Recipe from Gail Monaghan
Adapted by Christine Muhlke
- Total Time
- About 45 minutes, plus 2 hours' refrigeration
- Rating
- 4(68)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Here is an excellent project recipe that Christine Muhlke, then an editor and columnist at The New York Times Magazine, brought to us in a 2007 profile of the cookbook writer Gail Monaghan, who adapted it from a cookbook written by the Vicomte de Mauduit in 1933. It is infinitely more chic and cosmopolitan than most Neapolitan cakes, with no cartoon hue or bulk. —Christine Muhlke
Featured in: FOOD: THE WAY WE EAT; The Sweet Hereafter
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 1¼cups sugar
- 1½cups jam, raspberry, apricot, strawberry or peach
- Half of a vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped
- Salt
- ½tablespoon lemon juice
- 1cup whole blanched almonds, toasted (see note)
- 3cups flour, sifted
- 1cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange
- 4large egg yolks, at room temperature
- ½teaspoon almond extract
- 1teaspoon orange-flower water
- ¼cup sliced almonds, toasted
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
825 calories; 37 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 15 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 116 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 63 grams sugars; 11 grams protein; 523 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Place ¼ cup of the sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over high heat, without stirring, until all the sugar turns caramel. Tilt pan to distribute caramel. Lower the heat and carefully whisk in the jam, the scraped vanilla bean and seeds, 1 tablespoon of water, a pinch of salt and the lemon juice. (The caramel will bubble violently.) Simmer, stirring, until the caramel dissolves into the jam. Remove from heat.
Step
2
In a food processor, pulverize the whole almonds with 2 tablespoons of the flour.
Step
3
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, remaining sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt and the zests until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix in the pulverized almonds until combined. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, and then add the almond extract and orange-flower water. Mix in the remaining flour.
Step
4
Divide the dough into six equal balls. Place each ball between two sheets of plastic wrap and press into an 8-inch circle, using the inside of a pie pan as a guide. Chill the dough rounds in the refrigerator for 2 hours or freeze for 30 minutes.
Step
5
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove plastic wrap, place a dough round on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining rounds.
Step
6
Lay a round in the center of a serving plate. Spread with 3 to 4 tablespoons of jam to just before the edge. Continue to layer the rounds, spreading jam between each. Spread a thin layer of jam over the top and cover with sliced almonds. The cake can be served immediately, but tastes even better, and is easier to cut, if tightly wrapped and served 1 or 2 days later.
Tip
- When substituting 1 cup whole almonds, use ¼ cup almond meal.
Ratings
4
out of 5
68
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Cooking Notes
GG
This was a very dry "cake" and a lot of work for the effort. The picture made it look like a cake, but in fact you are stacking six cookies with the caramelized jam. I made it 2 days ahead of time and served it with gelato to moisten it up.
Cam
I found this recipe on a different site originally, which recommended making your own jam(s). I made one pear caramel sauce and one cranberry jam (it was Thanksgiving) and roughly alternated layers. I ended up with 7 rounds and made about 6 small cookies with the bit of left over dough. A bit touchy with baking the rounds, but I loved it, it was an extremely sophisticated presentation, and my guests enjoyed it. Would make again!
GG
This was a very dry "cake" and a lot of work for the effort. The picture made it look like a cake, but in fact you are stacking six cookies with the caramelized jam. I made it 2 days ahead of time and served it with gelato to moisten it up.
Karen
The rounds took less time to bake, about 10 minutes, and are quite flat and cookie-like.
I'm not sure making the caramelized sugar was worth the trouble. The jam basically tasted the same to me. I'm about to put the layers together and let it sit for two days, until Easter.
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