Name: Pain de Gène
Yield: Makes two 30 x 40 cm (12 x 16 inch) baking trays (sheets)
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 52 g (1¾ oz/¼ cup) caster (superfine) sugar; 90 g (3 oz) egg whites (about 3 eggs); 60 g (2 oz) egg yolks (about 3 eggs); 60 g (2 oz/scant ½ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour sifted; 112 g (4 oz/1 cup) ground almonds; 75 g (2¾ oz/¾ stick) unsalted butter; 112 g (4 oz/¼ cup) icing (powdered) sugar; 75 g (2¼ oz) whole eggs

Preparation info

Makes
two
30 x 40 cm baking trays (sheets)

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Patisserie

By William Curley and Suzue Curley

Published 2014

About

The Split-mix method is where a batter is made with eggs and generally ground nuts, then aerated by beating separately. Egg whites are whisked to a full meringue, then the meringue is folded into the batter.

Pain de Gène or Genoa cake is named after the Italian port town of Genoa. In 1800 the town lay siege to a French marshal and the people of the city were starving, their only food being rice and almonds. During the siege they consumed more than 50 tonnes of almonds. Pain de Gène