Final Frostings and Fillings

Today I was able to pound out the six remaining recipes in the Frostings and Fillings section of the Basics chapter.  I've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's get to it, starting with the Liqueur Cream on page 43.

The sugar and egg yolks get whisked together in heat-proof bowl.

To make things easier on myself later, I premixed the flour, milk, and sour cream in a separate bowl.  Like I said in the last post, I tend to review a recipe a couple of times to get a battle plan formed, and I recognized that these three ingredients were all going to be added in together, and at that point in time I would be engaged in cooking and unable to measure and add them.  Preparedness was a theme today.

Here are the eggs and sugar after their whisking; note the color.

They were set up as a double-boiler and from this point on I needed to have everything ready to go.  Once you reach this stage, you are committed.

After a few minutes on the heat and with some whisking, the color you noted above has now turned a pastel yellow.

The milk, flour, and sour cream get added next, and whisked immediately to incorporate.

It will seem like NOTHING is happening for a while, and then within ten to fifteen seconds suddenly all the flour does its job and the cream thickens super quickly.

Remove that from the double-boiler setup and while it cools you can whisk your egg whites to stiff peaks.

Add in your liqueur of choice (I used kirsch) to the cream.

Add in your egg whites and begin folding, trying to preserve as much of the volume as possible.

Your Liqueur Cream is complete!  With a little time the strong alcohol bite goes away and the cream is quite delicious.  I think it would be quite tasty as filling in an eclair or something of that nature.

Second up today was the Rum-Flavored Mousseline on page 43.  I guessed from the name that this was going to resemble some sort of mousse.

The previous recipe reinforced the notion that you had better have your act together once these fillings hit the heat, so setting up your mise en place is vital.

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and salt together.  Then add in your flour.  Already I noticed that this was different because this was all done off of any sort of heat.

The milk goes in next, also off of any kind of heat.

Now we finally get some thermal energy happening!  The double-boiler is used again.

Once this thickens up (mine barely did, it was a little disappointing), you are almost done!

Start whisking in the butter a little bit at a time, this will help to thicken the filling.

The fun stuff is the last addition.

This was the tastiest of the fillings today, albeit the thinnest one as well.  I may have to try this one again to see if I goofed up something and it should really be a lot thicker.  This ended up being much more of a sauce than a filling.

Third on deck today was the Saint-Honoré Cream on page 44.  What sets this recipe apart from the rest is the use of gelatin.

The gelatin goes in a small portion of the milk for five-minute soak.

While that is happening, you can prepare a lot of the other ingredients.  Whisk the egg yolks and sugar (see a theme yet?) and set over a double-boiler.  When it fluffs up a bit, add in the milk, flour, vanilla extract, and gelatin (all of which was pre-mixed together in the measuring cup you see below for easy adding) and keep whisking.

When the mixture thickens and falls in ribbons (like you see below) you can remove it from the heat.

While it cools, whisk your egg whites like you did before.

Once the cream is cool enough, you can add it to the egg whites and begin folding.

This ended up being the most interesting of the recipes, and quite possibly my overall favorite of the section.   The taste was super addictive, and the texture was light and foamy, as opposed to many of the recipes today which were a bit heavy.  The book does warn you, however, that this cream will not keep for more than a few hours, which is certainly a drawback.

It's time for some chocolate!  The Chocolate Cream on page 44 was fourth in today's lineup, and also sported the fewest amount of ingredients.

This STRONGLY resembled another buttercream, especially when you consider how much butter this used and the fact that you start by beating the butter until it becomes pale and creamy.

The sugar and eggs are beaten in next.

The cocoa powder is mixed in, and you are done.  This was very quick and low on the labor-intensive scale.  As a bonus, this is quite easily my favorite chocolate recipe so far.  The texture is light and smooth enough to serve as a filling, but also firm enough that it could serve double-duty as a frosting.  I've already marked it as the go-to chocolate recipe in my notes in the cookbook.

Next-to-last today was the Almond Cream on 44.  This recipe uses almond flour, which I've been using all summer while practicing macarons (another story).

The sugar, eggs, flour, and butter go into a saucepan (no double-boilers today!) which was a little different.

Like so many of the recipes in this section, you whisk over heat until the flour kicks in and thickens the mixture.  I repeat, this thickening will seem like it's never going to happen, and then all happen at once.

In another saucepan, boil the milk.

When your mixture thickens, slowly drizzle in the milk, whisking the entire time (my arms are currently on fire from all the whisking today).

Add in the almond flour, and you are complete.  Overall, I found this cream somewhat mediocre.  As I mentioned, I have been working with almond flour a lot this summer, and have become quite accustomed to its flavor, which was somewhat lacking in this recipe.

