Bon Appetit Desserts (33 page)

Tender cake, creamy filling, crunchy nuts, and tart-sweet kumquats add up to one glamorous dessert. For the pretty flower-like garnish, kumquats are quartered with the stem ends left intact, then cooked in a honey and wine syrup. To get the look, bend back the petals of the kumquats at varying angles and arrange them over the cake in a random fashion. These kumquat flowers also look beautiful on cheesecakes, carrot cakes, and chocolate cakes.
10 servings

1 cup sugar

¼ cup water

2 cups unhusked hazelnuts, toasted

55 kumquats (about 21 ounces)

1½ cups Chardonnay

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup honey

10 whole star anise or whole cloves

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 cup unhusked hazelnuts, toasted

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1½ teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder

¾ teaspoon salt

¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1½ cups sugar

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1¼ cups whole milk

5 large egg whites, room temperature

1½ 8-ounce containers mascarpone cheese

1½ cups chilled heavy whipping cream

3 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons Cognac or brandy

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

NUT CRUNCH
: Line baking sheet with foil. Stir sugar and ¼ cup water in heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil without stirring until syrup turns deep amber, occasionally brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush and swirling pan. Mix in nuts. Pour onto foil; cool completely. Coarsely chop nut crunch. Set aside.

KUMQUATS
: Starting at rounded end, cut cross into each kumquat to within ¼ inch of stem end. Bring wine, sugar, honey, and star anise to boil in heavy large saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Add kumquats; simmer until almost tender, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer kumquats to plate; cool. Seed and finely chop enough kumquats to measure ⅔ cup (reserve remaining kumquats). Gently boil kumquat syrup until reduced to 1¼ cups, about 12 minutes. Strain syrup and cool.

CAKE
: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 15 ½×10½× 1-inch or 17×11×¾-inch baking sheet with foil; butter and flour foil. Finely grind nuts with flour in processor; transfer to medium bowl. Whisk in baking powder, five-spice powder, and salt. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in egg yolks and both extracts. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk in several additions, just until combined. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold ⅓ of whites into batter to lighten, then fold in remaining whites. Spread batter evenly in prepared sheet.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 28 minutes for 15½×10½-inch cake or 20 minutes for 17×11-inch cake. Cool cake in pan on rack 20 minutes. Run knife around cake to loosen. Turn cake out onto foil-lined rack; cool completely. Peel foil off cake. Cut hazelnut cake crosswise into 3 equal pieces.

FROSTING
: Combine all ingredients in large bowl; beat to soft peaks (do not overbeat or mixture will curdle).

Place 1 cake piece on platter; spread ¾ cup frosting over. Sprinkle with ⅓ cup chopped kumquats and ⅓ cup nut crunch, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons kumquat syrup. Top with second cake piece; spread ¾ cup frosting over. Sprinkle with ⅓ cup chopped kumquats and ⅓ cup nut crunch, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons kumquat syrup. Top with third cake piece; spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Drain reserved kumquats; remove seeds and any attached pulp. Top cake with kumquats, arranging like flowers.

DO AHEAD
:
Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill cake. Store remaining nut crunch and kumquat syrup separately at room temperature.

Press remaining nut crunch around sides of cake. Drizzle 2 tablespoons syrup over cake and serve.

Apricot-Pistachio Torte with Honey Buttercream

This is a classic French torte featuring layers of rich genoise (a sponge cake enriched with melted butter) made with pistachios in place of some of the flour The torte is completed with a jammy apricot filling and honey buttercream. The cake can be prepared up to eight hours ahead. Any leftover apricot filling makes a wonderful breakfast spread for toast or English muffins.
10 servings

1 cup water

⅓ cup sugar

¼ cup orange blossom honey

1⅓ cups (packed) moist dried apricots

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

¾ cup roasted unsalted natural pistachios

Pinch of salt

5 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to barely lukewarm

Powdered sugar

½ cup sugar

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons orange blossom honey

⅓ cup water

6 large egg yolks

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2¼ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 18 pieces

¾ cup roasted unsalted natural pistachios, chopped

Glazed Apricots (see recipe)

FILLING
: Stir 1 cup water, sugar, and honey in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to boil. Add apricots; reduce heat, cover, and simmer 5 minutes. Uncover and simmer 3 minutes to thicken syrup slightly. Puree in processor. Transfer to bowl and cool.

DO AHEAD
:
Can be made 4 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

CAKE
: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 15 ½×10 ½×1-inch baking sheet. Line bottom with parchment or waxed paper. Dust sheet with flour; tap out excess. Finely grind flour, pistachios, and salt in processor.

Combine eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not let bowl touch water); whisk just until warm, about 3 minutes. Remove from over water. Using electric mixer, beat until mixture triples in volume and thick ribbon falls when beaters are lifted. Gently fold in flour-nut mixture in 2 batches. Pour 1 cup batter into small bowl; fold in melted butter. Gently but thoroughly fold butter mixture into remaining cake batter. Transfer batter to prepared sheet; smooth top. Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.

Lightly dust 15 ½×10 ½-inch piece of parchment or waxed paper with powdered sugar. Run small sharp knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Turn cake out onto sugared parchment. Peel off top parchment. Cut cake crosswise into three 10×5-inch rectangles.

BUTTERCREAM
: Stir sugar, honey, and ⅓ cup water in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Brush sides of pan with cold water. Increase heat and boil without stirring until syrup registers 238°F on candy thermometer, tilting pan if necessary to submerge thermometer, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, using electric mixer, beat egg yolks with vanilla in large bowl until tripled in volume.

Gradually beat hot syrup into yolks. Continue beating until mixture is cool, about 10 minutes. Gradually add butter and beat until smooth. (If buttercream looks broken or curdled, place bowl with buttercream over medium heat on stove burner and whisk 5 to 10 seconds to warm mixture slightly. Then remove from heat and beat mixture again at medium speed. Repeat warming and beating as many times as needed until buttercream is smooth.)

Spoon ¾ cup buttercream into pastry bag fitted with small star tip (No. 1). Place 1 cake layer on plate; spread ⅓ cup apricot filling over. Spread ½ cup buttercream over filling. Top with second cake layer; spread with ⅓ cup apricot filling. Spread ½ cup buttercream over filling. Top with third cake layer; spread with ⅓ cup filling (reserve remaining filling for another use). Spread top and sides of cake with remaining buttercream. Press chopped nuts onto sides of cake.

Halve Glazed Apricots and arrange decoratively down center of cake. Pipe buttercream in pastry bag decoratively around apricots or base of cake.

DO AHEAD
:
Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at cool room temperature.

Glazed Apricots

Dried apricots become plump and shiny in honey-sugar syrup. They make a beautiful cake garnish and a delicious after-dinner treat. Using orange blossom honey gives them a floral scent, but clover honey would work, too. For a different flavor and aroma, try lavender honey instead.
Makes 20

½ cup water

½ cup orange blossom honey

½ cup sugar

20 jumbo moist dried apricots

Stir ½ cup water, honey, and sugar in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add apricots; cook until apricots are tender and syrup is reduced and thinly coats spoon, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Cool apricots in syrup at least 2 hours.

DO AHEAD
:
Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.

Remove apricots from syrup (apricots will be sticky). Drain on paper towels to remove any excess syrup.

Lemon and Pistachio Praline Meringue Torte