“From the SCCC Kitchen” offers recipes from Schenectady County Community College’s nationally accredited culinary arts program. Today, adjunct professor Dan Raymond prepares the “Framboisine.”
Framboisine is hard to pronounce. But easy to eat.
Dan Raymond pronounces it “fram-bwa-zine.” It’s French, for raspberry cake.
“It’s basically a sponge cake, brushed with a chambord syrup, and it has an under icing of a butter cream and covered in marzipan, which is an almond-flavored dough,” said Raymond, also a co-owner of Zachary’s Pastry Shoppe in East Greenbush. “This is definitely something you could do at home, but I would not recommend they do it all in one day. It has a lot of steps and processes in it. But if they had the day, they could do it. If you had no interruptions, you could probably do this in 2 1⁄2 hours.”
Raymond appreciates the cake because he appreciates raspberry flavor.
“And because raspberry is a little bit on the tart side and the marzipan is very sweet — it’s a very strong almond flavor — the sweetness is cut a little bit by the raspberry. They meld together nicely.”
There’s always room for more raspberries on the cake. Raymond said home chefs can garnish their creations with pieces of fresh red fruit.
Framboisine
2 9-inch round generic yellow cakes, baked and cooled
12 ounces raspberry jam for filling
2 cups simple syrup
French buttercream frosting
Marzipan
For simple syrup:
3⁄4 cup water
1⁄4 cup raspberry brandy
1 cup sugar
Add all to a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
For French buttercream frosting:
4 ounces egg yolks
1⁄4 pound sugar
1⁄2 cup corn syrup
1 pound unsalted butter
Have a small stainless steel bowl near the stove. In mixer bowl, whip egg yolks until light in color. Leave in mixer.
Combine sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan and heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a full rolling boil. Immediately transfer syrup to small steel bowl to stop cooking.
Pour a small amount of syrup over the whipped egg yolks. Beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Add more syrup and beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Continue to add and beat until all the syrup is gone. Continue beating until the mixture is completely cooled. At this time, beat in the butter an ounce at a time and add optional flavorings of your choice.
For marzipan:
1 pound almond paste
1 pound powdered sugar (10x), sifted
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3⁄4 teaspoon vanilla
Break up almond paste and put in a mixer bowl. Beat 30 seconds.
Add half of the sugar and continue to mix while slowly pouring in the corn syrup and vanilla. Mix until the dough comes together and sticks to the paddle. Remove from the paddle.
Sift the remaining sugar onto a counter top and knead into the dough. Knead until the marzipan has a fine, smooth texture (add a little bit more sugar if it feels sticky). It should feel soft, but firm.
To assemble cake:
Cut one cake at a time horizontally. Place one half top side down on a 10-inch cardboard circle.
Brush bottom layer with syrup until just moistened and spread a thin layer of jam on this bottom cake.
Place the top layer on cake and brush lightly with syrup. Frost the cake and refrigerate for 1 hour.
With the heel of your hand, work the marzipan on the counter top until smooth.
Roll this out with a rolling pin into a 12-inch circle. Roll up the marzipan on the rolling pin and then unfold it over the cake, covering and sealing the whole cake.
You may take food coloring and add to small bits of marzipan and decorate the top of the cake as you desire.
Repeat process of assembly for the second cake.
Categories: Life and Arts
