Best Genoise With Buttercream Italian Meringue Recipes

VANILLA GENOISE, VANILLA SPONGE CAKE

Steps:

• Line the bottom of two 8" cake pans with a parchment round, or butter and flour the pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F (don't use the convection setting).
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan, cook until the milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan and become brown. Drain the butter into a medium bowl, leaving the milk solids in the pan. Stir the vanilla into the browned butter and set aside.
• Put the eggs, sugar and salt in a mixer bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water) and whisk until the eggs are slightly warmer than body temperature. Put the bowl onto the mixer and whisk until the eggs are tripled in volume.
• Sift half the flour over the egg mixture and use a balloon whisk to fold, repeat with the remaining flour. Whisk 1 cup of the batter into the browned butter to lighten the butter, then whisk in another cup of batter.
• Fold the butter mixture into the batter just until combined. Don't over mix or you'll loose some volume in the cake. Divide the batter evenly between the pans.
• Bake until the cake springs back when pressed in the center, about 30 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
• Cool completely before filling and frosting.
• Trim the top of the cake to level, if desired, split each cake into two layers.
• Brush the layers generously with syrup before filling & icing.

ITALIAN MERINGUE

Steps:

• In a small pot over low heat, combine sugar and water. Swirl the pot over the burner to dissolve the sugar completely. Do not stir. Increase the heat and boil to soft-ball stage (235 to 240 degrees). Use a candy thermometer for accuracy. Wash down the inside wall of the pot with a wet pastry brush. This will help prevent sugar crystals from forming around the sides, falling in and causing a chain reaction. Prepare your meringue.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the eggs whites on low speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, increase the speed to medium, and beat until soft peaks form.
• With the mixer running, pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream over fluffed egg whites. Beat until the egg whites are stiff and glossy. Spread the meringue over a hot cake or pie, and bake as directed.
• For Meringue Cloud Cookies: Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Dollop spoonfuls of meringue onto baking pans, alternatively you may use a pastry bag with a star tip. Bake for 2 hours until crisp. Turn off the oven and allow meringues to cool and completely dry out.

CLASSIC MERINGUE

Steps:

• Combine egg whites and salt in mixing bowl of electric mixer. Beat at medium speed until opaque and loosely foamy. Increase speed to high and add sugar in a slow stream down side of mixer. Beat until stiff and shiny.

ITALIAN MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

Steps:

• Dissolve sugar in water over medium heat, in a medium saucepan. Increase heat to high and boil until syrup reaches 238 degrees F on candy thermometer. Whip egg whites and salt in a large bowl using a stand mixer or hand mixer on 4th speed until stiff peaks form. When syrup reaches 238 degrees F, reduce the mixer to the 3rd speed. Slowly add the hot syrup to egg mixture, carefully pouring it down the side of the mixing bowl. Continue mixing on 3rd speed until mixture reaches room temperature or put mixture in the refrigerator until cooled. Once cooled, whip mixture on 3rd speed and add butter in small pieces, beating until smooth, then beat in the vanilla extract.
• This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.

CLASSIC GENOISE

Steps:

• Place a 1-quart saucepan half filled with water over high heat and bring it to a simmer. Make a double boiler by setting a large mixing bowl over the simmering water. Place the whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and honey in the mixing bowl and make an egg foam by whisking the mixture to 113 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 7 to 10 minutes. The egg foam passes through various stages becoming foamy, then smooth and finally it thickens. When it is thick, it will be hot to the touch, tripled in volume, and light in color and the sugar will have completely dissolved. If you dip the whisk into the mixture and pull it out, the batter should fall back into the bowl in a thick ribbon.
• Remove the mixing bowl from the heat and whip the batter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until it cools, increases in volume, stiffens slightly and becomes pale yellow, about 7 to 10 minutes. Take the time to whip it well; if the mixture is under whipped, the baked genoise will be dense. Very, very carefully, fold in the flour with a rubber spatula until the flour is no longer visible, making sure to fold to the bottom of the bowl. Do not over mix or the batter will deflate. Fill buttered and parchment paper-lined 8-inch round cake pans 3/4 full with batter. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven until well-risen and golden brown, about 30 minutes.
• Let the genoise cool slightly. Unmold, remove parchment paper and finish cooling on a wire rack. The baked genoise can be stored in the freezer for 2 to 3 weeks if well wrapped in plastic wrap. Return it to room temperature before using it.
• VARIATION: Make this recipe into a Chocolate Genoise by substituting unsweetened cocoa powder for 10 to 20 percent of the weight (a scant 1/4 cup to a full 1/3 cup) of the flour. Weigh the cocoa powder before you sift it.
• Jacques' Tip: Genoise can be made with butter. In this recipe, you can substitute butter (5 1/2 tablespoons) for the 3 large egg yolks. Melt and cool the butter and fold it in after the flour is added.

GENOISE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 8 inch round cake pan. Line with parchment paper and grease it as well. Lightly flour pan and paper.
• Sift together the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt onto a piece of wax paper.
• Place the eggs into a mixing bowl set over a pan of hot (not boiling) water. Add the 1/2 cup sugar to the eggs and whisk until the mixture feels warm (not hot) to the touch, about body temperature. Place the bowl onto a mixer and beat on medium speed until the mixture becomes pale yellow in color and falls off the end of the whisk attachment in long ribbons. Add the vanilla. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the beaten egg and fold in. Continue to add the remainder of the flour, folding it in each time.
• Place about 1 cup of the batter into the bowl containing the melted butter and combine the butter with the batter. Add this back to the main batter and fold it in. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
• Immediately bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 25 minutes or until the top is a light brown. Cool in pan on a rack about 10 minutes and then invert onto a rack. It is best to invert it again onto another rack so that it cools with the top up. Let cool completely before cutting or frosting.

GENOISE WITH PASSION FRUIT SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack set in the lower third. Spray a 9-by-3-inch round baking pan with nonstick cooking spray; line pan with a parchment paper round and spray again. Set aside.
• In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat until nut-brown in color, about 8 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour butter into a large bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind; stir in vanilla and keep warm (110 to 120 degrees).
• Lightly whisk together eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer; set mixer over (but not touching) simmering water and heat, whisking constantly, until lukewarm to the touch. Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until light, airy, and quadruple in volume, at least 5 minutes. Whisk 1 cup egg mixture into warm melted butter mixture; set aside.
• Sift together flour and cornstarch. Gently and quickly fold half the flour mixture into remaining egg mixture until all the flour is absorbed. Repeat process with remaining flour mixture. Fold in butter mixture to combine and transfer to prepared baking pan.
• Transfer pan to oven and bake until golden brown and starts to shrink slightly from the sides of the pan, 20 to 30 minutes. If possible, avoid opening the oven door until cake has baked at least 30 minutes, as cake is fragile and may fall. Remove cake from oven and unmold immediately onto a wire rack to cool. Let cool completely before cutting into layers and frosting with buttercream.