A Little Bit of All Right

New year, new book!  The Cake Slice Bakers are baking from The European Cake Cookbook  by Tatyana Nesteruk.  For January, I chose to bake the Chocolate St. Honore Cake.  This cake starts with puff pastry onto which a three concentric circles of pate a choux is piped and then the entire thing baked.  You create two of these, fill with chocolate pastry cream and flavored whipped cream, layer them and top with chocolate filled and dipped profiteroles. I knew when I saw this as a choice for January that I would need to at least attempt.  I didn't great confidence in my ability to complete it because I have never managed to create pate a choux that baked up correctly. I spent a couple of week watching videos and reading articles until I had a good sense for what I had done in the past.  For this cake, I started with the author's pate a choux recipe, but I used bread flour instead of all-purpose flour, and I beat the eggs slightly so that I could add part of an egg if need be.  One

After having spent so much time on a cake from another Mary, I decided to bake the cake attributed to Mary Lincoln.  This almond cake is pretty straight forward.  I did substitute 1/2 t of almond extract for some of the vanilla simply because I love the smell it produces. The cake was light and flavorful.  The cook book suggests topping with 7 minute frosting, but that seemed completely unnecessary.  If you were looking for something a little more decorative, I would simply add a nice flavored glaze.