Amandine

[curlywurlyfi]

was at a 'Mediterranean market' in Cornwall last week and picked up a quarter of a cake the stallholder said was called 'amandine'. Incredibly yellow, moist sponge; whole cake probably 30cms across and not very deep (about 5cms in the centre), split and filled with sticky yellow gooey almondy paste; top sprinkled with flaked almonds + caster sugar. It was so delicious (with clotted cream, mmm, look away now all those who know I post on the Weight Watchers thread) I went back the following day to buy a second chunk, and to ask the stallholder what was in it. "Oeufs, sucre, beurre, amandes - tout court!" she said. I asked whether the paste in the middle had egg yolks in it (it is so intensely yellow) but apparently not - it is just very oozy almond paste.

I have done a quick Google search for 'amandine specialite Breton patisserie' and various combinations thereof, but have failed to turn up a recipe. I am eating the last of the bit I bought on Friday and it is still deliciously damp and sweet. The flavour of almonds is not very pronounced (this is a good thing).

So can anyone help? have you heard of amandine? Even better, do you have a recipe?

thanks in advance!

[bleudauvergne]

Fi, I have looked though my notes and books and don't see anything like you describe except I do think that the cake is a gateau bretan with an almond butter filling. The recipe for the gateau bretan is:

I think for the "daddy" sugar you'll want to choose a sugar that is not as fine as your average, like a sugar you might use when making compote or preserves.

Now to find the right almond butter recipe...

[ludja]

This cakes sounds excellent. From what you're both mentioning, am I correct in thinking that the almond filling was not baked in the cake? (i.e. a 'raw' filling spooned into a split cake after it has been cooked?

I did find a link which describes various almond and frangipane fillings... most contain eggs but there is one that is just almond paste and butter...

here

1 pound almond paste

1 pound butter, room temperature

1/4 t. vanilla extract

If almond paste or marzipan is hard and solid

in its container, break into small pieces

before blending it (in blender or food processor) with butter and vanilla.

Store in

a plastic container in the refrigerator or freeze until needed

It seems like this might be pretty stiff--maybe it could be softened a bit more with heavy cream?

Thanks for your personal Breton Cake recipe too bleudauvergne...

Off topic somewhat, but I when googling I also found this recipe for

Galette des rois aux Amandes (the Kings Almond Tart). Here, the dough is more a 'short' dough and the frangipane filling is cooked inside...

[Bux]

From what I've seen of Breton pastry, they yellow could have come from the amount of butter used. Bretons love their butter dearly and it's wonderful stuff. Sometimes I think they bake and make caramels simply as a way of preserving the butter with sugar.

[curlywurlyfi]

thanks, everyone! Lucy - a cake with 12 egg yolks would certainly give the pronounced yellow colour to the sponge! But the stall holder lady was adamant about no flour in the cake.

and yes, ludja - the almond filling was certainly not baked into the cake, it was added after.

I spoke to a Breton friend of mine last night who said it all sounded v fishy, since almonds are not a speciality of Brittany.

Still, I persevere!

In fact, here are some shots of said cake, if this helps with ID. And Tom, our office IT person, in the background wondering just what the hell I am doing photographing a cake.

edited to add photos

Edited May 12, 2005 by curlywurlyfi (log)

[kitwilliams]

Actually, this seems more like a Gateau Basque, which has almond flavored pastry cream in the middle. The cake of the Gateau Basque is almost a cross between a pie dough and cake batter...it is rolled out, placed in the tin, covered with the pastry cream, another piece of dough rolled out and placed on top and baked.

But, in your photos, the cake does look more like the very short cake of a Gateau Breton. I think someone has come up with a hybrid of Gateaux Basque and Breton! Sounds awesome!

[bleudauvergne]

I went back the following day to buy a second chunk, and to ask the stallholder what was in it.  "Oeufs, sucre, beurre, amandes - tout court!" she said. 

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That sounds like what might be in the middle - From the looks of it, that is a cake made with flour. Oh but it looks delicious. Miam miam.

[curlywurlyfi]

That sounds like what might be in the middle - From the looks of it, that is a cake made with flour. 

do you know, as I continued my extensive sampling this afternoon (au revoir, cake), I wondered that myself - that it might be a flour cake made with about a metric tonne each of yolks + butter cake (since it is so moist) with a touch of almond essence for flavour, because, as I said somewhere upthread, the flavour really isn't very almondy, and the crumb is not close enough to be purely made of almonds. But such lovely damp cake - sigh, now just a memory - so maybe some almonds were indeed harmed in the making of it. The goo in the middle didn't taste of raw egg yolk (thank goodness) but I wonder how else it could be so nice and sticky and, let's face it, yellow.

