Each New Year's Day for the past nine years, I've driven to the North Hills to celebrate with my friends John and Pat Sadler. Their dinner for a dozen of us is always wonderful. The centerpiece of the menu is a magnificent roast over which John, a retired physician, has worked his culinary magic.
Dessert is the same each year, and each year it is greeted with the same excitement. "Isn't it beautiful!" "Aren't we lucky!" Sitting at the beautifully turned-out table, I think my own thought -- "may the end piece with all the frosting, fall to me."
Working as a team over seven hours, the Sadlers produce a Gateau Marjolaine, a cake that was the masterpiece of the late Fernand Point, chef/owner of one of France's greatest restaurants, La Pyramide, in Vienne.
In his book "Ma Gastronomie," the introduction of the recipe reads, "Years of experimentation went into its creation -- not to mention hundreds of pounds of ingredients -- before he was satisfied that he had achieved just the right tastes and textures."
Point, a huge man, was not afraid of calories. I have read that when he traveled, he visited the kitchen of a restaurant to see if the chef was a heavyweight before making his decision to stay. Skinny chefs were not to be trusted.
When calories come in the form of dessert, I'm no sissy, either. Pile on that butter cream. For the Marjolaine, it comes in three flavors: vanilla, chocolate and praline, spread between layers of almond and hazelnut meringue, frosted with chocolate butter cream and covered with a light snowfall of confectioners' sugar.
The finished loaf-shaped cake is crisp, chewy, rich, but not too sweet. In the eating, it gives off sparks of flavor. You can taste every ingredient.
Point's recipe is written for professionals who required no help with cooking procedures or temperatures. The Sadlers prefer the version of a Point admirer. The recipe they use appears in "Treasury of Great Recipes" by Mary and Vincent Price.
Honoring a request of Willa Dean Lowery -- a retired physician, a Presbyterian minister and another of their annual dinner guests -- John and Pat agreed to demonstrate its production. On a recent Saturday, I made a trip to their kitchen, equipped for serious cooks, and looked on in wonder.
I am never going to make a Marjolaine. I know that now. I lack the requisite time and patience. What I also appreciate is my good luck in being invited to share a cake made by two home cooks whose skills mimic Point's own. Point was a man who started and ended every day with champagne. In the kitchen in heaven where we imagine he presides, it's nice to think of him raising his glass in salute to faithful disciples.
Gateau Marjolaine
Praline Powder
This may be made in advance and stored in the freezer. It makes 3/4 cup, enough for three Marjolaines.
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup blanched almonds
In a saucepan combine the four ingredients. Cook without stirring until mixture is color of dark molasses. Pour onto oiled cookie sheet and let cool.
Detach praline from sheet with pancake turner and break into pieces.
Blend in food processor until ground to a fine powder. Store in freezer in a tightly closed container.
Meringue-Nut Layers
1 1/2 cups blanched whole almonds
1 full cup skinned hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put almonds and hazelnuts in separate pans. Bake in hot oven, one pan at a time (nuts may require different roasting times) for about 10 minutes, or until brown and toasted through, shaking pans occasionally. Remove from oven and cool. Process almonds and hazelnuts, separately, in a food processor. Empty into a bowl. Whisk ground nuts with sugar.
Reduce oven to 250 degrees.
Set out two 17-by-11 1/2 -inch jellyroll pans. While nuts toast, prepare first pan for meringue. Melt 1 stick butter. Using half the butter, brush the bottom and sides of pan. (Surface must be well buttered or parchment paper will not lift out easily, and meringue may crack.) Line baking sheet with parchment paper, pushing tightly into corners, and brush paper thoroughly with remaining melted butter. Set aside.
Meringue
8 stiff egg whites (yolks reserved)
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar.
Beat egg whites (reserve yolks for butter cream), salt and cream of tartar until stiff. Gradually fold in the sugar-nut mixture.
Spread prepared pan evenly with the meringue-nut mixture. Bake in the slow oven for about 60 minutes, checking regularly, until crusty on top, but still pliable. Invert onto back of second 17-by-11 1/2-inch pan, and carefully remove parchment paper. Cool. Measuring carefully and with a sharp knife, cut meringue in half and then in half again to make four panels, 11 1/2 inches long and approximately 4 inches wide. Set aside.
Butter Cream
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
8 egg yolks, beaten
1 3/4 cups softened sweet butter, cut in cubes
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup praline powder
4 ounces semisweet chocolate pieces
In a saucepan, combine sugar, water and cream of tartar. Bring to a boil, and boil rapidly to 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until syrup spins a long thread. Gradually beat the hot syrup into 8 beaten egg yolks, and continue to beat until the mixture is cool and thick.
Beat in, bit by bit, the softened sweet butter, cut in cubes. (If you add too much butter at one time, the mixture will curdle.) This makes a little over one quart butter cream
Measure 1 cup butter cream and flavor it with vanilla.
Measure a second cup and flavor it with 1/4 cup praline powder.
Melt semisweet chocolate pieces with 1 tablespoon water and stir into remaining butter cream. Measure out 1 cup. (Save remainder for frosting.) Chill all creams until firm enough to spread.
Presentation: Place a meringue band on a serving plate and spread with vanilla cream. Top with second meringue band and spread with one cup of chocolate cream. Top with a third meringue band and spread with praline cream. Top with fourth meringue band. Frost sides with remaining chocolate cream and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
Voila!
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