Rose Water Gateau
Light and delicate cake with a hint of roses. One of my favorites. Finish with a frosting of buttercream, or whipped cream, or even serve plain with a scoop of ice cream or fresh raspberries.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup Granulated sugar (135g.)
- 7 Egg yolks
- 2 tsp Rose Water
- 3/4 cup Unbleached cake flour (96g)
- 3 tbsp Cornstarch(21g)
- 1 tsp Baking Powder (5g)
- 4 tbsp Unsalted butter - melted and cooled (57g)
- 7 Egg whites
- 1/3 cup Granulated sugar (99g)
Instructions
- Line the bottom of a 9" springform (removeable bottom) cake pan with parchment paper.Mix together the cake flour, cornstarch and baking powder, and set it aside.Melt the butter, and set that aside to cool slightly. Bring the eggs to room temperature prior to use.
- Add the egg yolks to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium speed until light and frothy. This should take about 3 minutes. With the machine still running, gradually pour in the 2/3 cup of sugar, and beat until the mixture doubles in volume and forms a ribbon. This generally takes about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the Rosewater extract, and beat one more minute. Scrape this mixture into a large, shallow bowl.
- Thoroughly wash and dry the bowl for your stand mixer along with the whisk attachment. Add the egg whites, and beat at high speed until they start to foam. Take the remaining (1/3 cup) sugar, and while the machine is still running, add to the whites in a slow steady stream. Continue to beat until the meringue is glossy and forms firm peaks. Be careful not to overbeat, as this will cause the meringue to loose volume during baking.
- Take about 1/3 of the meringue, and stir it into the egg yolk batter to lighten the mixture. Sprinkle the flour mixture evenly over the top, and using a rubber spatula, gently fold it into the batter. Now take another 1/3 of the meringue, and gently fold that in to the batter. Next, pour the cooled, melted butter evenly over the top of the batter, add the remaining meringue and fold as quickly and gently as possible until it is well combined. Do not over mix, as a few ribbons of meringue will not hurt, but overmixing will keep the cake from rising.
- Pour the batter into your prepared springform pan. Place on the center rack of a preheated oven - 325° degrees for Convection and 350° degrees for Standard. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake has pulled slightly away from the sides of the pan and when the center of the cake is gently pressed with your finger, it springs back.
- Cool the cake for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to free any sticking portions from the rim of the pan. Remove the outside ring and let cool another 25 minutes. Now you can remove the bottom ring. This cake, like all sponge cakes with fall slightly, and that is normal.
- When the cake has cooled completely, you may finish it with a frosting of your choice, or serve without frosting, perhaps with ice cream, whipped cream, fresh raspberries for a raspberry puree. I generally slice this one layer(horizontally) in half, so I can add a filling to the center, as well as an icing or whipped cream to the top and sides.