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!
A bit of Marjolaine Torte background
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.
Marjolaine Torte at the Bakehouse
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!
In 1982, Ari Weinzweig, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, 4 years of experience washing dishes, cooking and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. They opened the doors with 2 employees and a small selection of specialty foods and exceptional sandwiches.
Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses with over 750 employees and over $55 million in annual revenue. Aside from the Delicatessen, these businesses include Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Coffee Company, Creamery, Roadhouse, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Candy Manufactory, Cornman Farms and a Korean restaurant that is scheduled to open in 2016. No two businesses in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses are alike but they all share the same Vision and Guiding Principles and deliver “The Zingerman’s Experience” with passion and commitment.
Besides being the Co-Founding Partner and being actively engaged in some aspect of the day-to-day operations and governance of nearly every business in the Zingerman’s Community, Ari Weinzweig is also a prolific writer. His most recent publications are the first 4 of his 6 book series Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading Series: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business (Part 1), Being a Better Leader (Part 2), Managing Ourselves (Part 3) and the newly-released Part 4, The Power of Beliefs in Business. Earlier books include the Zingerman’s Guides to Giving Great Service, Better Bacon, Good Eating, Good Olive Oil, Good Vinegar and Good Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Ari regularly travels across the country (and world) on behalf of ZingTrain, teaching organizations and businesses about Zingerman’s approach to business. He is a sought-after Keynote speaker, having delivered keynotes for Inc. 500, Microsoft Expo Spring Conference, Great Game of Business Gathering of Games, Positive Business Conference at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the American Cheese Society. Most recently, Ari and Paul Saginaw were invited to address an audience of 50,000 for the University of Michigan 2015 Spring Commencement.
One of Zingerman’s Guiding Principles is being an active part of the community and in 1988, Zingerman’s was instrumental in the founding of Food Gatherers, a food rescue program that delivers over 5 million pounds of food each year to the hungry residents of Washtenaw county. Every year Zingerman’s donates 10% of its previous years profits to local community organizations and non-profits. Ari has served on the board of The Ark, the longest continuously operating folk music venue in America.
Over the decades, the Zingerman’s founding partners have consistently been the recipients of public recognition from a variety of diverse organizations. In April 1995, Ari and Paul were awarded the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County’s first Humanitarian Award. In 2006, Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the James Beard Foundation. In 2007, Ari and Paul were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bon Appetit magazine for their work in the food industry. Ari was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Cheese Society in 2014. And Ari’s book, Building a Great Business was on Inc. magazine’s list of Best Books for Business Leaders.
Notwithstanding the awards, being engaged on a daily basis in the work of 10 businesses and 21 partners, writing books on business and in-depth articles on food for the Zingerman’s newsletter, Ari finds time to be a voracious reader. He acquires and reads more books than he can find room for. Ari might soon find himself the owner of the largest collection of Anarchist books in Ann Arbor outside the Labadie collection at the University of Michigan library!
