Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2
Page 60
Spread ⅓ of the pralin butter cream over the meringue on the cake rack.
Center second meringue on top of first, and spread with ½ the remaining pralin butter cream. Cover with the final meringue.
Spread remaining pralin butter cream evenly around the edges of the cake with a spatula.
NOTE: You may prefer to spread almonds around sides of cake (following illustration) before icing the top; proceed in either order you wish, whichever seems easier for you. Spread the chocolate-flavored butter cream as evenly as possible on top of cake with a spatula.
Either balancing cake on the palm of one hand or leaving on rack, whichever you prefer, brush almonds against sides of cake all around.
The cake is now finished unless you wish to make fancy rosettes, swags, or other decorations on top with chocolate butter cream pushed through a pastry bag; French pâtissiers often write the name Le Succès on top of the cake in butter cream or white frosting.
7) Serving—after at least 2 hours of refrigeration
Transfer cake to a serving dish, and cover with a large bowl or a plastic dome; refrigerate. Cake should be chilled at least 2 hours to firm the butter cream. To serve, cut into serving slices as you would any layer cake.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES: Le Succès will keep perfectly for several days under refrigeration. It may be frozen, but the butter cream will probably lose its creamy smoothness; it is best to freeze disks and butter cream separately, then assemble before serving, beating more softened butter into thawed cream, if necessary, to reconstitute it.
VARIATIONS
Other fillings
A complete list of frostings and fillings follows, including recipes from both volumes. Other butter creams that are popular with this cake are Mocha-flavored butter cream with pralin plus Mocha-colored fondant, and chocolate butter cream with chocolate icing. Other ideas are the mousse au chocolat used for the Saint-Cyr, which stands up well enough when chilled and need not be frozen, and the other and richer mousse with butter in Volume I, page 604, into either one of which you could fold pralin. The almond and strawberry mixture for charlotte Malakoff could be deliciously adapted, as well as the chocolate variation following it (Volume I, pages 605–7).
Brésiliens
[Individual Meringue-almond Cakes—Petits Fours]
Rather than a large cake, you may prefer individual servings; mark whatever shapes you like on buttered and floured baking sheets, fill with the meringue mixture, and bake as directed in Step 4.
Fill, frost, and decorate as described in the Master Recipe, Step 6, but you will need only two layers—one for the top, and one for the bottom.
FROSTINGS, FILLINGS, AND A PAPER DECORATING CONE
FONDANT
[Sugar Icing or Frosting for Cakes, Petits Fours, Napoleons, Candied Fruits, and Candies]
White fondant, and how to make and use it, is well worth your attention. It is ready in an instant to be warmed briefly over hot water, flavored with a dash of vanilla, liqueur, or chocolate, and to be poured over a cake. It makes a beautifully smooth covering that hardens just enough to form a protective layer, but remains just the right texture for eating. Commercial pastry chefs can buy it ready-made in a can or jar, and so may French householders. It is easy to make yourself, however, and really one of nature’s wonders, because it consists only of sugar syrup boiled to the soft-ball stage, cooled to tepid, then kneaded for several minutes until it miraculously turns from clear and limpid to snowy white. It keeps for months, even years, and is always ready to become an immediate icing.
Although we have only called for fondant a few times in the book, it is so useful to have on hand, and really so easy and such fun to make, that we felt it should be in your repertoire.
For about 2 cups
1) The sugar syrup
A marble surface 18 by 24 inches, or a jelly-roll pan or large metal tray
3 Tb white corn syrup or ¼ tsp cream of tartar (or 3 Tb French glucose)
1 cup water
A heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan
3 cups sugar (pure cane sugar, or, if you are in Europe, 1¼ lbs.—550–600 grams—crushed sugar lumps)
A cover for the pan
Optional: a candy thermometer
A quart measure with 2 cups cold water and 2 ice cubes
A metal spoon (not for stirring, only for testing sugar)
Syrup is to be poured onto marble, or into a pan or tray, which should be ready before you begin. Dissolve the corn syrup or cream of tartar (or glucose) with a bit of the water in the saucepan; pour in the rest of the water, and the sugar. Set over moderately high heat. Swirl pan slowly by its handle, but do not stir sugar with a spoon while liquid is coming to the boil. Continue swirling for a moment when liquid boils and changes from cloudy to perfectly clear. Cover pan, raise heat to high, and boil for several minutes until bubbles have thickened slightly. Uncover, insert candy thermometer if you are using one, and continue boiling for a few minutes to the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees: drops of syrup hold their shape softly when formed into a ball in the cold water.
