The Rose Genoise

The mis en place appeared very simple; only a few things to weigh.

Sometimes, however, looks can be deceiving – especially when one does not pay attention well enough. I was reminded of this, one more time, as I cracked my 17^th egg, in the attempt to reach the 250 grams Rose has called for in the Rose Genoise. I actually separated 17 eggs to arrive at 250 grams of egg yolks.
Something was wrong. I checked Rose's recipe over and over. I weighed water on the scale to ascertain functionality. I weighed the egg yolks in different bowls. But still those yolks came out to 250 grams. Either Rose’s numbers were wrong, or I have just done something totally erroneous – but what was it? What would you guess? My error or Rose's text?

But, I continued with eggs/sugar warming, then beating them, but still,  something was very wrong – by the time I got to the folding in of the flour, there was serious no go. I had a grotesque mass of something inedible in the bowl. Now I am convinced Rose’s numbers are wrong – it’s a typo in her text.

I didn’t want to wait until we post our blog on Sunday since I wanted to bake this cake for a friend tomorrow. The only alternative I could think of was to email Marie, who must have just rolled on the floor laughing when she realized my dilemma. But she was very kind to this forlorn creature as she explained, “I think the problem is that it is 5 whole eggs, not 5 egg yolks.” And she was even more kind enough to add, “I can see how you were puzzled.” 

Well, even I can’t see how I was puzzled. I had cataract surgery a month ago, for Pete’s sake: I am supposed to be seeing the recipe better, not worse. So, we all know it has nothing to do with seeing. I responded to Marie, saying, “I think it is about my poor eye-to-cake coordination”. Welllll – that will have to do -- loathe to admitting the real reason --- what is that called, a mental block? Or do I really want to improve my expertise in egg separating that much?

At any rate, on the way home from supper later on, I refilled the egg container and weighed out 5.5 whole eggs for the 250 grams specified by Rose. Gratitude to Marie for lending her helping hand. I pitched the preliminary sticky mess and prepped again. This time, I simply focused, and followed directions: 

Made beurre noisette and kept it warm. Warmed eggs and sugar over hot water to about 90'. Beat on high for 5 minutes. Egg foam tripled or more, very pale and ribbon stage. Sacrificed a cupful and mixed into the beurre noisette. Sifted the pre-sifted cornstarch and flour half mixture over eggfoam and folded in with large balloon, folded in additional flour mixture. Folded in beurre noisette mixture lightly, checked for flour pellets. Poured into pan and baked --- Easy peasy - And it looked like this:

Before long - in fact, after exactly 27.5 minutes of breathless nose-to-oven-door, there tumbled out of it's rose-mould an incredibly light and airy genoise.  When cooled, this rose was syruped with the lovely- scented Triple-Sec, while waiting overnight to take its journey to my friend for her surprise afternoon tea party the next day. What nicer addition to a party than this absolutely glorious cake?

It is my experience that each person who has been in the company of this creation has been enthralled by its beauty, flavor and consistency. My friends complained their pieces were too small~~there were too many friends and not enough cake. Now isn't that a nice thing! I must say, I was proud of a fine result after my calamitous beginning. The second time around was, indeed, the charm. I must constantly remind myself that this new-found avocation of baking is all a learning process, and how much fun it is, no matter how many blunders I make. Certainly, an apology is due to Rose and the editors. So, on to the next rapturous creation of the 'chocolate ice cream cake or sandwich' next week -- wow!