Soft hazelnut meringue and a whole bunch of buttercream

One of the planet’s premier pastry makers and baking book writers, the Paris-based American David Lebowitz offered, “Yes, marjolaine is a project, but worth it!” He’s writing, of course, about making marjolaine at home. Happily, for folks like me who like the idea of marjolaine but have enough other, not-related-to-pastry projects on our daily dockets, the crew at the Bakehouse has done all the work for us. The only project we need to undertake is to plan a drive over to Plaza Drive this month and purchase as much marjolaine as we want. Single slices work well for an individual dessert or an afternoon pick-me-up; whole tortes are terrific for family gatherings, office parties, or pastry-loving football fans. It also lasts really well!

In mid-September of 1987, the author of A Food Lover’s Guide to France—a book that influenced me enormously back when I was working in the early years of the Deli—Patricia Wells wrote a piece about the party she threw at her Provencal farmhouse for her 40th birthday. The dessert she chose was, as you’ll have guessed, marjolaine: “a marvelous, multilayered chocolate cake that, thank goodness, tastes best when aged for two or three days.”

Writing for Epicurious, Genevieve Yam liberally sings the praises of the magical marjolaine. In a piece entitled, “This Classic French Cake Tastes Like the World’s Best Candy Bar,” Yam writes:

The majestic marjolaine—beloved by chefs all over … ask any chef who is well-versed in classical French cuisine and it’s likely they’ll start going on and on about how delicious this layered dessert is. The marjolaine … was created by celebrated French chef Fernand Point. During its heyday in the 1930s, Point’s restaurant La Pyramide, located in Vienne, France, was a culinary temple for many—including famed chefs Paul Bocuse and the Troisgros brothers.

Thomas Keller, of French Laundry fame, says the marjolaine torte is “a cross between a cake and a meringue, one that’s creamy, with a slight crunch, both chewy and cakelike, fully flavored … All those components in one bite.” Co-managing partner at the Bakehouse (and co-author of the widely acclaimed Celebrate Every Day) shares that it’s one of her long-time favorites.

Here at the Bakehouse, we make our Marjolaine Torte by alternating layers of a lovely soft, hazelnut meringue with a rich chocolate Swiss buttercream. The cake is iced with espresso-scented Swiss buttercream and then covered on the sides with a whole bunch of chopped toasted hazelnuts. It really is a uniquely magical combination of flavors and textures!

The Marjolaine Torte is terrific as is. Be sure to let it come to room temperature so that you can access its fine full complex flavors. If you want to gild the marjolaine’s magical chocolate-hazelnut-meringue marvelousness, consider putting a smear of the lovely Noccioliva Italian artisan hazelnut chocolate spread on the plate—we have jars of it for sale at the Coffee Company, Deli, and Roadhouse! Or try it with some of the Georgia Grinders Hazelnut Butter smeared across the plate and put the torte on top!

Preorder one for pick up