NOTE: If you do not boil the syrup to the soft-ball stage, your fondant will be too soft; if you boil to the hard-ball stage, your fondant will be hard to knead and difficult to melt when you want to use it.
2) Cooling the syrup—about 10 minutes
Immediately pour the syrup onto the marble or into the pan or tray. Let cool about 10 minutes, until barely tepid but not quite cold to the touch; when you press it lightly you can see the surface wrinkle.
3) Kneading the syrup into fondant—5 to 10 minutes
A pastry scraper, a painter’s spatula, or a short, stout metal pancake turner
Useful but not essential: ¼ cup ready-made fondant
As soon as fondant is ready, start kneading it vigorously with scraper, spatula, or turner: push it up into a mass, spread it out again, and repeat the movement for 5 minutes or more. After several minutes of kneading, the syrup will begin to whiten (if you happen to have some ready-made fondant, add it at this point, and the syrup will quickly turn to fondant); as you continue to knead, it will gradually turn into a crumbly snow-white mass, and finally stiffen so that you can no longer knead it. It is now, officially and actually, fondant. Do not be discouraged, however, if it takes longer than 5 to 8 minutes, or even 10 minutes, to turn to fondant; go off and leave it for 5 minutes; come back and knead it again—it will eventually turn (you might have started to knead it before it was quite ready for you).
4) Curing and storing fondant
A 3-cup screw-topped jar or a metal bowl with cover
Several thicknesses of well-washed cheesecloth about 6 inches square
Although you may use the fondant immediately, it will have better texture and sheen—or bloom, as the professionals say—if you let it rest at least 12 hours. Pack it into the jar or bowl, top with the dampened cheesecloth, cover airtight, and refrigerate. As long as the top is damp, fondant will keep for months and months.
5) How to use fondant
2 cups fondant in a 2-quart pan
1 to 2 Tb kirsch, rum, orange liqueur, or strong coffee; or 1 tsp vanilla and a Tb or so of water
A larger pan of simmering water
A wooden spoon
Combine the fondant and liqueur, coffee, or vanilla and water in the saucepan and set in larger pan of simmering water. Stir thoroughly, reaching all over pan, as fondant slowly softens and turns into a perfectly smooth, glossy cream that coats the spoon fairly heavily.
Use immediately, either pouring it directly over a cake set on a rack over a tray, spreading it rapidly over whatever surface you are icing, or dipping petits fours or candies into it. It sets rapidly, and you must work quickly to obtain a smooth surface.
Colored fondant
Use strong coffee for Mocha or tan fondant, stirring it in by droplets to get the shade you wish; stir ½ to 1 cup melted chocolate into the melted fondant for brown or chocolate fondant; use drops of food coloring for pastel sha
des.
Storing melted fondant
Store like fresh fondant. Unless you are turning it into chocolate fondant, it will have more sheen and bloom if you mix it with fresh fondant before using again.
CONFIT D’ABRICOTS EN SIROP
[Apricot Filling or Sauce Using Canned Apricots]
This deliciously simple filling or sauce is made with diced canned apricots lightly caramelized in their own syrup and flavored with kirsch or lemon. Serve it with custard desserts, such as the Pélerin, or as a filling for tarts like the Jalousie, spoon it over the apricot sherbet, or fold in a little gelatin and walnuts or sliced almonds and use as a cake filling as suggested for the Saint-André.
