Popular all over Austria, "cardinal slices" get their name at least partially from their appearance encompassing the colors of the Catholic church -- gold, red, and white.
I'm essentially copying a recipe found on the Vienna Now♦Forever website, but am re-writing it here with a couple of slight adjustments that I made. I'm also taking this opportunity to show how I like to color-code ingredients for efficiency and clarity, which was particularly helpful to me with this recipe because it's a confusing one. (It also means I get to put rainbows - or at least partial ones - in my blog. 😃)
In my opinion, this is one of those things they'd use on The Great British Bake Off as a technical challenge, because it's pretty complicated and a bit hard to follow if you don't already know what you're aiming for. So, for clarity, I will say right up front that you are basically making a sweet, footlong sandwich filled with cream and raspberries. The "bread" of this sandwich is made of stripes of two different whipped mixtures (one like meringue, one like cake) that get baked together. The whole thing gets cut up into individual servings after full assembly -- like one of those huge submarine sandwiches people order for Super Bowl parties. Here's the final product:
That said, I gathered up my INGREDIENTS as follows (each color represents things you can put together in one container/bowl, and things in the white section should each be kept separate by themselves) --
INSTRUCTIONS --
- Beat the Meringue Mixture ingredients until thick and stiff (Note: I wouldn't recommend doing this by hand unless you're looking for a real good workout -- it took at least 5 minutes using my handheld electric mixer with the whisk attachments). Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large, round nozzle (or you can use a zip-top plastic bag with one corner snipped off).
- Beat the Cake Batter ingredients until fluffy (same as above, I wouldn't recommend doing this by hand -- I beat mine for 2 minutes using my handheld electric mixer with the whisk attachments). Add in the 100 grams of All-Purpose Flour and beat again until it's mixed well and thicker (this took about a minute with the electric mixer). Transfer it to another piping bag fitted with a large, round nozzle (or, again, you can use a zip-top plastic bag with one corner snipped off).
- Preheat your oven to 355°F (180°C).
- Cut two strips of baking paper to lay side-by-side on and cover your baking tray. On each piece of baking paper squeeze out 3 lines of the Meringue Mixture, about 2 centimeters apart. In between those, squeeze 2 lines of the the Cake Batter. Dust it all generously with Powdered Sugar.
It will look like this (before and after the dusting of Powdered Sugar). - Pop the tray into the oven and bake with the door slightly open -- just stick a wooden spoon in there -- for about 20 minutes (or until the Cake Batter is cooked, the Meringue Mixture has firmed and dried). Everything should have baked into one another, as well, forming two long pieces of striped "bread." Allow them to cool, then gently turn them upside down and remove the baking paper.
- While the "bread" is cooling, marinate the Raspberries in the Brandy.
- Whip the Heavy Cream with the Instant Espresso Powder until stiff (you are now making the Creamy Filling).
- Heat up the Advocaat and stir in the Powdered Gelatin until it dissolves. Mix this into the Creamy Filling along with the 40 grams of Powdered Sugar and the pinch of Salt. Allow it all to set in a cool place (I put it in the fridge for a while).
- Gently spread half of the Creamy Filling in an even layer onto one of the upside down pieces of "bread" (you're applying the filling to the flat side). Place the marinated Raspberries (relatively evenly spaced around) on top of this cream, and then gently spread the other half of the Creamy Filling onto the flat side of the other piece of "bread." Flip it onto the Raspberries-dotted other half of the to complete your "sandwich."
- Sprinkle the whole thing with more Powdered Sugar and the Almonds, then slice into portion-sized pieces.
This is a light and delicious dessert, and tasted a lot like Tiramisu to me. I do wish the particular flavors of Lemon in the cake, the Raspberry Brandy, and Advocaat came through more, though. I also felt that the Cake Batter was too runny (but it did work out just fine because it nestles between the Meringue rows -- so maybe it was just as it was supposed to be). Were I to make this again, I think I might increase the amount of flour a bit to thicken the Cake Batter, as well as add additional lemon zest to it. I would also increase the amount of Advocaat - both for flavor and because it just didn't seem like enough liquid to dissolve the amount of Gelatin I was adding to it. Still, it's all very yummy and I am in no way complaining. I would be happy to pay for this in a restaurant and would be quite satisfied by it.
This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)
“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain
“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain
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