Recipe - Macaroon Cake (Gateau Sec Aux Noisettes)

100 g Flaky pastry (3 One half oz)
30 g Raspberries (1 oz)
110 g Sugar (3 Three fourths oz)
75 g Ground hazelnuts (2 One half oz)
2 x Egg whites
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Caster sugar
Icing sugar
Slivered almonds

Puree the raspberries in a liquidiser with 35 g ( 1 One fourth oz) of the sugar,
then pass the mixture through a tamis.

Prepare a macaroon paste by mixing, with a spatula, the rest of the sugar,
the ground powered nuts, the egg whites and lemon rind.

Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 23 mm ( 1/8 in) and line an 18 cm (
7 in) tart tin with a removable base. Prick it all over with the prongs of
a fork (Put it in a refrigerator if you are not going to bake it at once).

Preheat the oven to 220 oC/425 oF.

Lightly sprinkle caster sugar over the uncooked pastry, then spread the
raspberry puree over it in a smooth layer.

Spread the macaroon mixture over the raspberry, smoothing the surface with
the help of a spatula.

Cook the cake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the heat to 180
oC/350 oF after 20 minutes if it is browning too quickly. Take it out and
leave it to cool a little.

Scatter the slivered almonds over the top of the cake while it is still
warm. Sprinkle the cake with icing sugar then put it under hot grill for
just long enough to caramelise the sugar lightly. Take care, as this takes
barely a minute.

Let the cake cool, then take it out of the tin.

(From: Fredy Girardet, Cuisine Spontanee, M Papermac, ISBN 0 333 40957 4)

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini