Melt the plum jam in the skillet with the rum. Delicately fold into the apples, and smooth the apples in the dish.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
4 Tb butter
½ cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1 Tb all-purpose flour
½ tsp cinnamon
1 cup fresh whole wheat or rye bread crumbs
Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, then the flour and cinnamon, and finally the bread crumbs.
2 egg whites
Pinch of salt
½ Tb granulated sugar
Beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Fold the egg whites into the bread-crumb mixture and spread evenly over the apples.
Powdered sugar in a shaker
Bake in middle level of preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until top has puffed slightly and has just begun to color. Sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar and continue baking another 20 to 25 minutes; the top should be a nice golden brown under the sugar.
Allow to cool, then chill, preferably for 24 hours.
Because the apples for this simple dessert are boiled in a heavy sugar syrup, they jell when chilled and can be unmolded on a serving dish. It makes a pretty effect with its decoration of glacéed fruits. Once made, the aspic may be kept molded or unmolded under refrigeration for at least 10 days.
For 6 to 8 people
3 lbs. cooking apples
Quarter, core, and peel the apples. Cut into lengthwise slices ⅜ inch thick. You should have about 8 cups.
A heavy 12-inch enameled skillet
¾ cup water
3 cups sugar
1 Tb lemon juice
Bring water, sugar, and lemon juice to the boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Add the apples and boil over moderately high heat, stirring frequently to keep them from sticking and burning, for about 20 minutes. They should become an almost transparent mass.
A 1-quart cylindrical mold
1 tsp tasteless salad oil
A round of waxed paper
While the apples are cooking, rub inside of mold with oil; oil the waxed paper and set in the bottom of the mold.
4 ounces (about ¾ cup) glacéed fruits, such as red and green cherries, angelica, orange peel
Make a decorative design in the bottom of the mold with half the fruit. Dice the rest and add it to boil with the apples for 2 to 3 minutes at the end of the cooking.
3 Tb dark rum
When apples are done, remove from heat and stir in the rum. Spoon into the mold and chill for 4 to 6 hours, or until set. Serve as follows:
Surround the mold with a hot towel for 10 to 15 seconds. Run a knife around edge of mold, and reverse the aspic onto a chilled serving dish. Surround with the sauce and serve.
For 6 people
6 unblemished Golden Delicious apples
A mixing bowl containing 2 quarts water and 2 Tb lemon juice
One by one, peel and core the apples, and drop into the acidulated water.
A covered fireproof baking dish just large enough to hold the apples easily in one layer
4 Tb butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth
½ cup water
2 Tb cognac
A round of buttered waxed paper
Smear inside of baking dish with half the butter. Drain the apples and place them upright in the dish. Sprinkle with sugar and place a teaspoon of butter in the center of each apple. Pour the wine, water, and cognac around the apples. Lay the round of buttered paper on top. Bring just to the simmer on top of the stove. Cover and bake in lower third of preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes; it is important that you maintain the liquid at the merest simmer to prevent the apples from bursting. When a knife pierces them easily, they are done. Be careful not to overcook them.
2 or 3 brightly colored oranges
A vegetable peeler
While apples are cooking, remove the orange part of the skin with vegetable peeler. Cut into strips 2 inches long and ⅛ inch wide. Simmer 10 to 12 minutes in water until tender. Drain, rinse in cold water, and dry.
Also while the apples are baking, prepare the canapés, and arrange on serving dish. When apples are done, place a drained apple on each canapé.
Beat the jelly into the apple cooking liquid and boil down quickly over high heat until thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. Stir in the cognac and the cooked orange peel, and simmer a moment. Spoon the sauce and orange peel over the apples.
1½ to 2 cups heavy cream or crème anglaise (custard sauce)
Serve them hot, warm, or cold, and pass the cream or sauce separately.
This recipe calls for whole, peeled oranges, placed in a bowl, then glazed with syrup and decorated with glazed orange peel. If you prefer sliced oranges, allow one to a serving, slice them crosswise, re-form the oranges horizontally in the serving dish, and glaze them.
For 6 people
6 large, brightly colored navel oranges
A vegetable peeler
Remove the orange part of the skins with a vegetable peeler and cut into strips ⅛ inch wide and 2 inches long. Simmer in water for 10 to 12 minutes or until tender. Drain, rinse in cold water, and dry on paper towels.
A serving dish 2 inches deep
Cut the white part of the peel neatly off the oranges to expose their flesh. Cut a bit off one end of each, so it will stand up. Arrange oranges in the serving dish, with the flattened ends on the bottom.
2 cups granulated sugar
⅔ cup water
A small saucepan
Optional: a candy thermometer Optional: green-colored glacéed fruit cut into leaf shapes
Boil the sugar and water in the saucepan to the firm ball stage (244 degrees). Immediately drop the blanched orange peel into the syrup and boil a moment or two until syrup has thickened again. Spoon peel and syrup over oranges and chill until serving time.
[Compote of Fresh Peaches with Raspberry Purée—a cold dessert]
This is an especially nice dessert when both peaches and raspberries are in season. Though the taste is not quite as good, you can substitute fresh apricots or pears for the peaches, or use canned fruit. Frozen raspberries do not make as thick a sauce as fresh ones, but are good anyway.
For 10 people
6 cups water
2¼ cups granulated sugar
2 Tb vanilla extract or a vanilla bean
A 12-inch saucepan
Simmer the water, sugar, and vanilla extract or bean in the saucepan and stir until sugar has dissolved.
10 firm, ripe, unblemished, fresh peaches about 2½ inches in diameter
A slotted spoon
A cake rack
A serving dish 2 inches deep
Add the unpeeled peaches to the simmering syrup. Bring again to the simmer, then maintain at just below the simmer for 8 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let peaches cool in syrup for 20 minutes. (Syrup may be used again for poaching other fruits.) Drain peaches on rack; peel while still warm, and arrange in serving dish. Chill.
1 quart fresh raspberries, and 1½ cups granulated sugar
OR, 1½ lbs. frozen raspberries, thawed and well drained, and ⅔ cup sugar
An electric blender (or electric beater)
Force the raspberries through a sieve and place the purée in the jar of an electric blender along with the sugar. Cover and blend at top speed for 2 to 3 minutes, or until purée is thick and sugar has dissolved completely. Chill. (Or beat purée and sugar for about 10 minutes with an electric beater.)
Optional: fresh mint leaves
When both purée and peaches are chilled, pour the purée over the peaches and return to refrigerator until serving time. Decorate with optional fresh mint leaves.
For 6 people
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2 lbs. fresh ripe pears or drained canned pears
A baking dish about 2 inches high and 8 inches in diameter, smeared with 2 Tb butter
Peel, quarter, and core the pears. Cut into lengthwise slices about ⅜ inch thick. Arrange in overlapping layers in the baking dish.
4 Tb dry white wine or dry white vermouth, or canned pear juice
¼ cup apricot preserves, forced through a sieve
Beat the wine or pear juice and apricot preserves together and pour over the pears.
Sprinkle on the macaroons and distribute the butter over them.
Bake in middle portion of preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until top has browned lightly. Serve hot, warm, or cold.
For 6 to 8 people
2½ cups drained, canned, crushed pineapple, and 1⅔ cups syrup from the pineapple (or about 30 ounces: a No. 2½ and a No. 1 can)
A 6-to 8-cup saucepan
Boil the pineapple syrup for 5 minutes in the saucepan. Add the pineapple, bring again to the boil, and boil slowly 5 minutes more.
Beat flour and lemon juice in the mixing bowl until blended, then beat in the kirsch or cognac, and the eggs. Gradually beat in the hot pineapple mixture in a thin stream of droplets.
Pour the pineapple custard into the caramel-lined mold, and set mold in a deep saucepan. Pour boiling water around the outside of the mold to come up to the level of the custard. Bring to the simmer on top of the stove, and maintain water barely at the simmer, always on top of the stove, for 1¼ to 1½ hours. Custard is done when it begins to shrink from the sides of the mold. A little circle in the center of the custard will remain creamy.
Remove mold from water, let cool, then chill for 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
Reverse on a serving platter. Simmer kirsch or cognac in mold to dissolve remaining caramel. Strain it into the chilled crème anglaise, and pour the sauce around the custard.
French dessert tarts, like French entrée tarts and quiches, are open faced and stand supported only by their pastry shells. They should be beautiful to look at, especially the fruit tarts which lend themselves to glittering arrangements of rosettes and overlapping circles.
THE PASTRY
The pastry for dessert tart shells is molded and baked in a flan ring or a false-bottomed cake pan so that the shell may be unmolded. You may use either sweet short paste, which is ordinary short paste with sugar added, or pâte sablée, sugar crust, which, besides flour and butter, contains eggs and usually more sugar. We give proportions for both here, and refer you to the illustrated directions in the Entrée chapter for their molding and baking.
Be sure to read the illustrated directions on how to measure flour. All our recipes are based on this method; other measuring systems can give different results. The small proportion of vegetable shortening included with the butter in each pastry recipe gives a less brittle crust when you are using all-purpose flour. If you have pastry flour or French flour, you may use all butter, increasing it by the amount indicated for vegetable shortening.
[Sweet Short Paste]
Sweet short paste is made exactly like regular short paste except that sugar is mixed into the flour before you begin.
AMOUNTS NEEDED
For an 8- to 9-inch shell, proportions for 1½ cups flour
For a 10- to 11-inch shell, proportions for 2 cups flour
Proportions for 1 cup flour
⅔ cup flour (scooped and leveled)
A mixing bowl
1 Tb granulated sugar
⅛ tsp salt
5½ Tb fat: 4 Tb chilled butter and 1½ Tb chilled vegetable shortening
2½ to 3 Tb cold water
Place the flour in the bowl, mix in the sugar and salt, then proceed to make the dough and mold the shell either by hand or in the food processor as described.
[Sugar Crust]
Sugar crusts are particularly good with fresh fruit tarts, like the strawberry tart. They are more delicate than sweet short paste shells because of their eggs and additional sugar. The more sugar you mix in, the more difficult it is to roll and mold the pastry because it is sticky and breaks easily; the larger proportion of sugar, however, makes a delicious crust, actually a cooky dough.
By hand or by food processor. The following directions are for making the pastry by hand. Food processor directions are the same as for regular short paste dough.
For a 9- to 10-inch shell
1⅓ cups flour (scooped and leveled)
3 to 7 Tb granulated sugar (see remarks in preceding paragraph)
⅛ tsp double-action baking powder
7 Tb fat: 5 Tb chilled butter and 2 Tb chilled vegetable shortening
A 3-quart mixing bowl
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water
½ tsp vanilla extract
A pastry board
Waxed paper
Place the flour, sugar, butter, vegetable shortening, and baking powder in the mixing bowl. Rub the fat and dry ingredients together rapidly with the tips of your fingers until the fat is broken into bits the size of small oatmeal flakes. Blend in the egg and vanilla, and knead the dough rapidly into a ball. Place on a pastry board and with the heel of your hand, not the palm, rapidly press the pastry by two-spoonful bits down on the board and away from you in a firm, quick smear of about 6 inches. (This final blending of fat and flour is illustrated.) The dough will be quite sticky if you have used the full amount of sugar. Form again into a ball, wrap in waxed paper, and chill for several hours until firm.
Mold the pastry in a flan ring or false-bottomed cake pan as described and illustrated. Work rapidly if you have used the full amount of sugar, as the dough softens quickly.
Sweet short paste shells, made from the formula in the first of the two preceding recipes, are baked exactly like regular short paste shells, directions for which are on this page. You will note in these directions that shells may be fully or partially baked. Partial baking is for shells which are filled and baked again; this preliminary cooking sets the dough, and is a safeguard against soggy bottom crusts. A fully baked shell may be used for fresh fruit tarts, and and is an alternative to the sugar crust shell.
Sugar crusts are usually fully baked, and must be watched while in the oven as they burn easily if the full sugar proportions have been used. Because the dough is collapsible until it has firmed in the oven, it is essential that the dough be held in place against the sides of the mold by a lining of foil and beans or a bean-filled mold, as illustrated in the directions for molding.
Bake the sugar crust shell in the middle level of a preheated, 375-degree oven for 5 to 6 minutes until the dough is set. Then remove the lining, prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork in several places, and bake for 8 to 10 minutes more. The shell is done when it has shrunk slightly from the mold and begins to brown very lightly. Immediately remove the mold from the shell and slip the shell onto a rack. It will become crusty as it cools.
Leftover dough, securely wrapped, will keep for several days in the refrigerator or may be frozen. Or use it for sugar cookies in the following recipe:
[Sugar Cookies]
Leftovers from either or both of the 2 preceding pastries
A 1¼ inch cooky cutter
Granulated sugar
A baking sheet
Optional: cinnamon
1 egg beaten in a small bowl with 1 tsp water
A pastry brush
A cake rack
Roll out the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch, and cut into rounds 1¼ inches in diameter. Spread a ¼-inch layer of granulated sugar on your pastry board, lay a round of dough over it, and heap sugar on top. Roll the round into a sugar-coated oval about 2½ inches long and place on the ungreased baking sheet. When all the cookies have been formed, sprinkle them with cinnamon if you wish. Paint tops with beaten egg. Bake in middle level of a preheated, 375-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a rack.
The classic French apple tart consists of a thick, well-flavored applesauce spread in a partially cooked pastry shell. Over it thinly sliced apples are placed in an overlapping design of circles. After baking, it is coated with apricot glaze.
Apple Tart
For 8 people
Use the sweet short paste for your pastry shell.
4 lbs. firm cooking apples (Golden Delicious)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tb granulated sugar
A 2-quart mixing bowl
Quarter, core, and peel the apples. Cut enough to make 3 cups into even ⅛-inch lengthwise slices and toss them in a bowl with the lemon juice and sugar. Reserve them for the top of the tart.
A 10-inch heavy-bottomed pan: enameled saucepan, skillet, or casserole
A wooden spoon
⅓ cup apricot preserves, forced through a sieve
¼ cup Calvados (apple brandy), rum, or cognac; or 1 Tb vanilla extract
⅔ cup granulated sugar
3 Tb butter
Optional: ½ tsp cinnamon, and/or the grated rind of 1 lemon or orange
Cut the rest of the apples into rough slices. You should have about 8 cups. Place in the pan and cook, covered, over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Then beat in the ingredients at the left. Raise heat and boil, stirring, until applesauce is thick enough to hold in a mass in the spoon.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spread the applesauce in the pastry shell. Cover with a neat, closely overlapping layer of sliced apples arranged in a spiral, concentric circles, or as illustrated at the beginning of this recipe.
Bake in upper third of preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the sliced apples have browned lightly and are tender. Slide tart onto the rack or serving dish and spoon or paint over it a light coating of apricot glaze. Serve warm or cold, and pass with it, if you wish, a bowl of cream.
TARTE NORMANDE AUX POMMESWhile this creamy apple tart may be eaten cold, it is at its best when hot or warm. It can be reheated.
For 6 people
Use the sweet short paste for the pastry shell. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1 lb. firm cooking apples (Golden Delicious)
⅓ cup granulated sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
Quarter, core, and peel the apples. Cut into ⅛-inch lengthwise slices. You should have about 3 cups. Toss them in a bowl with the sugar and cinnamon, then arrange them in the pastry shell. Bake in upper third of preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until they start to color and are almost tender. Remove from oven and let cool while preparing the custard.
1 egg
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup sifted flour
½ cup whipping cream
3 Tb Calvados (apple brandy) or cognac
Beat the egg and sugar together in a mixing bowl until mixture is thick, pale yellow, and falls back on itself forming a slowly dissolving ribbon. Beat in the flour, then the cream, and finally the brandy. Pour the mixture over the apples. It should come almost to the top of the pastry shell.
Powdered sugar in a shaker
Return to oven for 10 minutes, or until cream begins to puff. Sprinkle heavily with powdered sugar and return to oven for 15 to 20 minutes more. Tart is done when top has browned and a needle or knife plunged into the custard comes out clean.
A cake rack or serving dish
Slide tart onto a rack or serving dish, and keep warm until ready to serve.
Using the same method and proportions, substitute sliced pears for the apples.
[Upside-down Apple Tart—hot or cold]
This is an especially good tart if your apples are full of flavor. It is cooked in a baking dish with the pastry on top of the apples. When done, it is reversed onto a serving dish and presents a lovely mass of caramelized apples.
For 8 people
4 lbs. firm cooking apples (Golden Delicious)
⅓ cup granulated sugar
Optional: 1 tsp cinnamon
Quarter, core, and peel the apples. Cut into lengthwise slices ⅛ inch thick. Toss in a bowl with the sugar and optional cinnamon. You should have about 10 cups of apples.
2 Tb softened butter
A baking dish 9 to 10 inches in diameter and 2 to 2½ inches deep (pyrex is practical, as you can see when the tart is done)
½ cup granulated sugar
6 Tb melted butter
Butter the baking dish heavily especially on the bottom. Sprinkle half the sugar in the bottom of the dish and arrange a third of the apples over it. Sprinkle with a third of the melted butter. Repeat with a layer of half the remaining apples and butter, then a final layer of apples and butter. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar over the apples.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Chilled sweet short paste (proportions for 1 cup of flour)
Roll out the pastry to a thickness of ⅛ inch. Cut it into a circle the size of the top of the baking dish. Place it over the apples, allowing its edges to fall against the inside edge of the dish. Cut 4 or 5 holes about ⅛ inch long in the top of the pastry to allow cooking steam to escape.
Aluminum foil, if needed
Bake in lower third of preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes. If pastry begins to brown too much, cover lightly with aluminum foil. Tart is done when you tilt the dish and see that a thick brown syrup rather than a light liquid exudes from the apples between the crust and the edge of the dish.
A fireproof serving dish
Powdered sugar, if needed
Immediately unmold the tart onto serving dish. If the apples are not a light caramel brown, which is often the case, sprinkle rather heavily with powdered sugar and run under a moderately hot broiler for several minutes to caramelize the surface lightly.
Keep warm until serving time, and accompany with a bowl of cream. (May also be served cold, but we prefer it warm.)
TARTE AUX ABRICOTSFor 6 people
For the shell use the sweet short paste.
8 to 10 fresh apricots or 3 or 4 freestone peaches
Boiling water
Drop the fruit in boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds. Peel, halve, and remove pits. Slice the fruit if you wish.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
⅔ cup granulated sugar
2 Tb butter cut into pea-sized dots
Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of sugar in the bottom of the pastry shell. If the fruit is sliced, arrange it over the sugar in a closely overlapping layer of concentric circles. If it is halved, place the halves, domed side up, closely together in the shell. Spread on the rest of the sugar. Dot with the butter.
Bake in middle level of preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until fruit has colored lightly and the juices have become syrupy.
Slip the tart onto a rack. Decorate with the slivered almonds, and spread on the apricot glaze.
Serve warm or cold.
Use the same system with plums, pears, or canned fruit. A nice combination is slices of canned apricots alternating with slices of banana.
Tartes Flambées Any of these tarts may be flamed with liqueurs as they are brought to the table, as described in the recipe for cherry tart.
TARTE AUX FRAISESFresh fruit tarts are easy to make, pretty to look at, and refreshing to eat. They consist of a fully baked tart shell which is lined with liqueur-flavored crème pâtissière (custard filling). The fresh fruit is arranged over the filling and topped with apricot or red currant glaze. Other suggestions follow this recipe.
For 8 people
Use either the sweet short paste, or the sugar crust for your tart shell.
1 quart large, ripe, handsome strawberries
A cake rack
Hull the strawberries. If necessary to wash them, do so very quickly, and drain them on a rack.
1 cup red currant jelly
2 Tb granulated sugar
2 Tb kirsch or cognac
Optional: a candy thermometer A pastry brush
Boil the currant jelly, sugar, and liqueur in a small saucepan until last drops from spoon are sticky (228 degrees). Paint the interior of the shell with a thin coating of the glaze and allow to set for 5 minutes. This will give the shell a light waterproofing. Reserve the rest of the glaze for the strawberries. Warm it briefly if it has hardened.
1½ to 2 cups chilled crème pâtissière (custard filling) with 2 to 3 Tb kirsch or cognac
Spread a ½-inch layer of crème pâtissière in the bottom of the pastry shell.
Arrange a design of strawberries over the cream. Put the largest strawberry in the center, and graduate down in size, placing the berries closely together, their stem ends in the cream. Spoon or paint over them a thin coating of the glaze, and the tart is ready to serve. () Because of the glazed waterproofing in the bottom of the shell, the filled tart may wait an hour or so.
Using the same method as that for the preceding strawberry tart, substitute a layer of peeled and seeded grapes, sliced bananas, raspberries, or poached or canned peaches, apricots, plums, or pears. Follow the above illustration for design.
For 6 people
1½ to 2 lbs. firm, ripe, unblemished pears
2 cups cold water and 1 Tb lemon juice in a mixing bowl
Peel and halve the pears. Neatly stem and core them with a grapefruit knife. Drop each half, as it is prepared, pared, into the acidulated water to keep it from discoloring.
Pear Tart
2 Tb lemon juice
¾ cup granulated sugar
A 3-quart enameled saucepan
A slotted spoon
A rack
Bring the wine, lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon to the boil in the saucepan. Drain the pears, and drop into the boiling syrup; bring liquid to just below the simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or until pears are tender when pierced with a knife. Do not overcook; they must hold their shape. Remove saucepan from heat and let pears cool in the syrup for 20 minutes. Drain the pears on a rack.
Optional: a candy thermometer
¼ cup red currant jelly in a small saucepan
A wooden spoon
Rapidly boil down the syrup to the thread stage (230 degrees). Measure out ¼ cup of syrup and simmer it with the red currant jelly until jelly has dissolved and the syrup coats the spoon with a light glaze.
A 10-inch fully cooked sugar-crust shell
Paint the inside of the shell with a thin layer of the pear and jelly glaze.
2½ cups chilled frangipane (almond custard), with 2 Tb kirsch
Spread the frangipane in the pastry shell. Cut the pears into crosswise or lengthwise slices and arrange them over the custard.
Optional: ¼ cup slivered almonds
Decorate with the optional almonds. Spoon a light coating of the glaze over the top of the tart.
[Cherry Tart Flambée]
For a spectacular entrance, sprinkle sugar over a cooked fruit tart, caramelize it briefly under the broiler, pour on liqueur, and ignite it as you enter the dining room. The following recipe is for cherries; you may use the same technique for the apricot or peach tart, and for the variations following it.
The cherries
You may use canned Bing cherries or defrosted frozen cherries instead of fresh for this recipe. In this case, omit the first step in the directions, drain the cherries thoroughly, and let them stand for at least half an hour with 3 tablespoons of kirsch or cognac and as much sugar as you feel they need. Drain them again just before using, and beat their kirsch or cognac into the cream filling.
For 6 people
3 cups fresh black cherries
1 cup red Bordeaux wine
2 Tb lemon juice
6 Tb granulated sugar
A 2-quart enameled saucepan
Wash and pit the cherries. Bring the wine, lemon juice, and sugar to the boil. Drop in the cherries, and bring the liquid to just below the simmer for 5 to 6 minutes or until cherries are tender, but retain their shape. Allow cherries to cool in the syrup for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain.
An 8-inch, fully cooked pastry shell, set in a fireproof serving dish
Use either of the sweet pastry recipes. If you wish to fill the tart shell some time before serving, paint the interior with a thin coating of red currant glaze.
1½ cups cold crème pâtissière (custard filling), or frangipane (almond custard), with 2 Tb kirsch or cognac
Fold the drained cherries into the custard, and spread the mixture in the tart shell.
Preheat broiler to moderately hot.
3 Tb granulated sugar
¼ cup kirsch or cognac, warmed in a small saucepan
Immediately before serving, sprinkle the sugar over the surface of the tart and run it under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes to caramelize the sugar lightly; be careful it does not burn. Just before entering the dining room, pour the warm liqueur over the hot caramelized surface. Avert your face and ignite the liqueur with a lighted match; bring the flaming tart to the table.
For 6 people
1 No. 2 can of sliced pineapple, pineapple wedges, or crushed pineapple (1½ cups fruit and about ¾ cup syrup)
Drain the pineapple. Boil the canned pineapple syrup for 5 minutes in a saucepan. Add the pineapple and boil for 5 minutes more. Drain the pineapple, and allow it to cool.
½ cup red currant jelly
2 Tb kirsch or cognac
Optional: a candy thermometer
Boil the pineapple syrup with the jelly and liqueur until it reduces to a glaze (last drops are sticky when dropped from a spoon, 228 degrees).
An 8-inch, fully cooked, sugar-crust shell
1½ to 2 cups chilled crème pâtissière (custard filling) with 2 to 3 Tb kirsch or cognac
Paint the interior of the shell with a coating of the pineapple glaze. Spread the crème pâtissière in the pastry shell.
Optional: ¼ cup diced red and green glacéed fruit and ¼ cup slivered almonds
When the pineapple is cold, arrange it over the filling. Decorate with the optional glacéed fruits and almonds. Spoon a light coating of pineapple glaze over the top.
This delicious, light tart is really a soufflé. The same filling is also attractive in little tart shells served for afternoon tea. Speaking of these, see also the lemon butter filling.
For 8 people
A 10-inch, cooked, sugar-crust shell placed on a baking sheet (use only 3 Tb sugar in the pastry)
When you bake the shell let it barely color so it will not brown too much when it goes again into the oven.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
A wire whip or electric beater
A 3- to 4-quart stainless steel bowl
½ cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
The grated rind of 1 lemon or 2 limes
3 Tb lemon juice or lime juice
A pan of not-quite-simmering water
A wooden spoon
Optional: a candy thermometer
Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks and continue beating until mixture is thick, pale yellow, and falls back on itself forming a slowly dissolving ribbon. Beat in the rind and juice. Set bowl over not-quite-simmering water and stir with wooden spoon until mixture is too hot for your finger (165 degrees), and thickens enough to coat the spoon lightly. Be careful not to overheat it and scramble the egg yolks.
4 egg whites
A pinch of salt
¼ cup granulated sugar
Beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks are formed. Fold the egg whites delicately into the warm lemon or lime mixture and turn into the tart shell.
Powdered sugar in shaker
Bake for about 30 minutes in middle level of preheated oven. When tart has begun to puff and color, sprinkle with powdered sugar. It is done when top is lightly brown, and a needle or knife plunged into the center comes out clean.
If you cannot serve it immediately, leave in turned-off hot oven with the door ajar. It will sink slightly as it cools. (May be served hot, warm, or cold but we think it is best hot.)
[Lemon and Almond Tart—cold]
For 6 people
An 8-inch, cooked, sugar-crust shell placed on a baking sheet (use only 3 Tb sugar in the pastry)
When you bake the shell, let it barely color so it will not brown too much when it goes again into the oven.
3 lemons
A vegetable peeler
Remove the yellow part of the lemon skin with a vegetable peeler; cut into julienne strips 1/16 inch wide and 2½ inches long. Simmer 10 to 12 minutes in water. Drain thoroughly.
⅔ cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
A small saucepan
Optional: a candy thermometer
Boil the sugar and ⅔ cup of water to the thread stage (230 degrees); add the vanilla and lemon peel. Let stand for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
An electric beater or wire whip
2 eggs
½ cup granulated sugar
A 3-quart mixing bowl
Beat the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl for 4 to 5 minutes, or until mixture is thick, pale yellow and falls back on itself forming a slowly dissolving ribbon.
¾ cup (4 ounces) pulverized almonds
¼ tsp almond extract
The grated rind and strained juice of 1½ lemons
A rack
Beat in the almonds, almond extract, lemon rind, and lemon juice. Pour this almond cream into the pastry shell and bake in middle level of preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Tart is done when cream has puffed, browned very lightly, and a needle or knife plunged into the cream comes out clean. Slide tart onto rack.
Drain the strips of lemon peel and strew them over the tart. Boil their syrup down until it is a glaze (last drops are sticky when fall from spoon, 228 degrees), and spoon a thin coating over the top of the tart. This tart is usually served cold, but may be eaten warm if you wish.
TARTE AU FROMAGE FRAISThis is really a quiche, and very simple indeed to make.
For 6 people
Use the recipe for sweet short paste.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
4 ounces (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
⅔ cup granulated sugar
A 3-quart mixing bowl
A wooden spoon or electric beater
2 eggs
Big pinch of nutmeg
Cream the cheese, butter, and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs and nutmeg. Turn into pastry shell and bake in upper third of preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Tart is done when it has puffed and browned, and a needle or knife plunged into the center comes out clean.
Tart will sink slightly as it cools. It may be served hot and puffed, or warm, or cold. It may also be reheated, but will not puff again.
Tarte au Fromage Frais et aux Pruneaux
[Cream Cheese and Prune Tart]
Soften prunes for 5 minutes in hot water. Drain, remove pits, and dice the prunes. Stir prunes, almonds, and almond extract into tart mixture after the eggs have been beaten in.
Dessert crêpes, especially if they are for crêpes Suzette, should be as thin and delicate as possible. There are numerous varying recipes for making them; some use egg yolks, others use whole eggs, and still others specify cream rather than milk. The lightness of crêpes made from the following recipe can be attributed to the use of milk diluted with water. If you wish a heavier crêpe, use all milk, or light cream. The batter for dessert crêpes, like that for entrée crêpes, must rest at least 2 hours before using.
METHOD FOR COOKING CRÊPES
The procedure for cooking crêpes is described and illustrated in the Entrée chapter on this page. You may wish to sauté them in clarified butter, rather than in oil and butter. As dessert crêpes are fragile, you will probably find it best to lift them with your fingers to turn and cook them on the other side.
Crêpes may be made several hours before serving time. Pile them in a dish, cover with waxed paper and a plate to keep them from drying out.
[Light Batter—for crêpes Suzette]
(If you do not have an electric blender proceed as follows: Gradually work the egg yolks into the flour with a wooden spoon, beat in the liquids by droplets, then strain the batter through a fine sieve.)
For 10 to 12 crêpes 6 inches in diameter, or 16 to 18 crêpes 4 to 5 inches in diameter
¾ cup milk
¾ cup cold water
3 egg yolks
1 Tb granulated sugar
3 Tb orange liqueur, rum, or brandy
1 cup flour (scooped and leveled)
5 Tb melted butter
An electric blender
A rubber scraper
Place the ingredients in the blender jar in the order in which they are listed. Cover and blend at top speed for 1 minute. If bits of flour adhere to sides of jar, dislodge with a rubber scraper and blend 3 seconds more. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
[Yeast Batter—for stuffed crêpes]
The addition of yeast makes a more tender and slightly thicker crêpe.
Ingredients for the preceding crêpe batter
1½ tsp fresh or dry yeast
Warm ¼ cup of the milk to blood temperature (about 90 degrees) and allow the yeast to dissolve in it. Add it to the rest of the ingredients in the blender and proceed with the recipe.
Cover the batter with a towel and let it stand at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until the yeast has worked and the batter looks bubbly on top. Use immediately, or the yeast will overferment.
[Raised Batter—for stuffed crêpes]
Beaten egg whites folded into the batter makes the crêpes puff slightly.
Ingredients for one of the preceding crêpe batters, either plain or with yeast
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
After the batter has rested for 2 hours, and just before you wish to make your crêpes, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff. Fold half into the batter, fold in the other half, then make the crêpes.
Every chef has his own recipe for crêpes Suzette; of the many we have tried, we find this one especially good. Obviously if you plan to perform in public with a chafing dish, it is a good idea to practice on your family until you become adept at folding and flaming. Crêpes 4 to 5 inches in diameter are a convenient size, and three of these per person is the usual serving.
For 6 people
The orange butter (in a food processor, or by hand and electric mixer)
For the processor: ½ cup granulated sugar
By hand: 4 large sugar lumps and ¼ cup sugar
2 bright-skinned oranges
A vegetable peeler
A rubber spatula
½ lb. unsalted butter
½ to ⅔ cup strained orange juice
3 Tb orange liqueur
For the processor (steel blade), place the ½ cup of sugar in the container along with the orange part of the peel (stripped from the fruit). Process for a minute or so, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary, until peel and sugar are finely blended. Cut the butter into pieces, and process until smooth and almost fluffy. By droplets, cream in ½ cup of the orange juice, then the orange liqueur, plus droplets more of the juice if the mixture will take it and still remain creamy. Cover and refrigerate.
By hand and electric mixer, first rub the sugar lumps over the oranges until all sides have absorbed the oil from the skin. Mash the lumps on a board, add the orange part of the peel from the fruit, and the ¼ cup of sugar. Chop until very finely minced. Scrape into a bowl and cream in the butter with an electric mixer, then ½ cup of orange juice, the liqueur, and more juice if possible. Cover and refrigerate.
The chafing dish finish
18 cooked crêpes 4 to 5 inches in diameter
Use the recipe for crêpes fines sucrées.
A chafing dish set over an alcohol flame
Place the orange butter in the chafing dish and heat until it is bubbling.
A spoon and fork
Dip both sides of a crêpe in the butter. Its best-looking side out, fold it in half and in half again, to form a wedge. Place it at the edge of the chafing dish. Rapidly continue with the rest of the crêpes until all have been dipped, folded, and arranged.
2 Tb granulated sugar
⅓ cup orange liqueur
⅓ cup cognac
Sprinkle the crêpes with the sugar. Pour over them the orange liqueur and cognac. Avert your face and ignite the liqueur with a lighted match. Shake the chafing dish gently back and forth while spooning the flaming liqueur over the crêpes until the fire dies down. Serve.
[Crêpes with Orange-almond Butter, Flambées]
These crêpes are stuffed with orange-flavored almond butter, and may be flamed in a chafing dish, or brought flaming to the table as suggested here.
For 6 to 8 people
The orange-almond butter
½ cup pulverized almonds, or pulverized macaroons
¼ tsp almond extract
The orange butter in the preceding recipe
Beat the almonds or macaroons and almond extract into the orange butter.
Filling the crêpes
18 cooked crêpes 4 to 5 inches in diameter
Use any of the 3 crêpe. Spread the butter on the less good side of each cooked crêpe, and fold into wedge shapes, or roll them, to enclose the butter filling. Arrange in the baking dish.
() If not to be heated immediately, cover with waxed paper and refrigerate.
Flaming the crêpes
3 Tb granulated sugar
Shortly before serving time, sprinkle with sugar and set in a preheated, 375-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes until dish is very hot and crêpes are beginning to caramelize on top.
⅓ cup orange liqueur and ⅓ cup cognac warmed in a small saucepan
A long-handled serving spoon
Just before entering the dining room, pour the warm orange liqueur and cognac over the hot crêpes. Avert your face, ignite crêpes with a lighted match, and bring them blazing to the table. The server tilts the dish and spoons the flaming liqueur over the crêpes until the fire dies down.
This is a much lighter filling than the preceding orange-almond butter. It may be set aflame if you wish, or served with chocolate as suggested in the recipe.
For 6 people
12 cooked crêpes 6 inches in diameter
Use any of the three recipes for crêpes.
1½ cups frangipane (almond custard)
A lightly buttered baking-serving dish
2 ounces or squares of semi-sweet baking chocolate
2 Tb melted butter
1 Tb granulated sugar
Spread 2 tablespoons of frangipane on the less-good side of each crêpe. Fold the crêpes into wedge shapes, or roll them, to enclose the filling, and arrange in the baking dish. Grate the chocolate over the crêpes, sprinkle on the melted butter, then the sugar.
About 20 minutes before serving, set in a preheated 350-degree oven until the chocolate has melted. Serve hot or warm.
[Mound of Crêpes with Apples, Flambé]
Instead of stuffing each crêpe separately, you can pile them one upon the other with a layer of filling between each, as in this recipe.
For 6 to 8 people
2 lbs. crisp cooking or eating apples
A heavy-bottomed, 3-quart pan: saucepan, casserole, or skillet
A wooden spoon
½ cup granulated sugar, more if needed
Quarter, core, and peel the apples. Chop them roughly. You should have about 5 cups. Cook in a covered pan over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender. Uncover, add sugar, raise heat and boil, stirring, for 5 minutes or more. Applesauce should reduce and be thick enough to hold itself in a fairly solid mass in the spoon. Add more sugar while the apples are cooking if you feel it necessary.
2 Tb whipping cream
¼ tsp almond extract
2 Tb Calvados (apple brandy), cognac, or dark rum
Stir the cream, almond extract, and brandy or rum into the applesauce.
10 to 12 cooked crêpes 6 inches in diameter
Use the raised batter recipe for crêpes soufflées.
A lightly buttered baking-serving dish
½ cup (3 ounces) pulverized almonds, or pulverized macaroons
2 Tb slivered almonds or pulverized macaroons
2 Tb melted butter
2 Tb granulated sugar
Center a crêpe in the bottom of the dish. Spread a layer of apples over it and sprinkle with a scant tablespoon of almonds or macaroons. Continue with layers of crêpe, apples, and almonds, ending with a crêpe. This will look like a many-layered cake. Sprinkle the almonds or macaroons over the last crêpe. Pour on the butter and sprinkle with the sugar.
About 30 minutes before serving, place in the upper third of a preheated, 375-degree oven to heat through thoroughly. The sugar on top of the mound should almost begin to caramelize. Serve as follows:
½ cup Calvados (apple brandy), cognac, or dark rum, warmed in a small saucepan
A long-handled serving spoon
Just before entering the dining room, pour the warm brandy or rum over the hot mound of crêpes. Avert your face, set liqueur aflame with a lighted match, and bring the blazing dessert to the table. The server should spoon the flaming liqueur over the dessert until the fire subsides, then cut portions from the mound as from a cake.
Here are some other ideas following the general method in any of the preceding recipes. Flame the crêpes or not, as you wish.
Fresh Fruits
Let strawberries, raspberries, or sliced bananas stand in a bowl with a sprinkling of sugar and kirsch, orange liqueur, or cognac for an hour, then use as a filling.
Stewed Fruits
Any of the following may be folded into an equal amount of crème pâtissière (custard filling), and then used for stuffed crêpes or a mound of crêpes:
Apples, peeled, sliced, sautéed in butter, then sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon
Pears, peeled, poached in red-wine syrup, as in tarte aux poires à la Bourdaloue, then diced and sprinkled with crumbled macaroons
Peaches, apricots, or plums poached in syrup, using the system for poaching peaches in pêches cardinal, then drained, peeled, and diced
Pineapple (crushed, canned pineapple), drained, the syrup boiled for 5 minutes, then the pineapple boiled in the syrup for 5 minutes more and drained
Jams, Preserves, and Jellies
These simple fillings make a delicious dessert when the crêpes are flamed with liqueur. To prepare them, mix a little kirsch, cognac, or orange liqueur into red currant jelly, or raspberry, strawberry, apricot, or cherry jam or preserves. Stir in also, if you wish, some crumbled macaroons. Spread the filling on the crêpes, roll, fold them, or pile them into a mound in a fireproof dish. Sprinkle with melted butter and granulated sugar, and set in a preheated, 375-degree oven until thoroughly heated. Flame with warmed liqueur just as you bring them to the table.
