Bee Sting Cake (w/ J.N.) // Nick Malgieri, Perfect Cakes

A brioche-cake base with cream filling and a candied almond topping. J.N.'s been wanting to make this for a while, but the brioche, as a yeasted product, made him nervous (past yeasts have failed him). We collaborated and produced a rich dessert.

Ingredients:
Sage blossom honey
T.J.'s AP Flour
Superfine sugar

Preparation: We started by making the sweet brioche, which is pressed into the bottom of the springform and pricked with a fork. Then we made the almond candy topping, which cools briefly before being added to the risen cake and baked, and the cream filling, which must chill in the fridge. Each step is relatively simple, but as there are three components, it is a time-consuming process.

We found that the candy layer had become quite stiff by the time we needed to spread it on the cake -- it was almost stiff enough to roll out, but we coaxed and poked it. Probably the candy wasn't supposed to be this hard; we heated it at such a low temperature that it didn't want to boil for a long time. When the cake came out of the oven, the denser sections of candy had sunk quite deeply into the cake (more of a cosmetic issue than anything).

Assembly: J.N. cut the cooled cake with a serrated knife, spread on the chilled cream, and added the top layer, which had been sliced into eight wedges.

Results: The source of the "bee sting" label is obvious, as the almond candy layer has a pronounced and very delicious honey flavor.This is quite a rich coffee cake and makes a great breakfast treat.