There are many recipes for Spanish vanilla cake. But none of them come close to this variation that my father created over 30 years ago. While most Spanish vanilla cakes are more like almond cake with chocolate chips and a hint of vanilla, this masterpiece of patisserie impresses with thin, individually baked bases, a fine arrack soak, full-bodied vanilla cream, moist marzipan macaroons and an elaborate ganache decoration. Wonderfully fresh and not at all sweet is our
Spanish’ Vanilla’
is the ideal cake for spring and summer.
What you need | Ingredients
- 9 eggs
- 170g sugar
- 250g marzipan
- 150g flour
- 100g dark chocolate 85% cocoa, chopped
- 1300g milk
- 100g Cream vanilla pudding
- 80g sugar
- Vanilla sugar
- Vanilla pod
- 10 sheets of gelatine
- 125g sugar
- 0.5l water
- 80ml arrack from Indonesia, e.g. from Boven
- 100g flour
- ½ tsp baking powder with saffron
- 35g butter, room temperature
- 35g sugar
- ½ packet of vanilla sugar
- 1 egg white
- 200g marzipan
- 1 egg
- some sugar
- some hot apricot jam
- 1 Egg yolk
- 60 g Sugar
- 25 ml Water
- 150g Butter room temperature
- 1 Pinch of salt
- 80g dark chocolate 85% cocoa
- 100g cream
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 packet of sliced almonds
- Apricot jam
How to prepare | Preparation
Day 1 | Day 1
Boil the water and sugar to a purifying sugar. Don’t be surprised, unlike in the bar, we need a slightly less sweet sugar syrup. Allow to cool well and mix with the arrack. The syrup must be really cold. It is also important to use really good arrack from Indonesia. It tastes mild, flowery, like the South Seas. Our arrack has nothing in common with its namesake made from aniseed. Then put the potion to one side.
Then bake the bases at 200°C for approx. 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool thoroughly.
Mix all the ingredients well to form a smooth dough. Then roll out thinly and cut out a round cake base (26 cm in diameter). Bake at 200°C until golden brown and leave to cool thoroughly.
5. assemble the cake
Place a sheet of baking paper underneath, place a 26 cm cake ring or a springform pan without a base on top and start assembling the Spanish vanilla. First place a base, then vanilla cream, then another base on top. Soak the top base with the arrack potion using a hair brush. Then cream again, then a base, then the potions again, then cream…. etc. – until the last floor is laid. This is not soaked, but spread thinly with lukewarm apricot jam. Finish with the shortcrust pastry base. Now it’s time to wait – chill the cake overnight in the fridge so that it sets.
Day 2 | Day 2
7. french buttercream
You don’t need much of the cream, just spread a thin layer on the top of the cake. We opted for the French version, but the German buttercream is also suitable. For the buttercream, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and a little water until frothy. Then cream the butter with a little salt. Then slowly stir the egg cream into the butter at low speed to create a smooth buttercream. Set aside.
8. chocolate ganache
To make the ganache, bring the chocolate, cream and honey to the boil – stirring constantly until a smooth, glossy consistency is achieved. Set aside.
9. roast the almonds
Roast the sliced almonds in the oven until golden brown.
Finishing the Spanish vanilla cake
10. topple the cake
Take the cake out of the fridge, carefully remove it from the edge of the cake ring with a knife and turn it out onto a cake plate.
11. spread the cake lid
Smooth the top with a thin layer of buttercream – preferably using a palette knife.
12. wrap the sides of the cake
Spread a thin layer of warmed apricot jam on the sides of the cake and cover with the sliced almonds.
13. decorate the cake
Using the slightly cooled ganache in a piping bag with a thin nozzle, pipe a chocolate godet onto the cake lid.
14. garnish the cake
Garnish the edges of the cake with the marzipan macaroons – one macaroon per slice of cake is ideal. The rest are eaten.
Done!