Finally, I came to the last recipe in this section, the Almond Custard on page 45.  This recipe had the same basic components as the Almond Cream, just in different proportions.

The milk gets boiled, just like its counterpart.

In a bowl off of any heat, however, the other ingredients (except for the almond flour) get whisked together.

Once the milk hits the boiling point, remove it from the heat and start to add it to the mixture.  Remember to temper!

See?  No scrambled eggs to be found!

This gets poured back into the saucepan and heat is added back into the equation.  You are waiting for the Great Thickening to occur.

Like this!

Whisk in the almond flour, and you are finished with this recipe (and this section).

The Almond Custard is significantly thicker than the cream, and the book states this recipe can be used as a filling for pastries and tarts.  I think it would be better once it is baked, but I could definitely see it being used in a tart.

All done with this section, and the Sauces and Syrups are next!  Following that, I get to start in on small cakes!

Frostings and Fillings III

I'm almost done with the frostings and fillings, I swear.  Today, at least, I was able to finish up the buttercreams, and the local cows are rejoicing.  First up today was the most labor intensive of the group, the Praline Buttercream on page 40.

The first thing you have to do is to make the praline powder from scratch.  Start by dissolving the sugar into some water in a pan.

Boil this until it just starts to turn brown.

Dump in your almonds and cook until the sugar starts to turn a dark golden brown and the almonds have been toasted.

Pour this onto a baking sheet that has been sprayed with Pam, and allow to thoroughly cool.

Sure, sure, you can chop this up in a food processor or something, but when you have something as cool as my giant mortar and pestle, why would you?

When cooled, the praline will stick together as one sheet.  Break this up into pieces and place in the mortar and pestle.

Release the fury!

Now that you have praline powder, it is time to make the buttercream.  Place a mixing bowl in a pan that has been filled most of the way with water.  Think of this as another bain marie.

Whisk the eggs and sugar in the simmering water bath until it has tripled in volume.

Remove from heat, but keep stirring until cool, unless you like scrambled eggs.  Start beating in your butter, and when creamy, add in the praline powder.

There you go, you now have Praline Buttercream!  It's not difficult, it just takes a while to do.  This would be really cool on top of a simple cake.

Next up today was the last of the buttercreams, the Mocha Buttercream on page 40.

Thankfully, this was a little less labor-intensive.  Start by creaming your butter in the stand mixer.

Add in the sugar in parts to allow it to incorporate.  With the last addition of sugar, also mix in your chocolate powder.  Like the previous entry's coffee buttercream, add in your coffee syrup as well.

Mocha madness, buttercream style!  I could see how this stuff could be addictive to certain people.

Have you ever tried to find potato flour?  Yesterday was another wild-goose chase looking for that stuff, and it was completely unsuccessful.  Potato flour is just dehydrated potatoes that have been ground into a powder, how hard should this be to find?  When I was talking about this with a friend last night, he suggested dehydrating your own potato.  While I wasn't about to do that, it did give me an idea.  You CAN buy dehydrated potatoes and grind them yourself!  So this morning I picked up some dehydrated potato flakes.

See?

Here is the before and after shot.

I now had what I needed to make the Pastry Cream Filling on page 41.

Well, except for the two cups of creme fraiche...I didn't feel like shelling out over twenty bucks for that stuff (another wild-goose chase this morning) so I used sour cream as a substitute.  Anyway, mix together your flours and creme fraiche, then whisk in the eggs and sugar.

Place in a saucepan over moderate heat and stir until it thickens.  At first it seems like nothing is ever going to happen, then suddenly your wooden spoon has lumps on it.  Start stirring like mad, because the starches in the flours are starting to expand.  Eventually, the mixture will be so thick that as you stir you will notice the mixture does not ooze back together in the pan.

Allow this to cool, and then add kirsch if you like.  You are done!

The final project today was the Crème Pâtissière on page 41.

Begin this recipe by scraping the seeds out of a vanilla bean.  Use a paring knife to do so.

Split the bean.

Then scrape the seeds out with the tip of the knife.

Throw both the seeds and the bean into your milk and then bring to a boil.

While the milk is coming to a boil, whisk together the eggs, flour, and sugar.

This will be quite thick for now.

In the previous entry I showed you how to temper the egg mixture so that you don't have scrambled eggs floating in milk.  Do the same thing here.

When all of the milk has been whisked in, return the mixture to the saucepan and give it some gentle heat.  Start stirring immediately, as this is already quite hot.

In very little time you will have a nice, thick filling!

Overall, the Praline Buttercream was the most fun to make, and the Crème Pâtissière had the best flavor.  I can imaging using the latter in something like the Choux Pastry Dough that I made earlier.  The Pastry Cream Filling was VERY tangy, so I'm interested in seeing how it is applied in future recipes.

Six more frostings and fillings to go!