Saint Honoré inspired birthday cake

Inspired by the classic Saint Honoré cake, I made a wonderful, lightish cake for my mum's birthday!

Sponge is my basic recipe with oat flour, eggs and no sugar (bit of honey to replace it).

Filling is the classy Chantilly cream, made by mixing custard and whipped cream.

Bignè on top to complete a simple but sophisticated decoration.

Sponge cake

The secret for a fluffy cake is to beat the eggs till pale and full of air: there is no raising agent, keeping this air is essential for a proper spongy results.

Adding the flour must be a gentle yet quick step: add it in 2-3 steps with a spatula with circular bottom-up movements: you need to keep the air inside the dough

Custard and Chantilly cream

Once the custard is done immediately cover with cling film to avoid the creation of a thick layer on top.

Once cool, whipped the cream and gently fold with a spatula. Better to let it rest for 30 minutes before using it.

The right proportion for the Chantilly cream is custard double than cream.

Bigné

20 ml water

75 gr flour sifted

60 gr butter

2 eggs

Pinch salt

Bring to boil the water with salt and butter. Add the flour and mix.

Keep cooking until the mix won’t stick anymore to the pan. Let cool it a bit and add 1 egg at the time. Transfer the dough in a pastry bag and shape the bignè. Fan oven 180°C around 25-30 minutes.

Once cool, fill the bignè with the Chantilly cream using a pastry bag.

Building the cake

I did this step two days in advanced: all flavours will set at their best!