Sarah Bernhardts Cookies

I previously had baked from five of Alice Medrich’s books and always appreciate her insight into ingredients and precise instructions. However, I’d never used her first book until receiving a review copy of the newly republished Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts which first appeared in 1990. A lot has changed in the availability of varieties of chocolate and cocoa powder since then. These days, you can find exactly the cacao percentage you’d like to use for dark and even milk chocolate. But, back before such offerings could be found easily, Alice Medrich was creating incredible, artful desserts at her shop in Berkeley starting in 1976. In this new publication of the book, she has added some updated information including a Chocolate Chart. The chart indicates what percentage of cacao chocolate should be used for each recipe since when the ingredient lists were first written, they just called for semisweet or bittersweet. And, these are beautiful desserts. Any fear of attempting them will dissipate as you read the book. The instructions explain which recipes are deceptively simple and any of the more complicated steps for the truly show-stopping treats are carefully explained and illustrated. There’s a chapter full of torts that are all easier to make than you might first think, and they can be served simply or adorned. The Mocha Pecan Torte with a Mocha Glaze is one I want to try. Next is a chapter of Designer Desserts, and these require a little more time and attention for the incredible results. The Strawberry Carousel with White Chocolate Mousse and the Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Tart are both elegant options for a special occasion. Not every recipe in the book is chocolate-focused. You’ll find a Coco Cabana cake made in a dome shape and topped with big pieces of coconut, Lemon Roulades that are made in petite individual serving size, and a Citrus Tart with glistening candied citrus slices. There’s also a chapter of Petite Rewards full of smaller treats like Walnut Squares which take brownies to a new level, Chocolate Dessert Cups that can be filled with ice cream or berries, and these dressed-up cookies shown here named for Sarah Bernhardt. 

So, who was Sarah Bernhardt? She was a French stage actress who performed around the turn of the 20th century. The cookies were invented in Denmark when she visited Copenhagen. They’re made up of an almond macaroon base topped with a chocolate ganache, and the cookie is then dipped into chocolate glaze. In Cocolat, the photo shows perfect, little confections. The ganache has been piped into precise cone shapes, and only the top is covered in chocolate with the cookie base seen below. They are also adorned with flecks of gold leaf. Mine look a little more casual by comparison, but the flavors and textures were divine. They can be made in stages, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First to make the cookies bases, you do want to carefully measure the egg whites. It should be exactly three tablespoons and not just an eyeballed amount from one to two eggs as I did incorrectly the first time. My first attempt produced cookies that spread too much but were delicious thanks to the almond extract. The second time, I measured the egg whites and ended up with a thicker paste of a batter that was easily piped into small rounds. For the ganache topping, the recipe suggests making a double batch of the Chocolate Ganache in the book. That seemed like a lot of ganache to me, so I decided to just make a single batch and see how far it would go. I ended having more than enough to top all the cookies. The ganache is a simple mixture of warmed cream and chopped chocolate, stirred until melted and smooth, that was chilled overnight before being beaten to a silky, smooth texture. After lightening the ganache in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, it was piped onto the cookies. I created more of a swirl shape rather than a cone. The cookies were then chilled while the chocolate glaze was made. The glaze was made from chopped chocolate, butter, and corn syrup. Once melted and mixed, the glaze needs to cool to about 90 degrees F before being used. And, it’s handy to place the glaze in a tall container to dip the cookies into it. You could dip the entire top of the cookies or just the ganache, but work quickly so the ganache doesn’t become too soft. Then, chill the cookies again until ready to serve. 

Alice Medrich is a master of chocolate confections, and I always love learning from her. The techniques in this book, from working with chocolate for glazes and piped decorations to ribbons of chocolate to top a cake, will set you on a path to making amazing desserts. And, as she points out, regardless of how the creations look, they’re going to taste delicious. 

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Pumpkin-Walnut Cake

Remember last April when the Austin Bakes group organized a big bake sale benefitting recovery efforts in Japan? Well, we’re getting the band back together again, and this time, all proceeds will benefit the Austin Community Foundation's Central Texas Wildfire Fund. This fund is providing support to agencies working in Bastrop, Steiner Ranch, Spicewood, and other parts of Central Texas affected by wildfire. The bake sale is this Saturday, October 1, from 10 am until 2 pm at six locations in Austin and one location in Round Rock, and there’s also an online giving page. With the day of the bake sale approaching quickly, I needed to test a recipe for a cake that I thought might be worthy of the event. This is a cake from the book Miette, and it caught my eye when I read the book earlier this summer. It’s an easy, bundt cake, and in the book, made-from-scratch pumpkin puree is recommended. I cheated and used organic canned pumpkin puree, and the cake was lovely. With pumpkin and walnuts involved, I expected a deliciously dense crumb, but instead, this was one of the lightest and fluffiest cakes with nuts I’ve tasted. It’s adorned with just enough chocolate ganache to make it special, but just a dusting of confectioners' sugar or even leaving it plain wouldn’t have diminished this cake.

It's a good idea to generously butter a bundt pan. To be sure the cake pops out of the pan without issues, slather plenty of softened butter into all the grooves and curves of the pan. With a well-buttered and floured pan, the batter can be started. Dry ingredients including flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt were sifted into a bowl. I combined a little whole wheat flour with mostly all-purpose for the total flour quantity. Then, in a stand mixer, eggs and sugar were mixed, and vegetable oil was slowly drizzled in while still mixing. There is a note in the recipe explaining that if canned pumpkin puree is used, some water should be added. So, the puree was combined with a quarter cup of water, and that mixture was added to the mixing bowl and incorporated. The dry ingredients were slowly added, and toasted, chopped walnuts were folded into the batter. The cake baked for 50 minutes, and I waited impatiently.