[Ptipois]

So can anyone help?  have you heard of amandine?  Even better, do you have a recipe?

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My two cents on this obviously yummy cake.

- Indeed almonds are not native of Brittany and are seldom used in Breton pastry. Bretons have always had a talent for making their cakes deliciously melting and luscious without the help of almonds or, indeed, too many eggs (if you compare with Portugal for instance). The secret is butter, their very special butter. So there is (to my knowledge) no traditional Breton cake recipe including this almond cream, and I'm positive that there is no traditional Breton cake called amandine. Also, cakes in Brittany are seldom dusted with sugar, their surface is either matte or glistening with butter. And the texture seems lighter than that of the average Breton pound cake. Breton pastries, as a rule, are more buttery than sweet.

However, cakes made in Brittany don't have to be necessarily Breton, i.e. stick to tradition by all means, and this looks to me like a nice butter sponge with plenty of eggs in it, filled with a rich almond cream which seems to be based on a thin crème pâtissière with a heavy addition of marzipan or powdered almonds, and maybe some melted butter to make it creamier.

The general shape of the cake reminds me of the tarte tropézienne, which is Provençal cooking : a very light sponge filled with a chiboust-type cream of crème pâtissière mixed with whipped cream. But if the principle is similar, the composition of the cake is different. Actually, you are not mentioning how you figured out that the cake could be Breton... I'm reading about Cornwall and a Mediterranean market, but where does Brittany stand in all this? This pastry, at any rate, must be a recent creation.

[Bux]

I'm reminded just a bit of the torta santiago, a Galician flat almond cake. Brittany and Galicia share a Celtic heritage. The music and use of bagpipes is a strong part of that heritage, but Galicia doesn't get it's use of almonds from that. Outside of a common interest in simple seafood, there's not much shared in the way of gastronomy between the two areas. Each owes more to the larger country of which it's a part when it comes to food.

[ludja]

...

However, cakes made in Brittany don't have to be necessarily Breton, i.e. stick to tradition by all means, and this looks to me like a nice butter sponge with plenty of eggs in it, filled with a rich almond cream which seems to be based on a thin crème pâtissière with a heavy addition of marzipan or powdered almonds, and maybe some melted butter to make it creamier.

The general shape of the cake reminds me of the tarte tropézienne, which is Provençal cooking : a very light sponge filled with a chiboust-type cream of crème pâtissière mixed with whipped cream. But if the principle is similar, the composition of the cake is different. Actually, you are not mentioning how you figured out that the cake could be Breton... I'm reading about Cornwall and a Mediterranean market, but where does Brittany stand in all this? This pastry, at any rate, must be a recent creation.

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Nice post ptipois and thanks for the photos curlywurlywifi...

I am intrigued by the filliing too. Seeing the photo, the texture looks close to a "pastry cream". I may have gotton confused early on in the thread re: whethr or not there were eggs in the filling. (I thought not...) Anyway--your description sounds pretty good ptpois.

Curlywurly--another question that you may have addressed before, but to clarify do you think there are ground almonds in the dough?

[chefzadi]

I agree with everything Ptipois said.

I've never heard of a cake called Amandine whether in Brittany or outside of it anywhere in France. Of course it could exist, it probably does exist, but it sounds like a recent invention and not a traditional specialty of any particular region.

As for almonds the North Africans introduced them to the European side of the Mediterranean. Almonds originate in the Middle East and Central Asia.

The cake looks delicious. Reminds me of the best homemade.

[LindaK]

Actually, this seems more like a Gateau Basque, which has almond flavored pastry cream in the middle.  The cake of the Gateau Basque is almost a cross between a pie dough and cake batter...it is rolled out, placed in the tin, covered with the pastry cream, another piece of dough rolled out and placed on top and baked.

When I saw the picture I also thought it was a gateau basque. It's one of my favorite things to make, though I also include sour cherries in with the pastry cream filling. So good.

Until you posted the picture, I wondered if you weren't describing a Financier, an almond-y pastry that's available in most patisseries. They're small, however, but also rich, buttery, and delicious. I don't know their origin.

