Gâteau de Savoie
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs, separated
- 200 g powdered sugar
- 60 ml boiling water
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- 150 g cake flour
- 50 g finely chopped candied angelica (optional)
- Softened butter and powdered sugar, for the pan
Said to have been made for the Count of Savoy in the fourteenth century, this cake contains no butter and no oil — the only fat in the recipe is what greases the pan. Its lift comes entirely from eggs: yolks whipped to a pudding-like foam with dribbles of boiling water, and whites beaten separately to stiff peaks, folded together with a small amount of cake flour. It is baked long and low so the delicate structure sets without colouring, and the mould is dusted with powdered sugar instead of flour, which leaves a fine crackly crust.
Method
Toss the angelica with a little of the flour and set aside. Butter a 27 cm bundt pan and dust it thickly with powdered sugar.
Heat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
Whip the yolks on high speed until thick and pale, then dribble in the very hot water a few teaspoons at a time with the mixer running, add the vanilla, and keep whipping until the mixture looks like soft pudding.
In another bowl, whip the egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar to stiff peaks.
Sift the flour over the yolks and fold it in gradually, then stir in the angelica.
Fold in a third of the whites to loosen the batter, then fold in the rest.
Pour into the pan and bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs. Turn out onto a rack and cool completely before slicing.
