If not, gently push the marzipan down using the palm of your other hand.

Set the cake down and sift a fine dusting of confectioners' sugar over it. Transfer to a serving platter.

Cut 3 elongated ovals about 3 inches long by 1 inch wide out of remaining marzipan to make 3 rose leaf shapes. Lightly score the tops of the leaves with a knife to create veins. Gently bend each leaf into a leaf-like curve. Place the leaves, spaced evenly apart, on the center of the domed cake top with the stem ends touching. Gently press the stem ends into the dome to secure the leaves to the top of the cake. Cut the rose stem 2 inches below the flower. Place rose over leaves and insert in center of dome.

The Princess Cake may be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days but is best the day it is made. Remove the cake from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

Seeing the swags made from vintage tablecloths made us want to steal this idea.

Here's how to make the cake components.

Marzipan
3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 pound almond paste
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
2-3 tablespoons water
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon green, pink or other food color

Place the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer running on medium-low speed, add almond paste 1 teaspoon at a time. This will take about 5 minutes and the mixture will be crumbly. Scrape down sides of bowl and beater. Add corn syrup and mix on low speed until incorporated. Mixture will still be crumbly. Again scrape sides and beater.

In a small bowl, combine water and food color. With the mixer on medium low, add about half of the food coloring mixture and beat until incorporated. Continue gradually adding the food coloring until the marzipan just comes together and reaches consistency of sugar cookie dough. It should be smooth but not crumbly or overly sticky.

If more color is desired, knead it in by hand after removing the marzipan from the mixer. (It's easier to add more color at the end than to make a new batch.) Different colors have different intensities and will require different amounts.

Place marzipan on a sheet of plastic wrap and form it into a 9-inch round disc about 1/2 inch thick. Wrap and refrigerate overnight before using. The marzipan may be stored in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Vanilla Genoise Cake
5 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 350. Butter, flour and line one 9-inch by 2-inch cake pan or two 9-inch by 1 1/2-inch pans with parchment paper. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil.

Using a whisk, stir eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Whisk in the sugar. Place mixer bowl over the saucepan of boiling water. (The water should be at least 2 inches below the bottom of the bowl.) To prevent the eggs from cooking, use your clean hand like a whisk to stir the mixture continuously until it feels quite warm. the eggs should remain liquid and not become opaque or cooked. When warm, immediately remove bowl from heat, place on the mixer and whip on high speed. Whip the eggs without stopping for 3 1/2 to 4 minutes.

While eggs are whipping, melt the butter and pour it into a small bowl. Add the vanilla. Place the flour in the sifter, set aside. The egg mixture is ready when the eggs have just cooled and at least tripled in volume. When you lift the whip out of the bowl, the batter should fall off the whip in ribbons.

Take the bowl off the mixer and sift a little less than one-fourth cup of the flour over the surface of the batter. Gently fold in the flour using the rubber spatula or your hand. You will hear the batter crunch if you are too rough. Repeat until all the flour is completely incorporated.

Pour a generous cup of batter over the melted butter mixture in the small bowl. Thoroughly fold the batter into the butter. Slowly pour the butter mixture over the remaining batter in the mixer bowl in a circular motion. (If you add the butter mixture too quickly, the butter will sink, reducing the volume and toughening the cake. Gently fold together until none of the darker butter mixture is visible.

Carefully pour batter in the the prepared pan(s).  Set the pan(s) on a baking sheet and place on the center rack of the oven. For a single pan, bake about 30 minutes. If using two pans, bake for at least 20 minutes. The cake is done when it just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. It will not spring back when gently pressed, and a toothpick will not come out clean.

After removing cake from oven, run a metal icing spatula or knife around the inside of the pan(s) to loosen cake. Let cool 5 minutes, then depan. The cake may be stored, well wrapped in the refrigerator for 1 day or frozen for up to 1 week.

Soaking Solution
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon Myers's dark rum

In a small saucepan, combine water and sugar and bring just to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and let cool. Add the rum. Let cool completely before using or refrigerating. Store solution in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Whipped Cream
Yield: 6 cups

3 cups cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In the prechilled bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a prechilled whisk, begin on medium speed to whip the cream, sugar and vanilla. As soon as it has thickened slightly, increase speed to high. A 3-cup recipe takes only 2-3 minutes to whip. If using ultra-pasteurized cream, it may take slightly longer. You want to whip just until the mixture holds soft peaks. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Two tips: Refrigerate cakes iced with whipped cream immediately after icing. Remove cake from the refrigerator 30 minutes to an hour before serving, depending on weather temp. Any cake iced with whipped cream should be served the day it is made because the cream absorbs refrigerator odors. Otherwise, store in an airtight cake container in the refrigerator.

Pastry Cream
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
6 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
4 large egg yolks, at room temp
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a heavy saucepan, warm the half-and-half over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix the cornstarch with the sugar. Using a whisk, whip in the water until smooth. Add the egg yolks and beat to incorporate,

When the half-and-half is simmering, slowly add about one-half of it to the cornstarch mixture, whisking continuously to incorporate. Whisk this mixture into the simmering half-and-half and continue to whisk vigorously until the pastry cream thickens, about 2-5 minutes. When it has thickened, remove it from the heat, add the vanilla, and transfer it to a glass or metal bowl with a plastic lid. Stir the mixture frequently while it is cooling to prevent a skin from forming on top.

Refrigerate the pastry cream after it has cooled. It keeps in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, but should not be frozen because it will become watery and lose its smooth texture.

Note: If you have cooked the pastry cream too quickly or too long and it develops lumps, don't worry. Remove it from the heat and whisk it until it smooths out. If that doesn't work, allow it to cool, then run it through a fine sieve or quickly blend it in a food processor until smooth.

Cakes, cupcakes and frosted brownies with "eyes eat first" appeal

The Princess Cake in adorable pink

"You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made," said Julia Child, quoting Chef Max Bugnard, who taught her at Le Cordon Bleu. "Even after you eat it, it stays with you - always."

To the staff at Gayle's making these incredible delights 24/7, your work stays with us.

Just so you know.