Pain de Gênes

Pain de Gênes is a finely textured, moist French cake with almonds worked into the batter itself. Its name means “bread of Genoa,” but it is not a yeast-leavened dough. An almond and sugar paste is loosened with eggs, combined with butter and a small amount of flour or similar, and baked. Baked thin, it can also serve as the base for desserts built from multiple layers.

Working eggs into almond paste and whipping

Pâte d’amande is an ingredient made by working almonds and sugar together. In a recette (ingredient proportions and method) that uses one with 50% almond content, the paste is warmed slightly to soften it, and the first eggs are worked in a little at a time. Adding the remaining eggs and whipping allows air to be incorporated into a lump-free batter.

In this whole-egg method, the batter is whipped to the ribbon stage, at which it falls in a band when lifted and leaves a trail. There is also a method in which the eggs and paste are whipped while being warmed to about 40–45°C. For the melted butter, part of the whipped batter is mixed in first and then returned to the rest. In this method, the heavy fat is dispersed first, and then sifted wheat flour or similar is folded in from the bottom. Even a batter rich in almonds and butter rises because the egg foam is preserved.

Whipping whole eggs, separating the eggs, and using almond flour

Some whole-egg methods add a small amount of baking powder to the wheat flour. This method uses both egg foam and a leavening agent.

Alain Ducasse’s published formula uses starch instead of wheat flour, loosens the paste with egg yolks and whole eggs, and adds orange flower water. In this method, which separates yolks and whites, the egg whites are whipped separately with sugar; a first portion is used to loosen the heavy batter, and then the rest is carefully folded in.

For home cooks, there are also recettes made from almond flour, in which soft butter and sugar are creamed, eggs are added one at a time, and almond flour and other dry ingredients are mixed in. Whether the almonds are in the form of a paste or a flour changes how they are mixed before the eggs are added.

There are also methods that add chocolate. Franck Wenz, a pastry chef at Valrhona, combines melted chocolate and clarified butter with part of the whipped almond batter and then returns it to the rest of the batter. This is an example of layering cacao flavor onto the almond batter and using the cake as part of a plated dessert.

From a round baked cake to the base of an entremets

Lining the bottom of a round mold with sliced almonds or scattering them over the batter adds the crunch of thin flakes to the smooth cake. Orange flower water, kirsch, rum, vanilla and citrus zest are options for flavoring, and even a light dusting of powdered sugar as the only finish is enough to let the cake itself be enjoyed.

Baked as a thin disc, it can also be used as the base of an entremets. In one composition, apricot compotée is placed on it, and it is shaped into a small round, frozen, and set into mascarpone mousse in a slightly larger mold. When it is sliced, layers of apricot and almond cake appear inside the soft mousse. Pain de Gênes is used both as a baked cake to be eaten as is and as a base for layering fruit and cream.

A naming theory tied to the Siege of Genoa, and a Paris pastry shop

Gênes is the French name for Genoa. One theory of the name connects it to the 1800 siege of Genoa, which was defended by Masséna’s army. According to a tradition that the defenders ate rice and almonds boiled in water and consumed more than 50,000 kilograms of almonds, a cake created later was named to commemorate this resistance. This theory differs from the story that the cake was baked during the siege.

As the person who developed it into a cake like today’s, the name of Fauvel, who worked at Chiboust’s shop in 19th-century Paris, is cited. On the other hand, Joseph Favre’s culinary dictionary states that Chiboust originally named it ambroisie, and records a method in which almonds are ground while eggs and sugar are gradually added, then combined with starch, melted butter and kirsch, and baked in a fluted mold. Accounts also differ on whether the shop where he worked or the pastry chef should be regarded as the creator.

Another origin theory: a dedication to Queen Elena

Ducasse’s recette introduction also relates that the cake commemorated Queen Elena’s visit to Genoa. When the queen visited and when the cake was named are not clear, but this is an origin theory separate from the story of commemorating the resistance during the siege.

Because the place name is shared, its history is sometimes confused with that of génoise and pan di Spagna. However, the defining feature of pain de Gênes is that almonds are richly incorporated throughout the batter. Different stories involving a queen and a war are told about its origin, but today’s pain de Gênes has both the richness that comes from generous use of almonds and the lightness that comes from rising with egg foam.

Glossary