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This is a rich, butter-based sponge built on ground almonds and ground pistachios, with only a small amount of cake flour to hold it together. The nuts give it a close, moist crumb and a soft green flecked colour, and the lemon zest and vanilla keep the nut flavour bright rather than heavy.

It bakes flat and even in a slab tray, which makes it easy to cut into layers, rounds or hexagons for entremets and layered cakes. It is firm enough to handle and to soak with syrup, and it pairs especially well with white chocolate, raspberry, apricot and cream fillings.

Ingredients

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Weight Per Unit: 1453
Number of Units: 1
Unit Size: 30 x 25 cm slab tray, about 2 cm high
WEIGHT
(grams) 		ALTERNATIVE METRIC INGREDIENT IMAGE CONDITION
A 360 12.7 ounces Butter Butter is a solid dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk, to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk. It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water.
unsalted 		room temperature
B 360 12.7 ounces Sugar Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
caster
C 250 8.8 ounces Almond Meal Almond meal, almond flour or ground almond is made from ground sweet almonds. Almond flour is usually made with blanched almonds (no skin), whereas almond meal can be made both with whole or blanched almonds. The consistency is more like corn meal than wheat flour.

It is used in pastry and confectionery – in the manufacture of almond macarons and other sweet pastries, in cake and pie filling, such as Sachertorte and is one of the two main ingredients of marzipan and almond paste. In France, almond meal is an important ingredient in frangipane, the filling of traditional galette des Rois cake.

Almond meal has recently become important in baking items for those on low carbohydrate diets. It adds moistness and a rich nutty taste to baked goods. Items baked with almond meal tend to be calorie-dense.
finely ground
D 60 2.1 ounces Cake Flour Cake flour is a finely milled white flour made from soft wheat. It has very low protein content, between 8% and 10%, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher protein content of other flours would make the cakes tough. Highly sifted cake flours may require different volume amounts in recipes than all-purpose flour. Using the scoop and level method, well-sifted flour usually produces 125 g per cup. However, most American recipes are written with 140 g of flour per cup, so weighing and experimentation can be helpful in baking unfamiliar recipes. Small weight differences can greatly affect the texture. American Cake flour is bleached; in countries where bleached flour is prohibited, plain flour can be treated in a domestic microwave to improve the texture of the end product. sifted
E 360 7.2 Whole Eggs Whole Egg Eggs are one of the most common ingredients in a typical cake. Egg yolks and whole eggs store significant amounts of protein and choline, and are widely used in baking. Usually an eggs role in a cake is to add moisture and richness, act as a raising agent as well as a glue to bind the ingredients together. room temperature, lightly beaten
F 10 0.4 ounce Lemon Zest Lemon zest is the thin, brightly coloured outer layer of the lemon skin, removed with a fine grater or zester without taking the bitter white pith underneath. It holds the fruit's aromatic oils and gives a fresh citrus lift to batters and creams.
fresh 		finely grated
G 2 Vanilla Essence Vanilla Extract is made with 100% pure vanilla beans. With a sweet, syrupy consistency, this Vanilla is ideal for use in icings, drinks and whipped cream as well as classic baking recipes. Vanilla Essence is commercially manufactured by chemicals and is more of a watery consistency as opposed to vanilla extract which is thicker and a lot fuller and richer in flavour. You can replace one with the other but use 50% more of essence. For example, for 1 teaspoon of extract, use 1.5 teaspoons of essence.
H 1 Salt Common salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in its natural form as a crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater, where it is the main mineral constituent; the open ocean has about 35 grams (1.2 oz) of solids per litre, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for animal life, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous of food seasonings, and salting is an important method of food preservation.
I 50 1.8 ounces Pistachio Pistachios are small green kernels with a mild, sweet, buttery flavour. For baking they are used shelled and unsalted, and are usually ground with some of the recipe's sugar so the nuts turn into a smooth paste instead of releasing their oil.
unsalted, green 		finely ground
1453

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Method

STEP ACTION DETAIL CONDITION
1 Pre-heat Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (355°F) and line a 30 x 25 cm slab tray with baking paper. Paper flat in the corners so the sponge bakes level
2 Prepare Sift D and H (cake flour and salt) together, then stir through C and I (almond meal and ground pistachio). Nuts and flour evenly mixed, no lumps
3 Cream Whip A, B, F and G (butter, caster sugar, lemon zest and vanilla essence) together until pale and light. Light, fluffy and almost white
4 Add Add E (whole egg) a little at a time, beating well between each addition and scraping the bowl down. Smooth and glossy, not curdled or split
5 Fold Fold the nut and flour mixture through the batter in two or three lots. Just combined, no dry pockets; do not over-mix
6 Fill Spread the batter into the lined tray and level the surface with a palette knife. Even thickness right to the corners
7 Bake Bake at 180°C (355°F) for about 20 to 25 minutes, turning the tray once if your oven bakes unevenly. Golden, springs back when lightly pressed and a skewer comes out clean
8 Cool Leave the sponge in the tray for 10 minutes, then lift it out on the paper onto a rack. Completely cold before cutting; it cuts cleanest after a few hours in the fridge

Important Notes

The batch makes about 1,450 g of batter, enough for one 30 x 25 cm slab tray around 2 cm high. The chef's own yields are 215 g of mixture for one small hexagon sponge, 2.5 kg for one large tray and 3 kg for a marjolaine tray, so from this batch you can cut roughly six small hexagon sponges. Once cold, wrap the sponge well; it keeps three to four days in the fridge or up to a month frozen. It is firm enough to brush with soaking syrup without falling apart.

Tools & Arrangements

Electric mixer with beater attachment, sieve, mixing bowls, spatula, 30 x 25 cm slab tray, baking paper, palette knife, cooling rack, kitchen scales.

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