As I said, this was a delightfully tender-crumbed cake. The pumpkin puree keeps it that way, and the walnuts added flavor and crunch. The chocolate ganache was completely optional, but it was such nice, subtle added touch on top, I’ll definitely include it again next time. Due to the unanimous thumbs-up review, I’ll be baking another one of these cakes for Saturday’s bake sale.

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Boston Cream Pie

It's not that Kurt doesn't think about mealtime, but he doesn't spend nearly as much time thinking about food as I do. He almost never asks what's for dinner or what's for dessert and very rarely makes any special requests. He says he trusts I have it covered, and it's true that I usually do. However, once in a while, especially when I've been on a light and healthy kick, he'll say something like "are we having Boston cream pie for dessert?" He loves it. I have made it a time or two, but since I'm always trying new recipes, it hadn't appeared on our table in years. So, when I was reading my review copy of Maida Heatter's Cakes and came upon her version of Boston cream pie, I had to give it a go. I mentioned previously how much I trust Maida's recipes, and she claimed this was the best version of Boston cream pie she's tried. Sold. She noted that she doesn't know why it's called a pie, and neither do I.

Two layers of sponge cake are filled with vanilla pastry cream, and the pastry cream is the first item to prepare so it can be chilled. This pastry cream was made in the usual way with eggs whisked in a bowl and set aside. Flour, salt, and sugar were combined in a saucepan, and milk was whisked into the mixture. That was brought to a boil over medium-low heat and stirred until thick. The hot milk mixture was slowly whisked into the eggs in the bowl, and then that was poured back into the saucepan where it was heated while stirring constantly. Once thickened, vanilla and almond extracts were added off the heat. The pastry cream was transferred to a bowl and left to cool with parchment paper pressed directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. The sponge cake was simple enough. Egg whites were whipped with some sugar until they held a soft shape, and egg yolks were mixed separately with sugar until very light in color. Vanilla, lemon juice, and some cold water were mixed with the yolks. The yolks were folded into the whites, then the dry ingredients including flour and baking powder were folded in as well. Last, melted butter was just barely folded into the batter. The batter was baked in a nine-inch round pan, and next time, I think I'll use an eight-inch pan because it spread out somewhat thin. Once the cake was baked and cooled, it was sliced in half and filled with the chilled pastry cream. The filled cake was topped with a simple chocolate ganache made with chopped semisweet chocolate and cream.

This was exactly what's expected from a Boston cream pie. The cake was tender and fluffy, the filling was rich and nicely vanilla-flavored, and the chocolate ganache was the perfect contrast on top. I don't know if it was the best Boston cream pie ever, but I'll probably eventually try several others for comparison's sake. Most importantly, Kurt was thrilled to open the refrigerator and see what was for dessert.

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Celebration Cake

Back in January, I learned about an organization that provides birthday cakes for kids who might not otherwise receive one. Free Cakes for Kids has chapters in various cities, and I’m sure each one operates a little differently. The Austin chapter invites volunteer home bakers to deliver cakes for birthdays as well as other client agency celebrations so that those agencies’ funds can be directed to the needs of the children they assist rather than to cakes. I’ve volunteered a couple of times now to bake and deliver cakes, and it’s been a pleasure to contribute to the good work being done by this organization. Last week, I volunteered to deliver a cake for a going away party at one of the client agencies. The cake flavor was up to me to choose, so I went with what I hoped would be a universally well-like combination. I baked a yellow cake and topped it with chocolate fudge frosting. I knew I could count on any of the cakes from The Modern Baker, and that’s where I found the recipes I used here.

There’s a note in the intro to the recipe regarding the simplified technique that results in such a nice texture for the cake. Rather than separating eggs, beating the whites, and folding them into the batter, whole eggs were mixed into butter, sugar, and vanilla. Half the dry ingredients were added and briefly mixed, the mixer bowl was scraped, and buttermilk was added and mixed. Then, the remaining dry ingredients were added, and the batter was mixed continuously for three minutes. Malgieri claims that last bit of mixing is critical, and I’ll take his word for it since the cake was light as can be. For the frosting, semisweet chocolate was melted, and a combination of warmed cream and corn syrup was added to it. It was whisked until smooth, and then butter was incorporated. The frosting needed to be chilled for a bit to thicken to a good spreading consistency. I left it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before frosting the cake. It was thick and glossy and very easy to swoop about on top and smooth onto the sides of the cake.

Knowing that the cake was to be delivered and therefore I wouldn’t be able to cut into it myself, I made some extra batter and frosting so I could bake a few cupcakes to keep at home. That was out of a sense of duty, I assure you. I wanted all of you to be able to see the inside of this tender-crumbed and delicious yellow cake. Although, I usually like to experiment with new and different cake flavors, fillings, and frostings, sometimes a reliable, basic cake is exactly what you need. The yellow, vanilla layers could be paired with all sorts of different frostings, but the chocolate ganache would be hard to beat. The frosting was rich and fudgy and not too sweet or heavy. This is a classic that I know I’ll turn to for many more celebrations to come.

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