Daring Bakers in July: Filbert Gâteau with Praline Buttercream
July 30, 2008 at 4:19 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, daring bakers, groups, layer cakes, sweet things | 49 Comments
When I saw that Chris of Mele Cotte would be taking charge of this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, I had my fingers crossed that she’d chose something sweet with an Italian twist to it. As if reading my mind, she chose Filbert Gâteau with Praline Buttercream–a cake featuring the quintessentially Italian combo of hazelnuts and chocolate (and two funny words, “filbert” and “gâteau”). Mmmm…wonderful.
I made a half recipe, fitting the cake batter into a six-inch pan with high sides. There’s a little bit of citrus in this recipe, but I decided to leave out the lemon zest in the cake batter and replace the Grand Marnier in the soaking syrup and buttercream with Kahlua, which suits my tastes better. As you can see, I kind of copped out and only cut the cake into two layers instead of three.
While I did not to make the praline to add to the buttercream frosting, I did make caramelized whole hazelnuts to use as decoration. I flavored my Swiss meringue buttercream instead with an unsweetened hazelnut butter that I had bought at the health food store awhile back. Buttercream is plenty sweet already, so this gave it a nice balance and a good hazelnut flavor. I realized that I’d have a few more of those caramelized nuts than I’d need to decorate the top of the cake, so I chopped up the extras roughly and sprinkled them over the buttercream before placing on the top layer of cake. That was a nice crunchy touch!
I am wondering if my glaze was a little on the thin side. The top was nice and smooth, but as it dripped down the side of cake, it seemed to get hung up on the little specks of hazelnut in the buttercream crumb coat (which I chose to use instead of apricot glaze). No matter…it was on to the decorating! Chris wanted us to use some of the buttercream in our decoration. Small cakes can easily look look overwhelmed by garnish, so I didn’t want to use too much. Little shells on the bottom border, a few rosettes on top, and that was enough for me. I finished it off with a little gold dust and the candied nuts.
After reading through all that, maybe you wonder what it tasted like. This cake was seriously delicious! We had it for three nights, and I savored every bite. There were a lot of steps to this cake, but the end result was totally worth it. I can hardly believe that I joined the Daring Bakers last July (I can also hardly believe that the group was still in the double digits back then)! I considered this to be my DB one-year anniversary cake!
Check out the DB blogroll! And visit Mele Cotte for the recipe (which was adapted from Great Cakes by Carol Walter).
P.S.: I’m still out of town, but back next week!
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a whisk and a spoon 
Absolutely freaking gorgeous. I completely forgot about this.
Comment by Landa— July 30, 2008 #
your cake looks wonderful. i like the caramelized hazelnuts looks yummy. Good idea to use the butter in the icing.
Comment by Courtney— July 30, 2008 #
I love the cake too. YOurs was so pretty
Comment by Cynthia from USA— July 30, 2008 #
looks great! I only did two layers as well.
Comment by Holly @ PheMOMenon— July 30, 2008 #
wow, that looks so great. I had to miss out on DB this month, but your cake makes me wish i had found the time!
Comment by Tammy— July 30, 2008 #
It’s absolutely stunning. Happy DB anniversary!
Comment by rainbowbrown— July 30, 2008 #
Beautiful job on the cake! I wish I had used a deeper pan and had thicker layers!
Comment by Christine— July 30, 2008 #
I’m definitely sorry that my broken oven meant missing out on this challenge, you did a fabulous job!
Comment by Mari— July 30, 2008 #
Your cake is the first I’ve seen so far and wow! If everyone else’s is any where near as gorgeous, I may just need to redo mine so that it’s up to par!
Comment by BitterSweet— July 30, 2008 #
Doesn’t that cake look just wonderful! Great Work Steph!!
Comment by Dharm— July 30, 2008 #
Let me be the first to say your cake is superb. Who would have thought a year ago that you could be this accomplished – I’m still working on it but your cake is an inspiration…. and you’re right…absolutely delicious.
Comment by giz— July 30, 2008 #
Your gateau looks beautiful! The Kahlua and Grand Marnier sound like a great combination. You did a great job with the decorating!
Comment by Erin— July 30, 2008 #
wow! Your cake looks amazing! Mine was a big disaster so I love getting to see those that had great cakes!
Comment by Heather B— July 30, 2008 #
It looks beautiful as always. What a great shot! We had the same idea for the garnish, how funny. I really enjoy your blog, it is so inspiring!
Comment by Mary Ann— July 30, 2008 #
Your cake looks beautiful! I love the carmalized nuts! 🙂
Comment by Rigby— July 30, 2008 #
I knew I should have gone with 2 layers! I wanted to but thought I’d be a good girl and follow instructions, I’m regretting it now. Your gateau looks great! Well done. I like your new layout to.
Comment by Sathya— July 30, 2008 #
oh me. oh my. what i wouldn’t give for a slab of your cake. seriously, it’s perfection on a plate. and hazelnut buttercream? drool central. 🙂
Comment by grace— July 30, 2008 #
Your cake looks lovely. Gold dust sounds interesting.
