Nougat De Montélimar, Gianduja, Marzipan Apples & Pears, Preserved Fruit Peel

Chef's Petit Fours, Marzipan Fruits

Nougat De Montélimar

We round off yesterday's mise en place with a few finishing touches, but first...

...A Word From Our Sponsors

Enrobing Sliced Nougat In Dark Chocolate - Valrhona, No Less!

Finishing With Cocoa Butter For Shine & Longer Shelf Life

Slicing Pâtes De Fruits.
Impressive Guitar Cutter, Huh?

Finishing Gianduja With Chocolate Piping

Spray Painting Marzipan Fruits

Preserved Orange Peels, Hung Out To Dry...Finally

Carnage!!

That praline was so worth waiting for: irrationally rich and creamy with an Earth-shattering CRUNCH, Ooo-la-lah! We protested when the slab was cut into such tiny morsels, but let me tell ya, with something this good, a little goes a long way.

The nougat was an sweet surprise, but not diabolically sweet; in its stead was a mild sweetness from the honey punctuated with crunch and fragrance of the roasted nuts. For the first time I actually enjoyed nougat, and won't hesitate to recreate this recipe again should the craving hit.

All said and done, it should be noted that these sugary treats were made and tasted greedily devoured at 10 in the morning. Suffice to say, some of us felt oh so sick right after. :p

My Party Platter

Nougat Bars

Can You Guess What This Is?

Clue: I Didn't Do A Good Job! :p

Frasier Torte, Preserved Fruit Peel

Chef Karen's Sweet Frasier Tortes

Frasier Torte is French for strawberry cake, though no much is known about its origin. Call me a cake nerd, I like knowing the history behind my cakes, be they tributes to buildings (Gateau Opéra), saints (Saint Honoré), religion (Croquembouche), or simply created to be so darn pretty (Raspberry Mousse Gateau).

Mise En Place 1: Aerating Eggs & Sugar For Lighter-Than-Air Génoise Sponge

We first made génoise in Basic, and have not done so since, despite or likely due to its delicate structure. Eggs and sugar are vigorously whipped over a bain-marie until foamy and warmed up to 60'C to sterilize the eggs. Transfer to a mixing bowl and let the machine do the rest of the work, aerating it further until a gazillion tiny air bubbles form and the mix quadruples in volume. It's an amazing transformation to witness. 

Next, thoroughly mix in flour (for stability) and melted butter (for flavor and moisture), careful not to knock out too much of the hard-earned air bubbles. It is now ready to be baked.

Baked Génoise: Golden Brown & Delicious, Sliced For The Torte

Mise En Place 2: Mousseline Cream, Marzipan

Mousseline cream is made by mixing crème pâtissière with 4 times the usual amount of butter for extra richness, shine and a silky smooth finish. To this we added kirsch, a beautiful cherry liquor that goes very well with fresh berries.

Tin Lined With Berries & Kirsch Syrup-Soaked Sponge

Layer On Mousseline & 2nd Slice Of Drunkard Sponge

More Moussline & Final Slice Of Boozed-Up Sponge

Clean Finish With Mousseline Cream

The cake is chilled to set the cream, then finished with a layer of marzipan and an assortment of berries, marzipan roses and chocolate decorations. 

Behold! My Darling Frasier Tortes

I am a beemingly proud parent of my Frasiers. To the plain mousseline I added pistachio paste for a more fetching bright green appearance and a hint of my favorite flavor and fragrance. I also stenciled a decorative pattern on the marzipan round, it's a look I like, rather than leaving it plain but not over doing it with anything fussy.

& A Sweet Pink One, Just Coz

This one reminds me of Strawberry Shortcake, the sweetest cartoon of my childhood. :)

Gâteau Mille Feuille De Chocolat à L'orange, Crème Diplomate, Petits Fours Glacé, Preserved Fruit Peel

Chef Gert's Mille Feuille & Petits Fours Glacé

Mille Feuille or "a thousand leaves" describes the feathery light layers (48 in this case) created from the underlying lamination. Known fondly as Vanilla Slice in Australia and Napoleon in France, it made with layers of puff pastry and a creamy filling, topped with fondant and "chocolate feathers". First mentioned in 1651 by François Pierre de La Varenne, it was later improved by Marie-Antoine Carême in the 18th century, noting it of "ancient origin."

Petits fours were probably created in the 18th century, when wasting heat was unheard of: tiny cakes would be baked during the cooling process of the ovens, hence the name which means "little ovens". Cute, eh?

But that's not all. Petits fours glacés are cakes iced  and decorated in fondant or glacé icing, petits fours secs are its dry cousins such as biscuits and meringues. Then there are the petits fours salés, savoury  appetizers commonly served at cocktail parties or buffets.

Inversely Puffy Layers Of Feathery Lightness

Chocolate Reverse Puff & Crème Diplomate

Due to its dark appearance, baking the chocolate puff requires extra care to ensure it bakes without burning, and today's Crème Diplomate was made with orange zest for extra oomph.

Components all in place, it's time to get cracking!

Layering Puff & Crème Diplomate

 Drizzling Chocolate & Feathering

Chef Gert left out his favorite ingredient in the above demonstration: apricot jam. Sacrilege! He cried inconsolably. For all you perfectionists out there, the jam goes on the top layer of puff, before the fondant is poured on.

Beautiful Layers

Covering With Fondant, Chocolate Piping

 

The petit fours are structurally similar to the Mille Feuille, and yet so different. Look closely and you'll note the latter has layers of dark chocolate puff against the sunshine-yellow cream, while the former, layers of golden jaconde and dark chocolate ganache. 

Both however, are finished off with fondant and decorative chocolate piping.

Semi Petits Fours Glacé

Goofin' Around

My My Mille Feuille

I found Chef's Crème Diplomate quite bland so I added more sugar (A first!), zest and kirsch in mine. Margarita later pointed out there was no kirsch in the recipe. :p

I've never been a fan of Mille Feuille, as it makes such a mess when you slice into it. But the more I tasted it the more I liked how the mild chocolate crunch of the puff complemented the soft Crème Diplomate with its fresh hint of orange. It's slowly growing on me.

My Petits Fours Glacé

The fondant was too sweet for my liking, no matter how much water I thinned it down with. Nonetheless, they look absolutely adorable and make the sweetest gifts. :)