CLAFOUTI[Cherry Flan]
The clafouti (also spelled with a final “s” in both singular and plural) which is traditional in the Limousin during the cherry season is peasant cooking for family meals, and about as simple a dessert to make as you can imagine: a pancake batter poured over fruit in a fireproof dish, then baked in the oven. It looks like a tart, and is usually eaten warm.
(If you have no electric blender, work the eggs into the flour with a wooden spoon, gradually beat in the liquids, then strain the batter through a fine sieve.)
For 6 to 8 people
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3 cups pitted black cherries
Use fresh, black, sweet cherries in season. Otherwise use drained, canned, pitted Bing cherries, or frozen sweet cherries, thawed and drained.
1¼ cups milk
⅓ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 Tb vanilla extract
⅛ tsp salt ½ cup flour (scooped and leveled)
An electric blender
Place the ingredients at left in your blender jar in the order in which they are listed. Cover and blend at top speed for 1 minute.
A 7- to 8-cup lightly buttered, fireproof baking dish or pyrex pie plate about 1½ inches deep
⅓ cup granulated sugar
Pour a ¼-inch layer of batter in the baking dish or pie plate. Set over moderate heat for a minute or two until a film of batter has set in the bottom of the dish. Remove from heat. Spread the cherries over the batter and sprinkle on the sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.
Powdered sugar in a shaker
Place in middle position of preheated oven and bake for about an hour. The clafouti is done when it has puffed and browned, and a needle or knife plunged into its center comes out clean. Sprinkle top of clafouti with powdered sugar just before bringing it to the table. (The clafouti need not be served hot, but should still be warm. It will sink down slightly as it cools.)
The clafouti in the preceding master recipe is the simple and classic version. Here are some variations:
Ingredients for the preceding clafouti
¼ cup kirsch or cognac
⅓ cup granulated sugar
Follow the master recipe but first let the cherries stand for 1 hour in the kirsch or cognac and sugar. Substitute this liquid for part of the milk called for in the batter; omit the ⅓ sugar near the end of the recipe.
[Pear Flan]
Ingredients for the master clafouti with changes as indicated
3 cups peeled, cored, and sliced ripe pears (1¼ to 1½ lbs. pears)
¼ cup sweet white wine, kirsch, or cognac
⅓ cup granulated sugar
Follow the master recipe with these changes: Substitute pears for cherries, and let stand for 1 hour in wine, kirsch, or cognac and sugar. Substitute this liquid for part of the milk called for in the batter; omit the ⅓ cup of sugar near the end of the recipe.
Ingredients for the master clafouti with changes as indicated
1 lb. firm, ripe plums
Boiling water
¼ cup orange liqueur, kirsch, or cognac
⅓ cup sugar
Follow the master recipe with these changes: Substitute plums for cherries, and drop in boiling water for exactly 10 seconds. Peel. Slice them or leave whole. Let stand with liqueur, kirsch, or cognac and sugar for 1 hour. Substitute this liquid for part of the milk called for in the batter; omit the ⅓ cup sugar near the end of the recipe.
[Apple Flan]
Ingredients for the master clafouti with changes as indicated
About 1¼ lbs. crisp eating or cooking apples
3 to 4 Tb butter
An enameled skillet
¼ cup Calvados (apple brandy), dark rum, or cognac
⅛ tsp cinnamon
⅓ cup sugar
Follow the master recipe with these changes: Substitute apples for cherries; peel, core, and cut them into lengthwise slices ¼ inch thick. You should have about 3 cups. Sauté to brown very lightly in hot butter, then let stand in the skillet for ½ hour with the brandy or rum, cinnamon, and sugar. Substitute this liquid for part of the milk called for in the batter; omit the ⅓ cup sugar near the end of the recipe.
[Blackberry or Blueberry Flan]
Ingredients for the master clafouti or the variation following it with changes as indicated
3 cups (about 1¼ lbs.) stemmed and washed blackberries or blueberries
Follow the master recipe or the variation after it with these changes: Substitute berries for cherries and, because berries are very juicy, increase the flour for your batter from ⅔ to 1¼ cups.
Ingredients for either of the 2 cherry flans, or for the pear flan
½ cup blanched almonds (can be bought in a can)
1 tsp almond extract
Follow the master recipe for cherry flan, or the variation after it, or the recipe for pear flan, but purée the almonds in the blender with the milk called for in your batter. Add the almond extract, and proceed with the recipe.
Babas and savarins always seem to delight guests, and they are not difficult to make if you have any feeling at all for doughs and baking. They may be cooked a day or two ahead. They freeze perfectly; all you need to do to make them ready to imbibe their syrup is to pop them from the freezer into a 300-degree oven, to warm through for about 5 minutes.
Whenever you are working with yeast doughs, do so in a warm place free from drafts; a sudden chill can cause the dough to fall. So that the dough will rise in one to two hours, cover it with a damp towel and set it where the temperature remains between 80 and 100 degrees. If you can control the heat and have a thermometer, put it in a plate-warming oven, or in a baking oven, heating briefly every once in a while to maintain the correct temperature. Or place the covered bowl on a pillow over the radiator. If you allow the dough to rise too much, or too long, or at too warm a temperature, it will develop a taste of overfermented yeast.
PÂTE À BABA ET BABAS[Baba Paste and Babas]
For about 12 babas
Mixing the paste
4 Tb butter
Melt the butter, and let it cool to tepid while you are preparing the other ingredients.
3 Tb tepid water
A 3-quart mixing bowl
A wire whip
2 Tb granulated sugar
⅛ tsp salt
2“large” eggs
Blend the yeast and water in the bowl with a wire whip and let stand until yeast has dissolved completely. Beat in the sugar, salt, and eggs.
(Be sure to measure your flour correctly to get a soft pliable dough.) Mix the flour and the cool melted butter into the yeast with a wooden spoon.
Kneading the paste
Then with the fingers of one hand held together and slightly cupped, knead the dough by lifting it, slapping it, and pulling it vigorously against the sides of the bowl for about 5 minutes. It will be very sticky at first, but will gradually detach itself from the bowl and from your hand. It has been worked to sufficient elasticity and body when you can grasp it in both hands, pull it to a length of 10 to 12 inches, and give it a full twist without breaking it. (NOTE: If you are doubling the recipe, you will have to remove the dough from the bowl and knead it by pulling and slapping it between your hands, like taffy.)
Preliminary rising in a bowl
1 tsp flour
Form it into a ball in the bottom of the bowl. Cut a cross an inch deep on top and sprinkle the ball with the flour. Cover the bowl with several thicknesses of damp towel and let it rise in a warm place, 80 to 100 degrees, for 1½ to 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in bulk.
Again with the cupped fingers of one hand, gently deflate the dough by gathering it from the sides of the bowl to the center.
Final rising in molds
1 Tb softened butter
12 baba, popover, or muffin cups or muffin tins, about
2 inches deep and 2 inches in diameter
Butter inside of cups. Lightly break off about a tablespoon of dough, enough to fill a third of a cup, and press it lightly into the bottom of the cup. Do not bother to even the top of the dough as it will smooth out as it rises.
Cylindrical Baba Mold, 2 Inches Deep and 2 Inches in Diameter
Place the cups, uncovered, again in a warm place and allow to rise 1 to 2 hours more, or until the dough is ¼ inch over the rim of the cups.
Baking
As soon as the dough has risen this second time—and do not delay or it may collapse—bake in the upper third of a preheated, 375-degree oven for about 15 minutes. The babas should be nicely browned, and slightly shrunk from the sides of the cups. Unmold them onto a cake rack.
[Rum Babas]
Both the babas and the rum syrup should be lukewarm but not hot before this operation begins. If the babas are cold, heat them briefly in the oven; warm the syrup if necessary, (NOTE: Some authorities use a stronger sugar syrup, 1½ cups of sugar to 2 of water. We prefer the lighter syrup given here.)
For 12 babas
The sugar syrup
2 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
A 1-quart saucepan
½ cup dark rum, more if needed (Jamaican rum is recommended)
Bring the water and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. When the sugar syrup has cooled to lukewarm, stir in the rum; you may add a few tablespoons more if you feel it necessary.
12 barely warm cooked babas, the preceding recipe
A dish 2 inches deep and just large enough to hold the babas easily
A skewer, trussing needle or sharp-pronged fork
Optional: a bulb baster
A cake rack set over a tray
Arrange the barely warm babas in the dish, their puffed tops up. Prick tops in several places, pour the lukewarm syrup over them, and let stand for ½ hour, basting frequently with syrup. They should imbibe enough syrup so they are moist and spongy but still hold their shape. Drain on rack for ½ hour.
2 Tb dark rum
A pastry brush
½ cup apricot glaze
12 glacéed cherries
A serving dish or frilled paper cups
After the babas have drained, sprinkle the top of each with a few drops of rum. Paint them with the apricot glaze, and place a cherry on top of each. Arrange in a serving dish or in paper cups.
[Rum Babas with Fruit]
A serving dish
3 to 4 cups blueberries or fresh strawberries
Leftover baba syrup
2 to 3 cups crème Chantilly, (lightly whipped cream) flavored with rum and powdered sugar
Arrange the babas in the serving dish. Surround them with the berries which have stood for 10 to 15 minutes in leftover baba syrup. Pass the cream separately.
SAVARIN[Savarin]
Large Savarin or Ring Mold, 7 to 9 Inches in Diameter. Small Savarin Mold, 2¼ to 4 Inches in Diameter
The savarin uses the same paste or dough as the baba, but is baked in a ring mold, and its sugar syrup is flavored with kirsch rather than rum. The center is then filled with a cream or with fruits macerated in liqueur.