For about 1½ cups
A 1-lb. can of peeled apricots in heavy syrup
A small, heavy saucepan
⅓ cup sugar
1 Tb lemon juice and the grated rind of ½ lemon
1 Tb kirsch or Cognac
Drain the apricot syrup into the saucepan and bring to the simmer with the sugar. When sugar has dissolved completely, boil the syrup rapidly until last drops to fall from spoon are thick and sticky (230 degrees F.). Discard seeds from apricots and cut flesh into ⅜-inch dice. Fold them into the syrup and add the lemon juice and rind. Boil slowly for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and fold in the kirsch or Cognac.
LIST OF FROSTINGS AND FILLINGS
BUTTER CREAMS—FOR EITHER FROSTINGS OR FILLINGS
Simple butter cream with confectioner’s sugar
Crème au Beurre Ménagère, Volume I, page 681 (egg yolks beaten with confectioner’s sugar, flavoring, and butter—uncooked).
Butter cream with custard base
Crème au Beurre à l’Anglaise (Le Succès), and Volume I, page 683 (cooked custard sauce with butter and flavoring beaten in).
Butter cream with egg-yolk and sugar-syrup base
Crème au Beurre au Sucre Cuit, Volume I, pages 681–3 (boiling sugar syrup beaten into egg yolks, mixture poached over hot water, beaten until cool, then butter and flavoring beaten in).
Butter cream with Italian meringue base
Crème au Beurre à la Meringue Italienne—génoise cake (boiling sugar syrup beaten into egg whites, beaten until cool, then butter and flavoring beaten in).
Orange or lemon butter-cream icing or filling
Crème au Beurre a l’Orange, or au Citron, Volume I, pages 674–6 (eggs, yolks, flavoring, and butter stirred together over heat to thicken into a simple filling; more butter beaten in to turn it into a butter cream). See also another version of the filling, Crème au Citron; this may also be turned into a butter cream in the same way.
OTHER FROSTINGS AND FILLINGS
Soft chocolate icing
Glaçage au Chocolat (Le Glorieux, Step 3), and Volume I, page 684 (melted chocolate and butter, with or without liqueur flavoring).
White meringue frosting
Meringue Italienne—Le Saint-Cyr, Step 1 (boiling sugar syrup whipped into beaten egg whites).
Meringued whipped cream frosting or filling
Chantilly Meringuée (the preceding meringue combined with whipped cream).
Fondant
(Sugar syrup boiled to the soft-ball stage, cooled, then kneaded until it turns snowy white; flavored with liqueur or chocolate.)
Apricot filling or sauce
Confit d’abricots en sirop (diced canned apricots boiled in their own syrup, liqueur flavoring; with gelatin added as cake filling, Le Saint-André).
MISCELLANEOUS
Walnut brittle and caramelized walnut halves
Pralin aux Noix—Pralinée aux Noix, Step 1 (walnuts stirred into caramel syrup and ground when cold; or walnuts dipped into caramel syrup and used for decorations).
Almond brittle
Pralin aux Amandes—Le Kilimanjaro, Step 1 (same as Pralin aux Noix, but with almonds).
Baked meringue decorations
Meringue Italienne—Le Saint-Cyr, Steps 1, and 2 (boiling sugar syrup whipped into beaten egg whites, formed into meringues, and baked).
COMMENT FAIRE UN CORNET EN PAPIER
[How to Make a Paper Decorating Cone]
Cut heavy freezer paper or bond paper into a right-angle triangle whose short sides (A and B) are approximately 12 and 15 inches long.
Hold the hypotenuse side of the triangle (C) with your left hand, thumb on top and opposite the point of the right angle (X). With your right hand, curl the longer end of the hypotenuse (Z), around toward your left, bringing its underside against the top of the right angle (X). You now have formed a cone with the right side of the paper.
Curl the other end of the hypotenuse (Y) toward your right, around the outside of the first cone, bringing its point (Y) to the back of the right angle (X). You have now completed the cone; slide points back and forth at top, to close tip of cone at other end.
Secure cone either by bending points X, Y, and Z down inside, or by using a straight pin. Cut tip of cone with scissors to make any size of opening you wish.