I agree, minimal garnish does have more of an effect.
Comment by Aparna— July 30, 2008 #
I jumped at the excuse to buy a mini pan too! This looks great!
Comment by Speedbump Kitchen— July 30, 2008 #
You know, I went with pistachios, but maybe I should try this again using hazelnuts afterall? Your cake tempts me.
Comment by Jenny— July 30, 2008 #
Hah! Good choices. I also used caramelized nuts for the garnish and used buttercream for a crumb coat of one of my two cakes. Nice to see that I am not alone.
Your cake looks really moist (better than mine I think).
Alexandra
Comment by Sweet Tooth— July 31, 2008 #
Oh it looks wonderful!
Comment by marye— July 31, 2008 #
Steph,
That is one serious looking stunning cake! I love the sprinkling of fairy gold dust on top and I like the rustic look of the gateau.
Hope you had a nice vacation.
Comment by breadchick— July 31, 2008 #
Your cake looks so pretty! I also made a 6 inch cake: managed to cut 3 layers but was scared that they would fall apart. Fortunately that did not happen.
Comment by Olga— July 31, 2008 #
This is absolutely GORGEOUS! So impressive. The gold dust is so beautiful on the glaze and I love love love hazelnut. Wow.
Comment by Janna from Honeyed Hashette— July 31, 2008 #
Wowza, I am loving the mini cake idea. Darling. Good call on omitting the lemon zest. I honestly didn’t even taste it. (Could be b/c I added so much booze to mine ;-P)
Comment by Danielle— July 31, 2008 #
Oh my, your cake looks beautiful!
Comment by Andrea— July 31, 2008 #
Another masterpiece Steph! Your set ups always look wonderful!
Comment by Laurie— July 31, 2008 #
Gawwwwwd! Such perfectly straight sides!!! I bow to you, Madame! Beautiful cake and a fantastic job there 🙂
Comment by Jen Yu— July 31, 2008 #
wELL DONE!!!!
i MADE A HALF RECIPE TOO, YOUR CAKE IS LOVELY, AND YOUR MIX OF LICOUR SEEMS DELICIOUS¡¡¡
Comment by TERESA— July 31, 2008 #
I admire all of these candied hazelnuts I am seeing, that makes the cake look so professional! I love your final result!
Comment by Lesley— July 31, 2008 #
Ooooh, yum – that’s a beauty!
Love the new look as well!
Comment by nicisme— July 31, 2008 #
I looked through a few and it looks like many people had trouble with the glaze being a bit rough on the sides. My thoughts were that a crumb coating of buttercream would help although the recipe didnt state it…
It still looks totally delicious and I love your candied hazelnuts!
Comment by jennywenny— July 31, 2008 #
very pretty and professional looking. It was seriously delicious wasnt it?
Comment by Lori— July 31, 2008 #
i love the caramelized whole nuts you used.. your cake looks amazing !
Comment by kitten— July 31, 2008 #
Love it – it looks stunning! It almost makes me regret not participating this month 🙂 Well done.
Comment by shannon— July 31, 2008 #
I do the same thing with the cake challenges (using a 6-inch cake pan). The cake came out sensational and delicious looking. I wish the weather was cooler so I could have participated in this challenge.
Comment by Gigi— July 31, 2008 #
Beautiful cake. The hazelnut decorations look great.
Comment by bakinginoregon— August 1, 2008 #
I love the gold dust – what an elegant cake!
Comment by Deborah— August 1, 2008 #
Your cake looks great, the ganache is so smooth!
Comment by Sandie— August 1, 2008 #
Gorgeous!! Your cakes always look so elegant. I only made two layers as well. And I totally missed the direction that buttercream had to be used on top of the cake. Whoops!!!
Comment by KJ— August 1, 2008 #
Gorgeous Gateau! Congrats on one year of Daring Baking:)
Comment by Paula— August 2, 2008 #
This looks really lovely! The piped buttercream at the bottom of the cake looks so nice =)
Comment by venus— August 2, 2008 #
Wow!! Your cake looks excellent!! The piping edging looks perfect, and I love that you made it so tall…I have a secret (well, maybe not so secret now) fetish for petite, tall cakes!! Lovely job!!
Comment by Christy— August 3, 2008 #
Ooo, that is beautiful! The caramelized hazelnuts make it truly gorgeous!
Comment by Lauren— August 4, 2008 #
Your cake looks fabulous and perfect. Kahlua sounds interesting in the cake! Your shell border is perfect. Wendy
Comment by Wendy— August 4, 2008 #
All I can say is that your cake looks exquisite!
Wonderful pictures!
Comment by Liliana— August 5, 2008 #
wow, your cake looks so professionally made! love the gold dust on top 🙂 your ganache looks quite perfect
Comment by Jaime— August 11, 2008 #
If there was the perfect cake, it would be yours! Love it!
Comment by Tartelette— August 12, 2008 #