For 6 people
Filling the mold
1 Tb softened butter
A 4- to 5-cup ring mold 2 inches deep
Butter the ring mold. Make the baba paste as directed and let it rise in its bowl until doubled in bulk. Deflate it by pressing it rapidly in several places with the cupped fingers of one hand. Then break off a 2-tablespoon bit of the paste and press lightly into the bottom of the mold. Continue rapidly with the rest of the paste. The mold will be from a third to a half filled. Do not bother to smooth the surface of the paste; it will even out as it rises. Place uncovered in a warm place, 80 to 100 degrees, for 1 to 2 hours or until the paste has risen to fill the mold. Proceed at once to the following step.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees in time for this step.
Baking the savarin
Aluminum foil
A cake rack
Insert a cylinder of aluminum foil through the hole in the center of the mold; this will help the savarin rise evenly in the oven. Place in the middle level of the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. If top of savarin browns too much during baking, cover lightly with aluminum foil. The savarin is done when it is toasty brown and has begun to shrink a little from the sides of the mold. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Reverse rack over mold, reverse the two, remove the mold. When savarin has cooled to tepid, proceed to the following step.
() It may be baked a day or two in advance, then heated briefly to tepid in a 300-degree oven.
The savarin imbibes the syrup
2 cups sugar syrup (rum baba recipe), but flavored with ½ cup kirsch rather than rum
A skewer, trussing needle, or sharp-pronged fork
A dish 2 inches deep and just large enough to hold the savarin easily
A bulb baster
A cake rack
A tray
While the savarin is baking, make the same sugar syrup as that for the babas, but perfume it with kirsch rather than rum. Let it cool to tepid. Prick the puffed side of the barely warm savarin and place it puffed-side down in the dish. Pour the tepid syrup over it and allow to stand for ½ hour, basting frequently with the syrup. The savarin should be moist and spongy, but still hold its shape. Then tilt the dish and pour out the remaining syrup (which may be reserved for flavoring fruits). Turn the rack upside down over the dish and reverse the dish onto the rack to unmold the savarin. Set rack on tray and let the savarin drain for about ½ hour.
A serving dish
The savarin is now resting puffed-side up on the rack; it is usually served puffed-side down. The safest way to get it from the rack to the serving dish is to turn the dish upside down over the savarin on the rack; then reverse the rack onto the dish.
1 Tb kirsch
Sprinkle the savarin with drops of kirsch before decorating and filling as directed in one of the following suggestions:
Savarins are usually painted with a glaze into which are pressed designs of almonds and glacéed fruits, or fresh strawberries or raspberries. The center is filled with whipped cream, custard filling, or fruits. The following recipe gives the general procedure for glazing, decorating, and filling; other suggestions are listed after it.
The preceding savarin
¾ cup apricot glaze
A pastry brush
6 to 8 glacéed cherries
A piece of angelica
8 to 12 blanched almonds
2 cups crème Chantilly (lightly whipped cream), flavored with powdered sugar and kirsch
Paint the savarin with a light coating of apricot glaze. Cut the cherries in half, and the angelica into small diamond shapes. Press the fruits and almonds over the savarin in a decorative design and paint a bit of glaze over them. Fill the center of the savarin with the cream just before serving.
Instead of whipped cream, you may use a custard or fruit filling. In the case of fruit fillings, decorate glazed savarin with the fruits you are using rather than with almonds and glacéed fruits. Between 1½ and 2 cups of custard filling are sufficient. If you are using fruits, you will probably want more; fill the center of the savarin with them, and heap the rest around the outside. The fruits are usually flavored with 3 to 4 Tb kirsch for 3 to 4 cups fruit, and several tablespoons of sugar, if necessary (or use leftover imbibing syrup).
Frangipane, custard filling with almonds or macaroons, flavored with vanilla and kirsch
Crème Saint-Honoré, crème pâtissière with beaten egg whites, flavored with vanilla and kirsch
Macédoine de Fruits, a mixture of cut-up fruits, such as cherries, pears, apricots, pineapple, either fresh, poached in syrup as for the pèches cardinal, or canned. Let stand for ½ hour in kirsch, and sugar if necessary, before using.
Fresh strawberries or raspberries, which have stood for ½ hour with sugar and kirsch
Cherries, poached in red wine syrup, as for the cherry tart
[Small Savarins]
Small savarins are baked in the small molds illustrated at the beginning of the savarin recipe; they range in diameter from 2¼ inches for tea parties to 3 or 4 inches for individual dessert servings.
MOLDING, BAKING, AND SYRUPING
Proceed exactly as for the large savarin but omit the aluminum-foil funnel, and bake for only 10 to 15 minutes. Saturate them with kirsch-flavored syrup as directed for the large savarin. The proportions in the recipe will furnish about 12 small savarins 2¼ inches in diameter or about 6 savarins 3 inches in diameter.
TO SERVE
You may paint small savarins with apricot glaze, decorate with glacéed fruits cut into diamond shapes, and serve them as they are, or you may fill them. If you fill them and do not intend to serve them on dessert plates, it is best to set them on small rounds of baked sugar-crust dough. Paint the rounds first with the apricot glaze, then glaze and decorate the savarins. Use any of the fillings suggested for the large savarin in the preceding list.
Biscuits à la cuiller are among the oldest of the French petits gâteaux secs. Before pastry tubes were invented, the batter for ladyfingers was dropped onto baking sheets with a spoon, and this is how they acquired their French name.
Because store-bought ladyfingers are usually so dreadful in taste and texture that they cannot be used in good cooking, it is useful to know how to make your own. They can be made quickly when you become familiar with the process and will keep at least 10 days in an airtight container or freeze perfectly. With homemade ladyfingers on hand, you will find many of the spectacular desserts in the preceding pages not at all formidable. These include the charlotte Chantilly the charlotte Malakoff, and the diplomate. Then there are the easily assembled plombières which consist of custard filling, beaten egg whites, and ladyfingers dipped in liqueur. To serve ladyfingers with afternoon tea, you may hold them together back to back with a bit of butter cream.
Batter for ladyfingers is of the sponge-cake type, with egg yolks and sugar beaten to a thick cream, then flour and stiffly beaten egg whites are folded in. You must be particularly careful to obtain a batter which will hold its shape; this means expert beating and folding. A batter that is too liquid will form flat rather than rounded ladyfingers. Be sure to read the illustrated directions on beating egg whites and folding.
[Ladyfingers]
For 24 to 30 ladyfingers
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Two 12- by 24-inch baking sheets
1 Tb softened butter
Flour
A pastry bag with a round tube opening
½ inch in diameter 1½ cups powdered sugar in a sieve or a shaker
Prepare the baking sheets: butter lightly, dust with flour, and knock off excess flour. Assemble the pastry bag. Prepare the powdered sugar. Measure out all the rest of the ingredients listed in the recipe.
The batter
An electric beater or a wire whip
½ cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
A 3-quart mixing bowl
Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks, add the vanilla, and continue beating for several minutes until the mixture is thick, pale yellow, and forms the ribbon.
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed. Sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. (Directions are here.)
Scoop one fourth of the egg whites over the top of the egg yolks and sugar mixture. Sift on one fourth of the flour, and delicately fold in until partially blended. Then add one third of the remaining egg whites, sift on one third of the remaining flour, fold until partially blended, and repeat with half of each, then the last of each. Do not attempt to blend the mixture too thoroughly or you will deflate the batter; it must remain light and puffy.
Forming the ladyfingers
Scoop batter into pastry bag. Squeeze out even lines onto the prepared baking sheets, making finger shapes 4 inches long and 1½ inches wide, spaced 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with a 1/16-inch layer of powdered sugar. To dislodge some of the excess sugar, hold baking sheet upside down and tap the back of it gently; the ladyfingers will not budge unless you are rough with them.
Baking the ladyfingers
Bake in middle and upper third levels of preheated oven for about 20 minutes. The ladyfingers are done when they are a very pale brown underneath their sugar coating. They should be slightly crusty outside, and tender but dry inside. If they are not baked enough, they will become soggy when they cool; overbaking makes them dry. As soon as they are done, remove from baking sheets with a spatula and cool on cake racks.
To serve
Ladyfingers may be served as they are, with tea or fruit desserts. Or you may make double ladyfingers by sticking the two flat sides together with apricot glaze, or one of the butter creams.
Here are five unusually good and typically French cakes. They are all made in very much the same way, but as there are slight differences in mixing and in how each should look in the oven, we give full recipes for all five. After you have practiced with one or two, you will find that they all can be made very quickly; any one of them may be prepared for the oven in about 20 minutes. An electric beater is a help in mixing the batters but is far from essential, because a large wire whip does the work almost as quickly.
Before you begin the cake
Preheat the oven, prepare the cake pan as in the following directions, and measure out all your ingredients. Then your batter may be prepared and baked in one, continuous operation.
Preparing the cake pan
To prepare the pan for the cake batter, rub the entire inner surface with a thin film of softened butter. Then roll flour around in the pan to cover the sides and bottom; knock out excess flour by banging the pan, upside down, on a hard surface. A light dusting of flour should adhere all over the inner surface of the pan; this will make the cake easy to unmold (remove) after baking.
Flour
Measure flour as accurately as possible; this is essential in cakemaking. Be sure to read the illustrated directions for measuring flour.
Egg yolks, sugar, and butter
Directions for beating egg yolks and sugar until they “form the ribbon”. Directions for creaming butter and sugar are on are here.
Egg whites
You will note that no baking powder is used in any of the cakes; their lightness is due to the careful folding of perfectly beaten egg whites into the batter. As this is one of the most important aspects of successful cakemaking, be sure to read the illustrated directions on egg whites in the Entrée chapter.
Temperature
Oven temperature must be correct if the cake is to bake and rise as it should. Check your thermostat with an oven thermometer.
