For a delicious French-inspired treat, the Pain de Gêne (which translates to ‘almond cakes’) are deliciously rich and taste as good as they look!
Ingredients
- 185 g (6 ½ oz) butter
- 185 g (6 ½ oz) caster sugar
- 185 g (6 ½ oz) self-raising flour
- 454 g marzipan roll
- 3 eggs
- 2.5 ml (½ tsp) natural vanilla extract
- Bright red, sunshine yellow, sky blue & lime green gel food colours
- 100 g butter (room temperature)
- 200 g icing sugar
- 30 ml milk
- Natural vanilla extract
- Neon sugar
- Silver shimmer spray
- Chocolate beans
Method
- Preheat the oven to 165°C (Fan 145°C, Gas 3). Spray the muffin tray with Cake Release Spray to grease.
- Place 125g (4 ½ oz) Marzipan in a mixer machine with a paddle (flat beater) attachment and add the butter. Lightly cream together to combine. Once a soft paste is formed, add the caster sugar and continue to cream on a low speed for 1 minute.
- Add the eggs gradually until combined, creaming gently between each addition. Remove the mixture from the machine and fold in the flour. Add the Natural Vanilla Extract and mix in.
- Divide the mixture into four portions and colour one portion green, one portion red, one portion blue and one portion yellow with the Gel Food Colours.
- Spoon the mixture into the muffin tray.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until they spring back to the touch when pressed. Cool and remove from the tins.
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- Colour the remaining Marzipan green, yellow, pink and blue using the Gel Food Colours.
- Roll the Marzipan on a board dusted with a little icing sugar to a thickness of 10mm.
- Cut out discs of Marzipan with a round cutter to match the size of the top of the cakes.
- To make the buttercream, cream all of the ingredients together until pale and fluffy.
- Spread a little buttercream on the top of each cake and stick the Marzipan down.
- Coat the sides of the Pain de Gênes cakes with a little buttercream using a small palette knife and roll the sides of each cake in the Neon Sugar.
- Decorate the tops with Polka Dot Sprinkles and Chocolate Beans using a little buttercream to stick if required.
- To finish, spray the tops of the cakes lightly with Shimmer Spray.
Recipe courtesy of Dr. Oetker
