Cardinal Slices (Kardinalschnitten)

The recipe for this Viennese dessert is adopted from A Baker's Tour by Nick Malgieri.

In this dessert, "the cake layers are made of alternating meringue and ladyfinger batters, and the filling is a luscious coffee-flavored whipped cream".

I have heard about this cake, and seen different versions, but when I read the recipe in this book and saw the picture, I simply fell in love with it. I wanted to make Kardinalschnitten, but it is so elaborate and with my 2 1/2 year old running around and always willing to help in the kitchen, I had to make changes and had to find a shortcut; so I simplified the assembling of the cake and baking of batters, and also added chocolate and egg yolks to the filling.

Now, before I start writing the recipe I'd like to mention that I love this book. Nick Malgieri has lots of wonderful, traditional recipes from all over the world, not only sweet, but savory too.

I intend to make more recipes from A Baker's Tour, so expect to see more:)

Meringue Batter

5 large egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Ladyfinger Batter

2 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

powdered sugar for dusting

Chocolate-Coffee Cream Filling

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar + 2 Tbsp

1/2 Tsp instant coffee

1 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted

2 egg yolks

bittersweet chocolate shavings (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350F.

For the meringue, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar, on medium speed until very soft peaks form. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium-high and whip in the sugar in a slow stream continuing to beat the whites until they hold a soft peak. Pour the meringue into a jelly-roll pan (9x12in) lined with parchment paper. Bake until the meringue is light golden brown.
For the ladyfinger batter, on medium-high speed, beat the egg yolks, eggs, vanilla and sugar until the mixture is very light and thickened. Scrape the batter into the same size pan, also lined with parchment paper. Bake until firm and golden, for about 20 minutes.

For the filling, whip the cream until soft peaks start to form. Gradually add 1/4 cup powdered sugar and beat until firm peaks form, refrigerate. In the mean time, melt the chocolate over the double boiler or microwave (do not burn it). Set aside to cool. In the double boiler beat egg yolks and powdered sugar until thick and creamy, add coffee and chocolate and continue to beat until all ingredients are well incorporated. Set aside to cool. Take the whipped cream from the fridge and carefully fold into the yolk mixture. Stir in chocolate shavings.

To assemble the cake, place the meringue in appropriate dish. Evenly spread cooled filling over the meringue and carefully place ladyfinger layer on the cream. Cut into the slices of desired size and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Note: For the meringue, Malgieri used 7 egg whites, pinch of salt and 1 cup of sugar. I did not change the ladyfinger batter much. The only difference is that he used 1/4 cup sugar. For the cream filling, he used 1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp instant espresso dissolved in 2 tbsp of boiling water and cooled. (I had 2 egg yolks left from the eggs used in meringue batter that I did not want to waste)

The biggest difference was in assembling the cake. Malgieri scraped batters into pastry bags and then piped batters onto pans. He had 3 lines of meringue batter and 2 lines of ladyfinger batter piped one next to each other. (The batters are supposed to be touching (meringue-ladyfinger batter-meringue-ladyfinger batter-meringue) )