Appendices
LIST OF STUFFINGS FOR MEATS AND VEGETABLES
STUFFINGS WITH MUSHROOMS
Mushroom duxelles with onions, cream cheese, and parsley—for stuffed vegetables—in the stuffed eggplant recipe, Volume I, page 502.
Mushroom duxelles and spinach, farce Viroflay—for stuffed lamb and veal—in the stuffed shoulder of lamb recipe.
Mushrooms, onions, and ham—for stuffed lamb, veal, or chicken, and for stuffed vegetables—in the lamb section, Volume I, page 337.
Mushroom, giblets, bread crumbs, and cream cheese—for chicken, veal, and stuffed vegetables—in the roast chicken section, Volume I, page 252.
Mushrooms and kidneys, Mushrooms and chicken livers, Mushrooms and ground lamb, Mushrooms and forcemeat—see following section.
STUFFINGS WITH MEAT
Sausage, ham, chard, and bread crumbs—for meats and stuffed vegetables—in the paupiettes of beef.
Sausage, ham, and rice—for meats and stuffed vegetables—in the stuffed cabbage recipe.
Sausage and apple—for duck, goose, and pork—in the roast duck recipe, Volume I, page 275.
Sausage and chestnuts—for duck, goose, turkey, and pork—in the roast goose recipe, Volume I, page 286.
Sausage, rice, and apricots, farce Trébizonde—for duck, goose, pork, and turkey—in the suckling pig recipe.
Ground pork, onions, herbs, and bread crumbs, farce de porc—for stuffed meats and vegetables—in the stuffed lamb section, Volume I, page 336.
Ground pork with ham, truffles, and foie gras—for stuffed veal and chicken, or for use as a pâté mixture—in the veal section, veau en feuilletons.
Ground braised beef, onions, and herbs—for stuffed vegetables, or as a meat loaf—in the stuffed cabbage recipe.
Ground braised beef and chard—for stuffed vegetables, as a meat loaf, or as sausages—in the sausage section, les tous nus.
Ground leftover veal, turkey, or pork with onions and herbs—for stuffed vegetables or as a meat loaf—in the eggplant section.
Veal, ham, rice, and chard or spinach—for stuffed veal or lamb—in the breast of veal recipe.
Forcemeat and mushrooms, boudin blanc, farce normande—for chicken, turkey, or veal—in the poached chicken section.
Ground lamb, olives, and onions—for stuffed lamb and stuffed vegetables—in the lamb section, Volume I, page 338.
Ground lamb, salmon, anchovies, and onions—for stuffed lamb and stuffed vegetables—in the lamb section, Volume I, page 338.
Ground lamb, eggplant, mushrooms, rice, and herbs—for stuffed lamb, stuffed vegetables, and as a meat loaf—the Moussaka recipe, Volume I, page 349.
Kidneys, rice, and herbs—for lamb or veal—in the stuffed lamb section, Volume I, page 337.
Kidneys and mushrooms—for stuffed lamb or veal—in the lamb section.
Foie gras and prunes—for stuffed duck, goose, or turkey—in the stuffed goose recipe, Volume I, page 284.
Foie gras and truffles�
�for filet of beef, veal, or chicken—in the filet of beef recipe, Volume I, page 304.
Chicken livers, rice, foie gras, and truffles, farce à la d’Albuféra—for chicken, turkey, and veal—in the poached chicken section.
Chicken livers, mushrooms, rice, and puréed cooked garlic, farce évocation d’Albuféra—for chicken, turkey, veal, and stuffed vegetables—in the poached chicken section.
Chicken-liver mixture for stuffings, sausages, and pâtés—in the pâté section.
Chicken giblets, herbs, crumbs, and cream cheese—for veal, chicken, turkey, and stuffed vegetables—in the roast chicken recipe, Volume I, page 243. The same, with mushrooms, Volume I, page 252.
MEATLESS AND MUSHROOMLESS STUFFINGS
Rice, onions, and cheese—for stuffed vegetables—in the stuffed onion recipe.