Unmolding
After the cake is done, your recipe will usually direct you to let it sit in its pan for a few minutes; it will settle, and shrink slightly from the sides of the pan. Unmold the cake as follows: Run a thin knife between the cake and the edge of the pan. Then, if you are using a one-piece pan, turn a cake rack upside down over the pan, reverse the two, and give a short, sharp, downward jerk to dislodge the cake onto the rack. For a false-bottomed pan, either use the same general system, or set the pan over a jar to release the rim from the false bottom; remove the cake from the false bottom to a rack with a spatula, or reverse the cake onto a rack. [Directions in recipes refer to a one-piece pan.]
A cake must be thoroughly cold before it is iced; if you ice a warm or even a tepid cake with butter cream, the icing will soften and usually dribble down the sides of the cake. Illustrated directions for filling and icing cakes are in the pair of recipes.
Storage
After any of the following cakes has been baked and thoroughly cooled, but before it has been covered with icing, it may be stored for several days in an airtight container, or may be securely wrapped and frozen. Cakes iced with butter creams should be stored in the refrigerator.
This fine, light spongecake may be served with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, and goes well with tea, or with fruits. It is also delicious as a strawberry shortcake. Or you may fill and decorate it as suggested at the end of the recipe.
For a 10-inch cake serving 10 to 12 people
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
A round cake pan, 10 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep
Butter and flour the cake pan. Measure out the ingredients.
4 Tb butter
Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
A 3-quart mixing bowl
An electric beater or large wire whip
⅔ cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks, add the vanilla, and continue beating for several minutes until mixture is thick, pale yellow, and forms the ribbon.
4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
2 Tb granulated sugar
A rubber spatula
¾ cup cake flour (scooped and leveled), turned into a flour sifter
Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. (Directions.) Scoop one fourth of the egg whites over the top of the egg yolks and sugar mixture. Sift on one fourth of the flour, and delicately fold in until partially blended. Then add one third of the remaining egg whites, sift on one third of the remaining flour, fold until partially blended, and repeat with half of each, then the last of each and half of the tepid, melted butter. When partially blended, fold in the rest of the butter but omit the milky residue at the bottom of the pan. Do not overmix; the egg whites must retain as much volume as possible.
Turn into prepared cake pan, tilting pan to run batter to the rim all around. Set in middle level of preheated oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed, is lightly brown, and has just begun to show a faint line of shrinkage from the edges of the pan.
A cake rack
Remove from oven and let stand in the pan for 6 to 8 minutes. It will sink slightly and shrink more from the edges of the pan. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and reverse on cake rack, giving the pan a sharp little jerk to dislodge the cake. If cake is not to be iced, immediately reverse it so its puffed side is uppermost. Allow to cool for an hour or so.
[Powdered Sugar]
Shake powdered sugar over the cake.
A pastry brush
½ cup apricot glaze
1 cup pulverized almonds
¼ cup slivered almonds or glacéed fruits
Follow the general procedure for icing a cake illustrated: Brush crumbs off top and sides of cake, paint cake with apricot glaze. Brush almonds against the sides and decorate top with slivered almonds or with glacéed fruits cut into dice or fancy shapes.
[Butter-cream or Chocolate Icing]
The spongecake may be iced, or filled and iced. Follow the recipe for orange-butter filling or that for the orange butter-cream. Or, using the same procedure, follow one of the recipes for butter cream, or for the chocolate-butter icing.
[Orange Spongecake]
For a 9-inch cake serving 8 people
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
A round cake pan 9 by 1½ inches
Butter and flour the cake pan. Measure out the ingredients.
A whip or electric beater
⅔ cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
A 3-quart mixing bowl
The grated rind of 1 orange
⅓ cup strained orange juice
Pinch of salt
¾ cup cake flour (scooped and leveled), turned into a sifter
Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks and continue beating until the mixture thickens to form the ribbon. Add the grated orange peel, orange juice, and salt. Beat for a moment or two until mixture is light and foamy. Then beat in the flour.
4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed. Sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. (Directions are here.) Stir one fourth of the egg whites into the batter, delicately fold in the rest.
Immediately turn into prepared cake pan and run the batter up to the rim all around. Bake in middle position of preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed and browned, and shows a faint line of shrinkage from the edge of the mold.
Let cool for 6 to 8 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and reverse cake on a rack. If not to be iced, immediately reverse again, puffed side up. Allow to cool for an hour or two. When cake is cold, sprinkle it with powdered sugar, or fill and ice the cake according to one of the two following recipes:
[Spongecake with Orange-butter Filling]
This orange-butter filling may be used for cakes, or as a filling for tartlets or cookies. When softened butter is beaten into it, as described in the variation at the end of the recipe, it may also serve as an icing.
For about 2 cups, enough to fill a 9- to 10-inch cake
The orange-butter filling
6 Tb unsalted butter
1⅔ cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
The grated rind of 1 orange
¼ cup strained orange juice
1 Tb orange liqueur
A 6-cup enameled saucepan
A wire whip
Optional: a candy thermometer
Place all the ingredients at the left in the saucepan and beat with wire whip over low heat or not-quite-simmering water until mixture thickens like honey. When it is cooking properly, the bubbles that first appeared on its surface as it is heated will begin to subside, and if you look closely you will see a little whiff of steam rise; it will be too hot for your finger. You must heat it enough to thicken, but overheating will (of course) scramble the egg yolks.
A pan of cold water
Then set saucepan in cold water and beat for 3 to 4 minutes until filling is cool.
() May be refrigerated for 10 days, or may be frozen.
Filling the cake
A 9- to 10-inch cake: the preceding orange spongecake or the butter spongecake
A long, sharp, thin knife
Cut a tiny vertical wedge up the edge of the cake; this will guide you in re-forming it later. Slice the cake in half horizontally.
Splitting the cake in half
A flexible blade-spatula
Using a spatula, spread enough orange-butter filling on the lower layer of the cake to make a ⅛-inch coating.
Icing the bottom layer
Replace top layer, lining up with wedge
Decorating the cake with apricot glaze and almonds
A pastry brush
⅔ cup apricot glaze
1 cup pulverized almonds, plain or toasted
A dish for the almonds
A cake platter
Optional: ¼ cup glazed orange peel
Brush off any crumbs, and paint the cake with a coating of apricot glaze. When the glaze has set slightly, brush the almonds against the sides of the cake; not more than one fourth of them will adhere, but you need a large amount for easy manipulation. Set the cake on the platter; decorate top with optional orange peel.
Hold cake over almonds and brush them against sides with free hand
[Orange Butter-cream Icing]
For a richer filling, or for an icing, you may turn the preceding filling into a crème au beurre, which resembles the butter cream. In the following recipe, we have suggested that you use half the original orange-butter filling for inside the cake, and beat butter into the rest to make a butter-cream icing.
For 1 cup filling and 2 cups icing, enough for a 9- to 10-inch cake
2 cups orange-butter filling, the preceding recipe
A 3-quart mixing bowl
A wire whip or an electric beater
¼ lb. (1 stick) softened, unsalted butter, 2 to 3 Tb more if necessary
Use 1 cup of the filling to spread inside your cake as described in the preceding recipe. Re-form the cake. Place the rest of the filling in the mixing bowl and gradually beat in the softened butter. The mixture should thicken into a smooth, mayonnaiselike cream; if it looks grainy, beat in more butter a tablespoon at a time. Chill until firm but still of spreading consistency.
(NOTE: Be sure cake is thoroughly cold before you begin this operation.)
Brush crumbs off cake. Hold the cake in the palm of your hand as illustrated (or ice it on its serving platter). Spread on the icing with the spatula, starting at the top of the cake, and finishing with the sides. Set the cake on the platter. Decorate, if you wish, with pieces of glazed orange peel. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve.
() Leftover butter cream may be refrigerated for about a week, or may be frozen. Before using, let warm at room temperature until it can be beaten into spreading consistency.
Spread icing on top of cake first, then smooth it around sides
[Lemon Butter-cream Icing]
Use the same method and proportions as in either of the two preceding recipes, but substitute grated lemon rind and lemon juice for orange.
This delicious cake may be served with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, with a glazing of apricot, or with a filling and icing.
For a 9-inch cake serving 8 people
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
A round cake pan, 9 by 1½ inches
Butter and flour the cake pan. Measure out all the ingredients.
¼ lb. butter
Melt the butter and set aside.
A whip or electric beater
⅔ cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
A 3-quart mixing bowl
The grated rind of 1 orange
⅓ cup strained orange juice
¼ tsp almond extract
¾ cup (4 ounces) pulverized almonds
½ cup cake flour (scooped and leveled), turned into a sifter
Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks and continue beating until mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms the ribbon. Add the grated orange rind, orange juice, and almond extract. Beat for a moment or two until mixture is light and foamy. Then beat in the almonds, and finally the flour.
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed, (Directions are here.)
Using a rubber spatula, fold the cool, melted butter into the cake batter, omitting milky residue at bottom of butter pan. Stir one fourth of the egg whites into the batter, delicately fold in the rest.
Immediately turn into prepared cake pan and run the batter up to the rim all around. Bake in middle level of preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed, browned lightly, top is springy when pressed, and a needle plunged into the center of the cake comes out clean.
A cake rack
Remove from oven and let stand for about 10 minutes, until cake begins to shrink from sides of pan. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and reverse the cake onto the rack, giving it a small, sharp, downward jerk to dislodge it from the pan. If it is not to be iced, reverse the cake immediately so it will cool puffed-side up. Allow to cool for an hour or two.
Serve with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, or with apricot glaze and almonds, or with the orange-butter filling or butter-cream icing described for the orange sponge cake.
This extremely good chocolate cake is baked so that its center remains slightly underdone; overcooked, the cake loses its special creamy quality. It is covered with a chocolate-butter icing, and decorated with almonds. Because of its creamy center it needs no filling. It can be made in the same manner as the preceding cakes, starting out with a beating of egg yolks and sugar, then proceeding with the rest of the ingredients. But because the chocolate and the almonds make a batter so stiff it is difficult to fold in the egg whites, we have chosen another method, that of creaming together the butter and sugar, and then incorporating the remaining items.