[chefzadi]

Actually, this seems more like a Gateau Basque, which has almond flavored pastry cream in the middle.  The cake of the Gateau Basque is almost a cross between a pie dough and cake batter...it is rolled out, placed in the tin, covered with the pastry cream, another piece of dough rolled out and placed on top and baked.

When I saw the picture I also thought it was a gateau basque. It's one of my favorite things to make, though I also include sour cherries in with the pastry cream filling. So good.

Until you posted the picture, I wondered if you weren't describing a Financier, an almond-y pastry that's available in most patisseries. They're small, however, but also rich, buttery, and delicious. I don't know their origin.

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This is a version of gateau basque.

The amandine upthread looks more like it's genoise based.

[curlywurlyfi]

thanks everybody for weighing in!

Actually, you are not mentioning how you figured out that the cake could be Breton... I'm reading about Cornwall and a Mediterranean market, but where does Brittany stand in all this?

A Mediterranean market came to Truro (Cornwall) for four days last week. Mainly French but some Spanish stallholders: paella, cheese, saucisson, speck, tartiflette etc. The cake came from a stall with a sign saying 'specialites bretons'.

I am intrigued by the filliing too.  Seeing the photo, the texture looks close to a "pastry cream".  I may have gotton confused early on in the thread re: whethr or not there were eggs in the filling.  (I thought not...)

I don't think the filling is based on creme pat - wrong mouthfeel - this was definitely a little bit granular + slightly crunchy - probably the rough-ground almonds. I'm liking very much the suggestion that it is almond paste let down with extra butter + egg yolks - but it did stay remarkably sticky and gooey.

but to clarify do you think there are ground almonds in the dough?

I think there might be SOME almonds in the dough, because it had a slightly 'gravelly' texture + wonderful moistness. But it is probably not, on balance, a dough made entirely of almonds, since that (in my home-baking experience) tends to give quite a close-textured, 'tight' crumb.

The cake looks delicious. Reminds me of the best homemade.

Spot on! It is the absolute opposite of elegant patisserie, but so plain and simple. Which is sort of why I hope to recreate it at home. Plus it is fantastic with a tiny cup of espresso...

[Ptipois]

A Mediterranean market came to Truro (Cornwall) for four days last week.  Mainly French but some Spanish stallholders: paella, cheese, saucisson, speck, tartiflette etc.  The cake came from a stall with a sign saying 'specialites bretons'.

Well, Mediterranean, Spanish, saucisson, speck, tartiflette, paella, and Breton cakes that aren't particularly Breton — what a mixup. Which doesn't mean that the items sold on the stalls won't be delicious, of course. But it seems that ethnologic authenticity won't be the primary quality to expect there.

I don't think the filling is based on creme pat - wrong mouthfeel - this was definitely a little bit granular + slightly crunchy - probably the rough-ground almonds.  I'm liking very much the suggestion that it is almond paste let down with extra butter + egg yolks - but it did stay remarkably sticky and gooey.

It is the sticky and gooey part that makes me think of crème pâtissière, au contraire. You'd be surprised at the texture a little quantity of it gives to almond-based preparations. Just a little. It is a little pastry secret. So my guess is : almonds, sugar, butter, and perhaps a little crème pâtissière to help bind the filling. The granular/crunchy texture indicates that powdered almonds weren't used, but that the almonds were roughly ground in a blender, producing a better-quality almond paste.

I think there might be SOME almonds in the dough, because it had a slightly 'gravelly' texture + wonderful moistness.  But it is probably not, on balance, a dough made entirely of almonds, since that (in my home-baking experience) tends to give quite a close-textured, 'tight' crumb.

So it seems to be: almonds in the cake dough, almonds in the filling, and the cake is called "amandine", which does make sense.

If you come across a chain of French pastry shops called "Le Moule à Gâteau", look for their "pavé aux amandes", it is a very interesting example of sticky-gooey almond cake based on a financier batter. Though this one doesn't have a filling, your cake makes me think of it.

[K8memphis]

This is a recipe called sugar crusted Breton Butter Cake by Gale Gand. I was smart enough to realize this as superb, and while my results were delicious they were not even close to how hers turned out. I only tried it once, I should try it again.

