Easter doesn’t have to be all about chocolate. MasterChef: The Professionals judge Marcus Wareing, former judge Monica Galetti and 2021 Bake Off winner Giuseppe Dell’Anno each share a recipe destined to be an ah-moment
Monica’s walnut & coffee pastry layer cake
Serves 6-8 Hands-on time 40 min, plus cooling Specialist kit Piping bag
MAKE AHEAD
You can make the coffee cream up to a day in advance and keep it in the fridge. The pastry discs can be made and fried a few hours in advance – store them in an airtight container to keep them crisp.
DON’T WASTE IT
Lightly beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and freeze (in smaller portions) in a labelled bag for up to 3 months. Use for meringues, macaroons, cakes and soufflés (see p87).
• 200g caster sugar
• Plain flour to dust
• 320g sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
• 100g unsalted butter
• 140g walnuts, roughly chopped and toasted in a dry pan
• Dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), shaved, to decorate
• 1 tbsp icing sugar to dust (optional)
For the coffee cream
• 400ml whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 15g instant coffee powder
• 8 medium free-range egg yolks
• 100g caster sugar
• 40g cornflour
• 20g plain flour
• 320g unsalted butter, half chilled and cubed, half softened
1 Put the sugar in a wide pan with 200ml water, then bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute to make a syrup. Leave to cool.
2 Dust a large work surface lightly with flour, then unroll the pastry onto it. Roll it as thin and evenly as possible – about 1mm. Cut out large circles around 20cm in diameter (use a plate as a guide) – you should get 6-7 in total. Prick each pastry disc all over with a fork.
3 Heat a spoonful of the butter in a wide frying pan over a low-medium heat and gently fry a pastry disc on both sides until golden and crisp. Set aside on a plate to cool, then repeat with more butter and another disc until they’re all golden and crisp.
4 For the coffee cream, heat the milk with the vanilla and coffee powder in a saucepan. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and both flours together in a bowl. Pour in the hot milk, whisking continuously, then return the mixture to the pan and cook over a low-medium heat, whisking constantly, until very thick (about 5 minutes).
5 Remove the cream from the heat, then whisk in the chilled cubes of butter. Leave to cool to room temperature, then whisk in the softened butter.
6 To assemble, dip a fried pastry disc in the cooled syrup, then put on a serving plate. Top with some coffee cream, then top with another syrup-dipped disc. Continue layering the cake like this until the final pastry disc is on top. Transfer the remaining co
