Recipe Redux Sponge Cake Napoleon by Walter Zuromski, CEC, CCE

recipe redux Sponge Cake Napoleon By Walter Zuromski, CEC, CCE

lassically, a Napoleon—as it’s known in the Formula: United States—is alternating layers of crispy Ingredients ��% by Weight puff pastry and egg-rich pastry cream finished Pastry Cream C Water...... 66.13 with fondant icing and chocolate lace decoration. In Sugar, granulated...... 15.38 France, it’s known as mille-feuille, and in Italy is dubbed Milk solids, nonfat, dry...... 6.15 Tapioca starch, modified...... 5.77 mille foglie. Our Napoleon uses alternating layers of Whole-egg solids, dry...... 1.92 sponge cake and pastry cream, and the manufacturable Butter...... 1.92 Photo: Egg-yolk solids, dry...... 1.77 version is freeze/thaw-stable with comparable culinary American Egg Board Vanilla extract...... 0.96

integrity to fresh. Recipe: Total:...... 100.00 The recipe calls for vanilla pastry cream. The big differ- Ingredients: Pastry Cream Sponge Cake ence in our gold-standard pastry cream recipe compared 2 cups milk Sugar, granulated...... 32.20 to the traditional crème anglaise is addition of corn starch, ½ cup sugar Water...... 29.43 which gave it a pudding-like viscosity and texture. 1 egg Cake flour...... 18.40 2 egg yolks Whole-egg solids, CHO...... 10.73 The key to a successful sponge cake is proper aera- 3 tablespoons corn starch Melted butter...... 7.67 tion, primarily with eggs and sugar. Eggs further aid with 1 tablespoon butter Milk solids, nonfat, dry...... 1.38 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract Xanthan gum ...... 0.19 the suspension of ingredients, crumb color and flavor of Total:...... 100.00 the finished cake. Sponge Cake While frozen pasteurized liquid eggs are certainly an 12 eggs Procedure: For the pastry cream, 2 cups sugar combine all dry ingredients in a ribbon option for the scaled-up, plant-ready pastry cream for- 1½ cups cake flour blender and mix well. In a kettle with mula, we sought a raw material that would be very easy ½ cup corn starch a high-shear mixer, add water and dry ½ cup plus ¾ teaspoon butter, melted ingredients slowly, while mixing at to store. Dry egg products require less storage space than medium shear, to fully incorporate and Procedure: For the pastry cream, add hydrate. Heat to 180°F. Add butter and liquid egg products, and they’re more cost-effective to ship. milk to a medium saucepan. Add half of the vanilla, and turn the heat off. Continue sugar and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. They’re also less susceptible to bacterial growth during to mix during the cooling, set to 40°F. In a medium bowl, whisk the whole eggs Pump into holding tank. Keep cool at storage. Furthermore, dried eggs deliver enhanced control and yolks with the corn starch and remaining 40°F. For the sponge cake, blend dry eggs, over the amount of water used in the formulation. Making sugar until thoroughly blended. Gradually sugar and xanthan gum to form a dry mix add the hot milk to the egg mixture to temper the pastry cream freeze/thaw-stable also required replac- blend. Place this into a spiral mixer and it. Return mixture to saucepan and bring to blend well on low. Preheat the water to ing the corn starch with modified tapioca starch. This pro- just under a boil (approximately 180°F). 130°F, shut off heat and pour into the dry Add the butter and whisk to incorporate. duced a thick, pumpable, stable pastry cream. ingredients to fully hydrate. Mix on high Then whisk in the vanilla. Pour the cooked speed to incorporate air volume to three We also used dry egg products in the plant-friendly pastry cream into a half-sheet tray lined with times existing volume (should take 12 to clear wrap, cover and refrigerate until fully sponge cake. With just the right ratio of water to egg pow- 20 minutes); lower the speed to medium cooled. For the sponge cake, blend the eggs halfway through this process to decrease der, you can get the same functionality in a sponge cake and sugar in a mixing bowl and place over the volume by one-third. Add the cake a double boiler. Lightly whisk continuously made with liquid eggs. But we found that not all dry egg flour and milk solids using the low-speed until it reaches 110°F. Place this mixture into folding setting. Add melted butter and products are the same. The initial dried whole-egg product a mixer with the whisk attachment and mix at incorporate well. Pump batter into sheet used didn’t hold onto the desired air volume. So I turned high speed for 10 minutes or until the mixture pans at 6 lbs. per pan. Place into linear, reaches maximum volume and it begins to to the egg experts to gain a further insight and discovered one-stage impingement oven set at 375°F recede in volume. Reduce the speed to with belt speed set to 20 minutes. Cool that our dried whole eggs needed to be co-dried with car- low and whip for an additional 10 minutes. to 65°F and then blast-freeze. Cut cake to Combine and sift flour and corn starch at least bohydrate (CHO, 10% sugar or corn syrup). Addition of specifications. Method of assembly: Cake twice; fold into the beaten egg-sugar mixture. is cut into three layers and put through a sugar or corn syrup prior to drying protects the proteins Melt butter in a saucepan and fold into the die cut, such as a teardrop shape. Formed- mixture. Portion batter into sheet pans lined and greatly improves foaming properties. Replacing the plastic teardrop-shaped sheet packaging with parchment paper, sprayed with nonstick is used to assemble the napoleon layers. corn starch with a low level of xanthan gum helped the spray and lightly dusted with flour. Bake With a linear pumping system and moving at 375°F for 20 minutes. Cool completely cake retain moisture through freeze/thaw. line, the cake layers are placed in the sheet on wire racks. Cut the sponge cake sheets packaging and pastry cream is pumped, The finished plant version was a light, airy sponge into squares or use a teardrop cutter. Add a 1 oz. of filling per layer with 1.5 oz. on cake layered with the pastry cream, with the convenience layer of pastry cream, another layer of cake, top. The trays are cellophane-wrapped and another layer of filling, another layer of cake of frozen distribution and storage that doesn’t compro- put into a spiral freezing system. End user: and top with cream. Optional: Coat with Slack in refrigerator overnight and serve. mise culinary integrity. apricot glaze, garnish with a whip-cream • Optional: Coat the top with apricot glaze, swirl, and serve with fresh berries. garnish with a whip-cream swirl, and serve with fresh berries. Reproduced with permission from Culinology, March 2010. For electronic usage only. Not to be printed in any format. ©2010 Virgo Publishing. All Rights Reserved.