Pine nuts & white chocolate genoise

Genoise is a lovely cake that doesn't use chemical leavening. Its texture can be somewhat slightly drier that other sponge cakes that beat egg whites and yolks separately (genoise requires beating the whole eggs at the same time). But it can be improvised by, like this one, incorporated with butter and nuts. This genoise is so moist and tender that it actually reminds me of butter cake, just more tastier. The cake is already good to eat itself even without any frosting, or simply spread with a very thin layer of cream cheese and top on some seasonal fruit, it's all ready to go on party table.

Starting the fall season, in Barcelona all pastry shops put out many baked goods that are made with pine nuts, that's how I'm inspired to create a pine nut genoise. I prefer pine nuts than walnuts in this recipe since the former its taste is much more delicate and subtle, it makes a good balance with white chocolate.

Recipe of pine nuts & white chocolate genoise

(yield 6 cupcakes)

• 30 g pine nuts, finely chopped
• 100 g white chocolate, chopped
• 70 g plain flour
• 2 medium-small eggs
• a pinch of cream of tartar (adding it is my habit, you can omit it)
• 3 table spoons of white sugar
• 70 g butter with superb flavor, melted

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C
2. Slowely melt the white chocolate over the double-boiler, then combine with the melted butter, set it aside
3. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and ground pine nuts
4. In another mixing bowl, beat the eggs, cream of tartar, sugar and a pinch of salt until the mixture looks pale and creamy, almost triple of its volumn.
5. Combine the flour mixture and chocolate mixture well, then gently fold in the egg mixture. Pour the batter into paper cups, bake them in 200C hot oven for 10 minutes, then lower to 175C and continue to bake until they turn slightly golden, for me it would be another 7 minutes, test the doneness by inserting a toothpick into the cakes, if the toothpick comes out almost clean, the cakes are done than.
6. Cool the cake on a rack completely before proceed to frosting if desire.

To make the cream cheese frosting: Beat a few spoonfuls of cream cheese, room temperature, plus a few dashes of tangerine orange juice, the zest of the fruit, and spoonfuls of power sugar until they all well combine.

note: the genoise keeps well for 2 days only.

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