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Saturday, June 10, 2006

Gâteau Craque

I can't even remember the countless hours i spent on the kitchen counter at my grandparents house. I loved to listen to my grandmother while she was cooking.
She always explained me everything in detail: why she should add this or mix that way...
But the part i prefered was the one about 'le gâteau Craque' [the Craque Cake].
This cake was of my biggest food fantasy. I litteraly dreamt about it several times.
Maybe because i had never seen my grandma making it and thus i couldn't know how it looks like, how it taste like.
I know i've said this before, but food you're never eaten can become such a fantasy, a goal to achieve.
Therefore, i tried hard to imagine how the gâteau Craque could be. The only thing i knew about it was its name: gâteau Craque; it sounded so yummy.
Craque is an adjective derived from craquer.
Craquer can mean both to crumble or to fall in love with something/someone. So, when i heard its name, i couldn't help.
My grandmother was teasing me: she would say how good it was, but woudn't give me a clue about its taste or texture.

I recently spent a week at my grandparents'. And when my grandmother asked me if i wanted to make the gâteau craque, the only thing i could answer was YES.
Actually it's a chocolate cake covered with a chocolate-almond meringue icing.

Though, it's not your usual chocolate cake. I was pretty astonished because it contains:
- no butter
- just 50g of flour and 50g of potato starch
The cake itself was very moist and not very sweet, so the meringue icing is a good option.

Gâteau Craque
This is a nice little cake that has a great texture.
Note that it's best served in small portions (hence the 10-12 servings) because of the richness of the luscious icecream.
I think i would have prefered the icing without butter -- but it's personal: i don't like buttercream.

Gâteau Craque

serves 10-12

for the icing
125g icing sugar
2 egg whites
20g dark chocolate
20g butter
few drops of almond essence
150g butter, at room temperature

Put the egg whites and icing sugar in a metal bowl.
Place the bowl in a large pan filled with cold water and turn on the heat. Start whisking the egg whites and icing sugar and stop when the water starts boiling.
Melt the chocolate and the butter in a pan and mix into the meringue. Add the almond essence and the creamed butter.
Keep in thye fridge for at least an hour before icing the cake.

for the cake
4 eggs, separated
2 tbsp hot water from a recently boiled kettle
130g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g flour
50g potato starch
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Line a 25cm springform tin with parchemnt paper.
Whisk the egg yolks and the water. While whsking, add the sugar and vanilla extract and continue whisking until light and frothy.
Mix in the flour, potato starch, cocoa powder and baking powder.
Whisk the egg whites until firm and fold them into the previous mix.
Pour this mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Once cold, slice the cake in two layers. Put on layer on a plate, spread with the icing, sit the other cake on top and ice the top and sides of the cake with the remaining icing.

Labels: cakes of all kind, chocolate, recipe inside

sweet link | posted by *fanny* at 16:48

11 sweets:

Anne said something sweet:: It sounds delicious! And looks delicious! No recipe? :); 10 June, 2006 22:27
Anonymous said something sweet:: miammm ca a l'air trop bon; 10 June, 2006 23:34
Anonymous said something sweet:: Oh my..... that looks absolutely SUPERB!!!; 11 June, 2006 10:33
Joycelyn said something sweet:: hi fanny, what a beautiful cake - the combination of chocolate and meringue sounds incredible...yum!; 11 June, 2006 15:51
Fran said something sweet:: What a wonderful cake! You know we would love the recipe--no butter?; 11 June, 2006 17:18
Anonymous said something sweet:: MAGNIFIQUE !!!!!!!!; 11 June, 2006 20:24
Anonymous said something sweet:: I've never heard of a cake like that before. It looks great. You take beautiful photos.; 12 June, 2006 03:30
Anonymous said something sweet:: is the cake a bit dry without butter ? gee it looks yummy though! thanks for sharing the recipe!; 16 June, 2006 04:54
Anonymous said something sweet:: Hi Anne - your wish's been heard!

Salwa et Manue - merci d'etre passée sur FOOD BEAM.

Pam - thank you.

Jocelyn - yes it liked it, but i would have been prefered the meringue icing without butter and chocolate (just meringue actually)

Spots - i thought the cake would be dry, but not at all. It was moist and very chocolatey.; 16 June, 2006 09:25
Anonymous said something sweet:: mmmm c'est facile mais je craque ! ;o); 01 July, 2006 07:54
Thor said something sweet:: Are you sure it isn't called craque cake because you're addicted to it like a crack head?; 02 February, 2007 20:56