It's not almondine like you wanted, but it's a Breton Butter cake. Still makes my mouth water thinking about it. yum yum

[Ptipois]

This is a recipe called sugar crusted Breton Butter Cake by Gale Gand. I was smart enough to realize this as superb, and while my results were delicious  they were not even close to how hers turned out. I only tried it once, I should try it again.

It's not almondine like you wanted, but it's a Breton Butter cake. Still makes my mouth water thinking about it. yum yum

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This is simply a kouign-amann ("butter cake"). Quite difficult to make right. Just flour, butter and sugar, and indeed the technique of puff pastry with butter and sugar between the layers. The strawberries are a non-breton addition, although there is such a thing as apple kouign-amann.

[LindaK]

I found a recipe for a Gâteau Breton in Michael Roberts cookbook, Parisian Home Cooking. As expected, it's basically a very rich butter cake but his does include ground nuts. Am I allowed to post the recipe here (not sure of copyright rules)?

[andiesenji]

There are so many varieties of cakes that are made with and without fillings.

This one Spanish cake is also very moist and retains its moisture for a good long time.

I have split and filled this cake with cream cheese whipped with orange zest and orange flower water but never thought of making a filling with almond paste.

I do make a light and fluffly almond paste filling that is flavored with rose water or orange flower water and with a little flavored and partially set flavored gelatin which is what I use for Turkish delight. It does not set up like gelatin, but has the texture and mass similar to lemon curd.

I really don't have a specific recipe for it as I prepare it to taste and texture.

[Ptipois]

As far as gâteau breton is concerned, it shouldn't contain nuts, whatever non-Breton personal versions may be. I have seen US versions of cassoulet using frankfurters and canned flageolet beans. And by the way, there is nothing Parisian about Breton cake.

I'm mentioning this just so that no search is done on the wrong tracks. There is nothing Breton about the amandine cake either, but it does look delicious.

[bleudauvergne]

And by the way, there is nothing Parisian about Breton cake.

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My husband's grandmother was raised in Brittany, and having moved to follow Parisian husband when she was married 65 years ago, lives in Paris. I can certainly imagine that the dishes she prepared as she raised her 11 children in Paris could fall into the category of Parisian home cooking, although the recipes come from her Breton mother and are typical in many cases of the food made at home in Brittany.

The butter was delicious in Brittany to be sure. It was highly salted and most likely was beurre cru. Madame Le Boulch called it farm butter, and it came from a local farmer. She left it out on the counter overnight before preparing this cake.

Although the butter is special in Brittany, the cake can be made with whatever butter is local and the results can still be excellent. When we prepared the recipe in Lyon it was just as good, in my opinion, as the one we ate in Brittany. Partly because we prepared it ourselves and partly because it reminded us of our trip to Brittany.

Linda, we would love to see the ingredient list for your recipe, with some of your personal comments on how you put it together. A rundown on the copyright rules for recipes can be found Here (click). Lets get to the bottom of this cake with the nuts issue once and for all!

[tryska]

this thread makes me think of the Queer Eye for the Striaght Guy episode i watched this weekend:

http://www.bravotv.com/Queer_Eye_for_the_S...recipe142.shtml

[LindaK]

Linda, we would love to see the ingredient list for your recipe, with some of your personal comments on how you put it together.  A rundown on the copyright rules for recipes can be found Here (click).    Lets get to the bottom of this cake with the nuts issue once and for all!

I'm embarrassed to say that I have not yet tried this recipe. Rather I remembered reading it when this thread started and mentioned it beause I thought others might have some experience with it. If I were to post something right now, it would be the cookbook recipe verbatim. From reading the eGullet policy (thanks for the link, very helpful), it sounds as if this would not be allowed. Understandable.

Assuming that I can't, I CAN promise to try it over this weekend and report back. If I'm reading the policy too strictly, someone with more experience should tell me, I'm happy to provide the recipe.

[Ptipois]

My husband's grandmother was raised in Brittany, and having moved to follow Parisian husband when she was married 65 years ago, lives in Paris.  I can certainly imagine that the dishes she prepared as she raised her 11 children in Paris could fall into the category of Parisian home cooking

It's only a matter of knowing what a gâteau breton is or is not. A gâteau breton remains a gâteau breton wherever it is made, Paris or Hong Kong. Including it in a book as "Parisian home cooking" seems a bit weird.

I make a pretty good pho soup at home and I've been making it for years, but I wouldn't describe it as "Parisian home cooking" if I were to write down the recipe for a book.