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"Tell me what you eat: I will tell you what you are."
— Brillat-Savarin
I am a bowl of cheerios with brown sugar and low-fat milk.
I am a venti non-fat latté with an extra shot {and sometimes whip} sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.
I am crunchy granola and vanilla yogurt.
I am an original Tim Tam.
I am a curried salmon salad on a homemade toasted sesame seed bagel.
{I am an A&W Teen burger, no pickles or onions.}
I am a glass of deep yellow vanilla chardonnay with tropical notes.
What are you?
A savarin is a French cake, similar to brioche since it contains yeast, but not as rich. It's named after Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin who was a famous politician, writer and gastronome from 18th century France. Brillat-Savarin wrote The Physiology of Taste, which has been called a "masterpiece on the subject of cooking as an art and eating as a pleasure" (according to Link).
Like brioche, the savarin ingredients are mixed to form a soft, sticky and shaggy ball that is left to grow under a damp cloth until doubled. Before baking, butter is slapped into the dough with "the fingertips of both hands." After putting it into your mold, it rests for another 15 minutes before baking.
While the savarin is cooling, you lovingly brush it with the melted syrup of sugar, rum and vanilla and then glaze it with warmed apricot jam.
Delicately placed slices of strawberries and kiwi garnish the dessert. And finally you add a spoonful of Chantilly cream or crème Chantilly, otherwise known as whipped cream, but according to ochef, "you have to dress up to eat it."
In the end you have a fancy, dense version of strawberry shortcake.
Recipe
Serves 6
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1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ ounce fresh yeast or ¾ teaspoon dried yeast
1/3 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
For the Syrup:
1 cup sugar
¾ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup dark rum
¾ cup Apricot Glaze (1-2 tablespoons water heated with apricot jam)
2 kiwifruit, peeled and sliced thin
½ pint basket small fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
For the Chantilly Cream:
1¼ cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Unsalted butter, softened, for savarin mold (I used a bundt pan.)
You can find the recipe for Savarin aux Kiwis et aux Fraises (Rum Savarin with Kiwis and Strawberries) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!
Tasting Notes
This yeasty cake needs to be drenched and drowned in the rum syrup. Using homemade apricot jam and freshly-picked local berries would help improve the taste of this dessert. If you love strawberry shortcake, you'll enjoy this dessert but expect a little more chew in each bite of this clean, simple cake.
Links
• Baking Bites: Champagne Savarin
• Food History: Savarin Cake and the Celebrated Gourmand Brillat-Savarin
• Cannelle et Vanille: Lemon, Orange and Almond Savarin Cakes with Grapefruit Sorbet
• The Well-Seasoned Cook: Peaches and Dream – Peach Rum Savarin
• Gourmet: My Day on a Plate: Jacques Pépin
Next Class
• Menu 3, Part 1: Civet de Lapin à la Française (Rabbit Stew with Red Wine) pages 452-453
. . . . . . . . . .
Running total: $1,376.56 + $7.96 = $1,384.52
($1.33 per serving)
Butter used so far: 12 pounds, 11.5 tablespoons
. . . . . . . . . .
::Whisk Wednesdays::
We're cooking our way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, we try to find a suitable substitution. Find out more here.
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28 comments:
Wow, that's absolutely gorgeous! As for what I am? Scones, cherries, banana, blueberries, edamame, a buttermilk biscuit, and honey-peach ice cream :) Evidently, I'll begin sprouting fruit sometime very soon...
I am: organic whole wheat toast with jam, many cups of coffee with cream, grapes & mixed nuts, roast chicken, with whole wheat bun and butter. I would like to be Savarin, Kiwis & Strawberries! -Chris Ann
I love that first photo Shari! That may be one of the prettiest desserts I've ever seen! I just borrowed the Le Cordon Bleu book from my library and I'm psyched to start flipping through.
Shari
It's beautiful. I would like to make this again, now that I'm a little more familiar with it. I also saw it resembling our strawberry shortcake dessert with a little more density.
Shari
It's beautiful. I would like to make this again, now that I'm a little more familiar with it. I also saw it resembling our strawberry shortcake dessert with a little more density.
I just picked up The Physiology of Taste the other day from the library. Haven't started it yet. I'm reading With Bold Knife and Fork by MFK Fisher first, but she actually quotes Savarin a lot.
we blog at nighttime...
But on another note, this bread looks so good specifically because the knobs of butter you pressed inwards. instant genius. instant 10+ points.
I want it.
Hah! I didn't know there was so much background to savarin. I just thought it was a yeast cake that you always had to rum up! I love the presentation, it's so pretty!
Beautiful!
Since it's very early in the morning here, I am simply a cup of coffee.
well, if those fruits were in season during christmas, this'd be the perfect celebration dish. heck, it's perfect anyway--nicely done!
Very pretty Shari!
Festive and obviously very appropriate for the season!
I love strawberry season, can't wait to go picking... and packing my freezer with that treasure (now that I have a huge new freezer! YAY! ...a whole rack of it will be filled with strawberry that will suffice for the entire year!) lol
Sounds fantastic! I have to try making a savarin. The whipped cream and fruit on top look great.
I am a soggy, day old, Subway turkey sandwich with Ritz and a bottle water.
I want to be this Savarin so badly though.
Such a pretty dessert. I like the mini ones the best!
Great post Shari! I'm not sure what I am today...a travel cup of hot cafe mocha...a seafood-pasta salad...and a cream soda...oh wait...um...there was that mini chocolate chip cupcake too...and that pepper with ranch dressing...That's what I am today! LOL! Gorgeous pictures as always m'dear!!
What a lovely dessert! Thank you for stopping by my blog. (Your bagels looks delicious too!)
That's is beautiful! I am crunchy granola and caramel bites today =)
love all the ingredients used.. all of my favorite.. a must try for the week end.. sound rili good.. perfect for dessert..
cheers!!
A really comforting treat on a summer day !
Thanks for sharing your recipe :)
And you visit me if I can visit you
Welcome~~~
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That is so beautiful!
Right now I am a Canadian beer, tonight I will be a BLT on homemade bread, because I am tired.
YUM - that looks beautiful! I must pick up that book, too...
looks so good! i love the strawberries, they're so red and juicy...it's strawberry time alright!
How gorgeous is this? Don't you just love all the colors? I can see this with other fruits as well and it is one stunning showcase of a dessert without a whole lot of fussing. What am I? A salad...always always a salad!
Wow! could that be any more gorgeous??
Can it get better than this Shari?WOW...what a fusion of taste & colours. I think I'll just live in a small corner of your beautiful blog!!
wow wonderful cake great site rebecca
I am a glass of red wine but I hope to be Savarin aux Kiwis et aux Fraises sometime very soon! GREG
Looks so bright, colorful and very summery! thank you for the recipe. A must try!
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