For an 8-inch cake serving 6 to 8 people
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
A round cake pan 8 inches in diameter and 1½ inches deep
4 ounces or squares semi-sweet chocolate melted with 2 Tb rum or coffee
Butter and flour the cake pan. Set the chocolate and rum or coffee in a small pan, cover, and place (off heat) in a larger pan of almost simmering water; let melt while you proceed with the recipe. Measure out the rest of the ingredients.
A 3-quart mixing bowl
A wooden spoon or an electric beater
¼ lb. or 1 stick softened butter
⅔ cup granulated sugar
Cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes until they form a pale yellow, fluffy mixture.
3 egg yolks
Beat in the egg yolks until well blended.
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
Beat the egg whites and salt in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. (Directions are here.)
A rubber spatula
⅓ cup pulverized almonds
¼ tsp almond extract
½ cup cake flour (scooped and leveled), turned into a sifter
With a rubber spatula, blend the melted chocolate into the butter and sugar mixture, then stir in the almonds, and almond extract. Immediately stir in one fourth of the beaten egg whites to lighten the batter. Delicately fold in a third of the remaining whites and when partially blended, sift on one third of the flour and continue folding. Alternate rapidly with more egg whites and more flour until all egg whites and flour are incorporated.
Turn the batter into the cake pan, pushing the batter up to its rim with a rubber spatula. Bake in middle level of preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed, and 2½ to 3 inches around the circumference are set so that a needle plunged into that area comes out clean; the center should move slightly if the pan is shaken, and a needle comes out oily.
A cake rack
Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and reverse cake on the rack. Allow it to cool for an hour or two; it must be thoroughly cold if it is to be iced.
Use the chocolate-butter icing, and press a design of almonds over the icing.
For an 8-inch cake serving 6 to 8 people
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
A round cake pan 8 inches in diameter and 1½ inches deep
Butter and flour the cake pan. Measure out the ingredients.
3½ ounces of semisweet baking chocolate
2 Tb strong coffee
A small covered pan
A pan of simmering water A wooden spoon
3½ Tb softened butter
Place the chocolate and coffee in the small pan, cover, and set in the larger pan of simmering water. Remove pans from heat and let chocolate melt for 5 minutes or so while you proceed with the recipe. Then beat in the butter.
A wire whip or electric beater
3 egg yolks
A 3-quart mixing bowl
½ cup granulated sugar
Beat the egg yolks in the mixing bowl, gradually adding the sugar, until mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms the ribbon.
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed. (Directions are here.)
Fold the tepid chocolate and butter into the batter, then fold in one fourth of the egg whites. When partially blended, sift on one fourth of the flour and continue folding, alternating rapidly with more egg whites and more flour until all egg whites and flour are incorporated.
Immediately turn batter into prepared pan and run it up to the rim all around. Bake in middle level of preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until cake has puffed ¼ inch above rim and top has cracked. A skewer or straw should come out clean when plunged 1½ inches from edge, but should be slightly oily with a few specks of chocolate clinging when plunged into the middle area.
A cake rack
Let cool 10 minutes; cake will sink slightly. Run a knife around inside of pan, and reverse onto a rack. Let cool 2 hours before icing.
To serve
You may serve the cake with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, fill and ice it with one of the following butter creams, or fill with butter cream and cover with the chocolate-butter icing. Illustrated directions for filling and icing a cake begin on this page.
Butter creams consist of egg yolks, sugar, butter, and flavoring which are beaten together into a creamy mass of spreading consistency. There are half a dozen ways of arriving at them; one is the orange butter-cream. Here are three more recipes. The first of these is quick and easy but always slightly grainy, because the sugar never completely dissolves. The second is made with sugar syrup in which egg yolks are poached before the butter is beaten in; it makes a fairly firm cream good in hot weather. Custard sauce and butter make up the third cream, which is lighter in texture than the other two and better in cold weather than in hot. Any of these butter creams may be used both as fillings and as icings.
AMOUNTS NEEDED
For both filling and icing a cake, you will need approximately the following amounts:
For an 8-inch cake, 1½ cups
For a 9-inch cake, 2 cups
For a 10-inch cake, 2½ cups
Butter creams may be refrigerated for several days, or frozen for several weeks. To use again, allow the cream to warm at room temperature until it can be beaten into spreading consistency. If it begins to separate or turn grainy, beat in a tablespoon or two of tepid, unsalted, melted butter.
FILLING AND ICING
Illustrated directions for filling and icing cakes are in the pair of recipes starting.
[Butter Cream I—with powdered sugar]
This should be made with an electric beater; it is heavy work by hand.
For about 1½ cups
A 2½-quart mixing bowl
2 egg yolks
⅔ cup sifted powdered sugar
2 Tb kirsch, rum, orange liqueur, or strong coffee, OR, 1 Tb vanilla extract, OR, 2 ounces (2 squares) melted, semisweet, baking chocolate
6 ounces (1½ sticks) softened, unsalted butter
An electric beater (or a wire whip)
Rinse the bowl in hot water, dry it, and place in it all the ingredients listed. Beat at a moderate speed for about 5 minutes to obtain a smooth cream. Chill until the cream is cold but still malleable, then fill and ice your cake.
[Butter Cream II—with sugar syrup]
You may use either a wire whip or an electric beater for most of the steps in this recipe. We find, however, that a large balloon whip, such as that illustrated for beating egg whites is the quickest and most effective instrument for the beating of egg yolks and sugar syrup step.
For about 2 cups
Preliminaries
A wooden spoon or an electric beater
A 2½-quart mixing bowl
½ lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. (Directions are here.) Set aside.
5 egg yolks, OR, 1 egg and 3 yolks
A 2½-quart mixing bowl
A large wire whip (or an electric beater)
Place the egg yolks (or egg and yolks) in the bowl and beat a few seconds to blend thoroughly. Set aside.
The sugar syrup
⅔ cup granulated sugar
3 Tb water
A small, heavy saucepan
Optional: a candy thermometer
Boil the sugar and water in the saucepan, shaking pan frequently, until the sugar has reached the soft ball stage (236 to 238 degrees on candy thermometer).
Beating the egg yolks with the syrup
At once beat the boiling syrup in a stream of droplets into the egg yolks, using your wire whip (or electric beater).
A pan of not-quite-simmering water, large enough to hold the bowl
A basin of cold water
Set the mixing bowl in the pan of not-quite-simmering water, on the stove, and continue beating the yolk and sugar mixture at a moderate speed, lifting in as much air as possible. In 4 to 5 minutes the mixture will be light, foamy, doubled in bulk, and feel very hot to your finger. When this stage is reached, set the bowl in cold water and continue beating for several minutes until mixture has cooled to tepid, and when a bit is lifted, it falls back forming a slowly dissolving ribbon on the surface of the mixture.
Combining with the butter
A wooden spatula or spoon, or an electric beater
2 to 3 Tb kirsch, rum, orange liqueur, or strong coffee, OR, 1 Tb vanilla extract, OR, 2 ounces (2 squares) melted, semi-sweet, baking chocolate
2 to 4 Tb softened, unsalted butter, if needed
Then beat the egg mixture by spoonfuls into the bowl of creamed butter. Beat in the flavoring. The crème au beurre should be a smooth, homogeneous, creamy mass. If it looks grainy or has a tendency to separate, beat in softened butter by tablespoons. Chill until cold but still malleable, then fill and frost your cake.
[Butter Cream III—with custard base]
This final recipe is simpler to make than the preceding one with its sugar syrup and its poaching of egg yolks. The custard base here is that most familiar of custard sauces, crème anglaise which, when cooled, receives the butter.
For about 2½ cups
The crème anglaise (custard sauce)
A wire whip or electric beater
⅔ cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
A 2½-quart mixing bowl ½ cup boiling milk
A 1-quart, heavy-bottomed, enameled saucepan
A wooden spoon
Optional: a candy thermometer
A basin of cold water
A sieve
Following the general procedure in the master recipe for crème anglaise gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks in the bowl until mixture is thick, pale yellow, and forms the ribbon. Then beat in the boiling milk by droplets. Pour into saucepan and stir with wooden spoon over moderately low heat until mixture thickens enough to coat spoon with a light cream (165 degrees on candy thermometer). At once set saucepan in cold water and beat until custard has cooled to barely tepid. Rinse out mixing bowl and strain custard back into it.
Beating in the butter
A wire whip or electric beater
½ lb. (2 sticks) softened, unsalted butter, more if needed
2 to 3 Tb kirsch, rum, orange liqueur, or strong coffee, OR, 1 Tb vanilla extract OR, 2 ounces (2 squares) melted, semi-sweet, baking chocolate
Beat the softened butter into the barely tepid custard by spoonfuls, using whip or beater. Beat in the flavoring. If cream looks grainy or has a tendency to curdle, beat in more softened butter by tablespoons. Cream should be smooth, thick, and homogeneous. Chill until cold but still malleable, then fill and ice your cake.
This simple chocolate icing is butter beaten into melted chocolate, and forms a tender coating over a white or chocolate cake, or over a thoroughly chilled butter-cream icing.
[Chocolate-butter Icing]
For an 8-inch cake
2 ounces (2 squares) semi-sweet baking chocolate
2 Tb rum or coffee
A small covered pan A larger pan of almost simmering water
5 to 6 Tb unsalted butter
A wooden spoon
A bowl with a tray of ice cubes and water to cover them
A small flexible-blade metal spatula or a table knife
Place the chocolate and rum or coffee in the small pan, cover, and set in the larger pan of almost simmering water. Remove pans from heat and let chocolate melt for 5 minutes or so, until perfectly smooth. Lift chocolate pan out of the hot water, and beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time. Then beat over the ice and water until chocolate mixture has cooled to spreading consistency. At once spread it over your cake with spatula or knife.
