French Classics Made Easy (54 page)

Authors: Richard Grausman

BOOK: French Classics Made Easy

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Savarins are baked in special tinned-steel ring molds (below, at right) with a center rim that rises higher than the outer rim, helping the cake to rise straight. Although you can use a regular ring mold (below, left), the savarin may sink in the center.

IN ADDITION

The savarin is a sticky yeast dough that is made in seconds using a food processor, although the dough then must rise for about 30 minutes. To make the preparation of this dessert even easier, I often bake the cake itself the night before I plan to serve it.

VARIATION

K
IRSCH
C
AKE WITH
F
RUIT AND
W
HIPPED
C
REAM

[SAVARIN CHANTILLY AUX FRUITS]

This elegant dessert will serve 18 to 20 because of the additional ingredients. Prepare the savarin as in the preceding recipe, replacing the rum with an equal amount of kirsch. Fill the center of the savarin with 1 cup whipped cream. Place 1 pint of strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries around the outside and in the center of the ring, on top of the cream.

ALMOND MERINGUE LAYER CAKE
WITH COFFEE AND CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

[GÂTEAU AUX FONDS À SUCCÈS]

There are a number of cakes in France made with layers of baked meringue, or meringue and ground nuts, that are filled and frosted with buttercream. If the meringue is made with almonds, the layers are called
fonds à succès.
Layers made with almond-hazelnut meringue are
fonds de progrès.
(Another variation can be made with
pecans.) The layers are light, sometimes chewy, and have a wonderful roasted-nut flavor.

One of the nicest features of this cake—apart from its luscious taste and wonderful combination of creamy and chewy textures—is that it can be made well ahead of time and in stages. The layers can be kept wrapped airtight in plastic for a week or more. The completed cake keeps for several days in the refrigerator and also freezes well.

SERVES 12 TO 14

Butter and all-purpose flour, for baking sheets (optional)

1¼ cups (150g) slivered almonds, untoasted, plus ½ cup (60g) slivered almonds, chopped and toasted

3 tablespoons plus ½ cup (150g) sugar

2 tablespoons (20g) cornstarch or all-purpose flour

6 egg whites

Coffee Buttercream (
page 351
), for an 8-inch cake (see Note)

Chocolate Buttercream (
page 351
), for an 8-inch cake (see Note)

1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F with the oven rack in the middle position. Use two or more baking sheets and prepare them by lightly coating with butter and flour or lining with parchment paper.

2.
Cut a piece of cardboard into a 10 x 3½-inch rectangle to serve as the pattern for the layers. Mark the outline of the pattern six times on the baking sheets with a pencil or toothpick. Leave ½ to ¾ inch of space between each.

3.
In a food processor, grind the 1¼ cups untoasted slivered almonds, the 3 tablespoons sugar, and the cornstarch to a powder.

4.
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Add the ½ cup sugar and beat until very stiff, about 2 minutes. Fold in the almond powder until smooth.

5.
Using a pastry bag fitted with a ⅜-inch (#4) plain tube, squeeze the nut-meringue mixture out to completely fill in the outlined rectangles.

6.
Bake one sheet at a time until evenly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. (Although you can bake two sheets at one time if you change their positions after 8 to 10 minutes, you will get better results if you bake only one at a time.)

7.
Slide a long metal spatula under the layers to remove them while hot and place them on a flat surface. The layers, which will initially be soft, stiffen quickly. While the layers are soft, place the cardboard pattern on top of each layer, and trim the edges square with a serrated knife. Let the layers cool.

8.
Assemble the cake by coating the top of five layers with a thin (about ⅛ inch) layer of coffee buttercream. Place one layer on a flat surface, place the other coated layers on top. Top with the uncoated layer. Holding the cake in one hand or resting it on a wire rack, coat it all over with the chocolate buttercream.

9.
Scoop the chopped toasted almonds in the palm of your hand and gently press them onto the sides of the cake. Hold the cake over a bowl to catch the excess nuts as they fall. Refrigerate the cake until 15 minutes before serving.

10.
Serve ½-inch-thick slices on individual dessert plates.

P
ASTRY
B
AGS:
An Important Tool for Bakers

Pastry bags and tubes make the forming and filling of pastries quick and easy. The simplest dough to work with is cream-puff pastry (see
page 221
), and once you have mastered the technique you can move on and use pastry bags and tubes to make ladyfingers and meringue-nut layers and to make simple decorations with buttercream and whipped cream. They are often confused with decorating bags and tubes, which are much smaller and are used for more intricate decorations.

