Chef Philippe Conticini's delicious frangipane cake recipe. All the tips and tricks to make a gourmet cake!
I won't be very original for this first post of 2018 as I'm going to start by wishing you an excellent year, full of beautiful projects and success. I also wish a lot of inspiration to students in the middle of their CAP exam revisions. The deadline is approaching and it's often at this time that people think about giving up. Don't do it, keep working, you are more than capable! And to celebrate this Epiphany properly, I propose to you this year Philippe Conticini's frangipane cake.
On my side, 2018 will be devoted to developing my freelance activity and finding a certain balance with this blog. Not always easy to develop a new routine that works when you're the sole captain (even if it's cool to be the boss!).
I will also offer you more basic CAP recipes, reference sheets are still missing here. On my side, it will also allow me to review the basics. I realize that I no longer practice as much as I should and I have the impression of regressing, so I need to fix that.
Epiphany obliges, I complied with the tradition of the cake. "Complied" because in fact, I don't like it at all (especially the frangipane)! But since I had already made a recipe with apples and one with chocolate and candied oranges, this year, I couldn't get out of making frangipane!
And since I didn't want to mess it up, I opted for Mr. Conticini's version. It was the first time I was trying one of his recipes. I appreciate so much his critical spirit (but always kind) and his way of always knowing how to correct a recipe to make it exceptional, that I was eager to try one of his recipes.
The secret to puff pastry, this won't surprise you, is resting time. To be honest, I made mine over 3 days: the butter and detrempe on the first day, the turns on the second day and assembling the cake on the 3rd day.
Since it's a rather long recipe, I made a special article on puff pastry (you can also find all the details in my ebook: 11 CAP tips to succeed ALL your pastries). For the pastry cream, it's on the recipe of Christophe Felder's flan that you will find the details of the recipe.
For the almond cream and the cake assembly, there are a few things to know for optimal results. First, forget the whisk for beating the almond cream. It incorporates air and causes the cream to rise during cooking, which distorts the puff pastry that really doesn't need that!
Another important technique: don't put too much cream on the puff pastry disk, you need to leave a good centimeter (or even 2) around the cream to be able to seal the 2 dough disks well.
The chef also recommends when assembling the frangipane cake to give a quarter turn to the top disk. Thus the two puff pastry disks will be in 2 different directions, which limits the risk of shrinkage. And chef's tip: flip the cake because the bottom will be a little more even than the top!
Finally for the fluting and assembly, seal the two dough disks well using a brush dipped in water and use a paring knife but on the side that doesn't cut to avoid tearing the dough (and don't forget the holes so that air can escape during cooking!).
For the egg wash, the chef suggests adding 10% cream to beaten egg to give shine (I skipped this step, I ran out of cream). Be careful not to apply too much egg wash, it should barely be visible on the cake (but you can egg wash 2 times an hour apart). Finally, last tip, definitely don't put egg wash on the edge of the cake (the perimeter) at the risk of preventing the puff pastry from developing.
There you have it, with all these tips, you should have a competition-level frangipane cake! The quantities given are for 2 cakes, don't hesitate to adjust according to your needs!
