Andorra

ANDORRA: Brac de Gitano

We don’t know anybody from Andorra, though I did spend a chilly night on a snowy Andorran mountain (Pyrenees) in my bivouac. When I asked for recipes, all friends who’d been there said “Wine”. Apparently Andorrans drink more wine per capital than any other country in the world…

Ingredients:

For the cake:

4 whole eggs , separated
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
pinch salt
1 oz butter
1 tsp almond extract

For the filling:

1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup apricot jam (peach may be substituted)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup slivered almonds

Instructions:

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and cover a 9×13 sheet pan with parchment paper. (A sheet pan looks like a cookie sheet with 1/2 inch high sides)

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks with sugar until pale yellow. Add flour, salt, butter, and almond extract.

Add egg whites to a medium bowl, beat until stiff.
Add 1/3 of the egg whites to the yolk mixture. Sir gently until just combined. Fold in remaining egg whites.

Pour into pan and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool slightly. Remove cake from pan and place on a sugared dish towel or saran wrap. Roll up into a tube. Let cool to room temperature.

For the filling:

Bring jam to room temperature. In a medium bowl, whip cream to soft peaks. Stir 1/3 whipped cream into 5 tbsp jam. Fold in remaining cream until just combined.

Unroll the cake. Spread with 1/2 cup jam and then whipped filling. Reroll. Refrigerate for 1-4 hours.
Sprinkle with sugar and cocoa. Slice into rounds.