Traditional pastry bags are 14 to 16 inches long and are made of light canvas or nylon. More and more, pastry chefs and home cooks are using disposable plastic bags. The simplest pastry tubes have plain or starred tips and come in various sizes. For the recipes in this book, I have used #1, #4, #6, and #9 plain tubes, and #2 and #3 starred tubes.

NOTE

You may have buttercream left over. Freeze the rest for another use; it will keep for months.

IN ADDITION

Nut meringue and buttercream are delicious together, but are very rich. I used to bake this as a round cake and serve very small wedges, just enough to enjoy without too many added calories. But many students complained that the servings looked too small on their plates. My solution to this was to make the layers rectangular instead of round, constructing a loaf-shaped cake whose slices appear satisfyingly large.

VARIATIONS

A
LMOND
M
ERINGUE AND
I
CE
-C
REAM
L
AYER
C
AKE

[SUCCÈ SÀ LA GLACE]

Use softened homemade or store-bought ice cream in place of the buttercream to make an ice-cream cake.

P
ECAN
M
ERINGUE
L
AYER
C
AKE WITH
C
OFFEE AND
C
HOCOLATE
B
UTTERCREAM

[SUCCÈS AUX PACANES]

You can make the meringue layers using an equal amount of pecans in place of the almonds, but process for only 15 to 20 seconds in step 3 or they will become pasty instead of powdery.

CHOCOLATE ROLL
WITH WHIPPED CREAM

[GÂTEAU ROULÉ AU CHOCOLAT]

A chocolate roll is usually made with a chocolate sponge, but I make a light, flourless chocolate roll with my basic chocolate mousse. When baked, chocolate reacts a little like flour, resulting in a cake-like consistency.

I roll the cake to produce a long, relatively thin chocolate roll, and I generally serve 2 to 3 slices per person. If you like thick chocolate rolls, simply roll the cake in the opposite direction.

SERVES 8

Butter, for jelly-roll pan

1½ recipes Chocolate Mousse (
page 275
)

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier (see Note)

Confectioners’ sugar

Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

1.
Preheat the oven to 400°F with the oven rack in the middle position. Butter a 17 x 11 x 1-inch jelly-roll pan well and line it with waxed paper.

2.
Pour the mousse into the prepared jelly-roll pan, spreading it evenly with a spatula. Bake until the cake has begun to come away from the sides of the pan, 10 minutes.

3.
Run a knife around the sides of the pan, making sure that the cake is not sticking. Unmold the cake onto a clean kitchen towel lined with waxed paper. The waxed paper that had lined the pan will be attached to the top surface of the cake. Remove this paper, then replace it loosely on the surface of the cake. Roll the cake up in the towel between the layers of waxed paper and cool. You may roll the cake in whichever direction you prefer to produce either a long, thin cake or a short, thick one.

4.
In a bowl set into a larger bowl of ice and water, whip the cream and orange liqueur until stiff. Add confectioners’ sugar to taste.

5.
Unroll the chocolate roll and remove the top layer of waxed paper (don’t worry if it cracks a little). Coat the roll with half of the whipped cream. Reroll the cake, peeling away the waxed paper as you go. Trim the ends, and lift it onto a serving platter. Coat with the remaining whipped cream and dust the top with cocoa powder. Or use a pastry bag and a starred tip to coat the roll in long strips or bands of whipped cream. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

NOTE

You can flavor the whipped cream with vanilla, unsweetened cocoa powder, instant coffee, or coffee liqueur in place of the orange liqueur.

ALMOND TUILES

[TUILES AUX AMANDES]

Tuiles are without question France’s best cookie. The reputations of many French pastry chefs have been made or broken by the quality of their
tuiles
. These extremely thin, crisp almond cookies, which are formed to resemble the roof tiles (
tuiles
) found in Mediterranean countries, are often served with dessert in the finest restaurants. The memory of an otherwise superb meal can be flawed by poor-quality
tuiles,
and imperfections in a meal can be forgiven if it ends with outstanding ones.

From the small number of ingredients in these cookies, it might seem unlikely that there could be so much variation in taste, texture, and quality. But there is. One teaspoon of butter or one tablespoon of sugar one way or the other and you’ve appreciably altered the
tuiles’
consistency.

After years of tasting and testing, I’ve finally arrived at what I consider to be the perfect proportions for this cookie. If you follow this recipe exactly—I hope using a scale to measure the ingredients—you will have a
tuile
that you could proudly offer to a threestar pastry chef.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is baking time. You must find the baking time that works best for your baking sheet, oven, and thickness of cookies. Use my baking times first, but if they don’t work, try a slightly different time (it may be a matter of only 15 to 30 seconds) and when you find the time that works, make a note of it and use that.

You may not bake perfect
tuiles
at first—although chances are pretty good that you will—but even the mistakes make good eating.

MAKES 20 TO 24