Génoise Cake with Chocolate Crème Chantilly

Génoise is an Italian sponge cake popular in both Italy and France.  It's airy and buttery and known for having a slightly elastic and somewhat dry texture.  The French usually serve it with buttercream frosting and drench it in sauces, syrups, or liqueurs.  I think it's best soaked in amaretto and dolloped with crème Chantilly. 

Soak your eggs for 5 minutes in warm water.  This allows better aeration for a higher cake.

Beat on high speed for 15 minutes until it's ribbon-like like the image below.

The mixture should be  pale, fluffy and about triple in volume.  When you lift the whisk the mixture should be able to drizzle off and not sink back into the mixture in the bowl. This stage is referred to as the "ribbon stage" which means it's done.   

Sift the flour 3 times. Don't complain. I promise it's necessary.

Transferring the mixture into a big bowl makes folding in the flour and butter a lot easier.  A small bowl means batter will go flying everywhere...I should know..
Mix the cooled, melted butter in with 1/4 cup of the cake mixture before folding it into the cake. You do this because the butter is a fat and fats deflate aeration; this helps reduce that.

Now for the chocolate crème Chantilly!

Refrigerate the heavy cream mixture and whisk for at least 1 hour so the cocoa powder has time to dissolve.

Perfect soft peaks!

 Here's the recipe:
Génoise Cake
makes 1 8-inch cake round
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- cup flour (triple sifted)
- 2 tbsp melted butter (cooled)

Preheat oven to 375.
Grease an 8-inch cake pan. Place un-cracked eggs in a bowl of warm water for five minutes. Place sugar and cracked eggs in a mixing bowl. Beat mixture at high speed for about 15 minutes until it forms a ribbon and triples in volume. Fold in the sifted flour in 1/8 cup intervals. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the batter into the melted butter and incorporate it completely.  Add melted butter mixture into the rest of the batter and stir gently.
Pour batter into pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 then 10 minutes at 350.  The cake is done when it turns golden brown, starts coming away from the sides of the pan and spring back when you touch it.
Once the cake has cooled, cover with crème Chantilly and, if you want, drench in as much amaretto as you like. 

Chocolate Crème Chantilly
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar

In a large mixing bowl place the heavy cream, vanilla extract, sugar, and cocoa powder and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and whisk in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. When chilled, beat the mixture until soft peaks form. 

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