Chef Juliette
Various Almond Preparations
Five almond preparations, one discipline: remove the skins cleanly, dry every kernel through, then cut, toast, or cloak it in pale caramel without letting its fragrant oils escape.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Crème Caprice
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2646, Crème Caprice, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Crème Caprice proves that texture can be the whole dessert: cold Chantilly, rough pieces of crisp meringue, and a shell of berry-pink cream, all set in one narrow mold for a celebration.
Desserts
French
Special Occasion
Make Ahead
Celebration
30 min
Active Time
0 min cook•2 hr 30 min total
YieldOne 1-quart (1-liter) mold, 6 servings
Crème Caprice (frozen Chantilly with rough meringue) teaches a small, decisive lesson: texture must be folded in, not beaten away. The one true thing to know before touching a bowl is that the meringue must remain in irregular pieces. Powder drinks the cream and turns pasty; crisp rubble gives the cold, airy interior its character.
The original assumed a narrow scallop-shaped Madeleine-mould, white paper, a lid sealed and tied against meltwater, and enough packed ice to hold it for two hours. Your honest equivalent is a chilled one-quart narrow mold or loaf pan lined with white parchment, sealed under foil, and set in the freezer. The burial in ice and the string were brigade scaffolding and can go; the quarter-volume of meringue, the gentle fold, and the two-hour set are the dish and stay.
Turned out at the last moment, Crème Caprice is ivory and softly firm, with crisp white pockets inside and pale pink Chantilly following its ridges. Whip the cream only until it holds a curved peak, then break Ordinary Meringue (No. 2382) by hand into pebbles, never dust. That rough break is the step that matters most.
Crème Caprice belongs not to a provincial repertory but to the Parisian grand-kitchen table, among entremets glacés molded for the formal dessert course. Its narrow scallop-shell Madeleine-mould, sealed paper lining, and fanciful name marked it as a service dessert, while packed ice supplied the cold that a home freezer now gives without ceremony. Despite crème in the title, it is not a custard: Chantilly gives the body, freezing supplies the set, and broken meringue provides the defining contrast.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cold heavy cream
Quantity
2 cups (480 ml / about 485 g)
cold heavy cream for rescue (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / about 30 g)
confectioners' sugar
Quantity
1/4 cup (60 ml / 30 g)
sifted
pure vanilla extract
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g)
Ordinary Meringue
Quantity
3/4 cup (180 ml / about 30 g) Ordinary Meringue (No. 2382)
fully dried and roughly broken into irregular 1/2- to 1-inch pieces
strawberry juice
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / about 8 g)
strained
raspberry juice
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / about 8 g)
strained
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cold heavy cream | 2 cups (480 ml / about 485 g) |
| cold heavy cream for rescue (optional) | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / about 30 g) |
| confectioners' sugarsifted | 1/4 cup (60 ml / 30 g) |
| pure vanilla extract | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g) |
| Ordinary Meringuefully dried and roughly broken into irregular 1/2- to 1-inch pieces | 3/4 cup (180 ml / about 30 g) Ordinary Meringue (No. 2382) |
| strawberry juicestrained | 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / about 8 g) |
| raspberry juicestrained | 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml / about 8 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •1-quart (1-liter) narrow mold, Madeleine-mould, or 8-by-4-inch loaf pan
- •White baking parchment and foil
- •Electric mixer or large balloon whisk
- •Flexible spatula
- •Piping bag with a 1/2-inch grooved or star pipe
- •Cold serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Chill and line mold
Set a 1-quart narrow mold, scallop-shaped Madeleine-mould, or 8-by-4-inch loaf pan in the freezer for fifteen minutes. Line it with two crossing strips of white baking parchment, smoothing them against the cold surface and leaving enough overhang to lift the dessert later. Keep the mold in the freezer while you prepare the cream.
The parchment replaces the original white paper. Crossing strips release more cleanly than one crumpled sheet and leave fewer creases on the finished cream. - 2
Whip the Chantilly
Pour the 2 cups of cold heavy cream into a chilled bowl and add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Whisk first at low speed, then at medium, until the cream roughly doubles in volume and holds distinct ridges with a peak that bends at its tip. Stop before it becomes stiff or grainy. If the surface begins to look rough, stop immediately and whisk in 1 tablespoon of the reserved cold cream by hand; add the second only if needed. Ça se rattrape. You want about 4 cups of supple Chantilly, not butter waiting to happen.
- 3
Fold in meringue
Measure 3 cups of Chantilly into a wide cold bowl and reserve the remaining cup, covered, in the refrigerator for decoration. Measure 3/4 cup of roughly broken Ordinary Meringue (No. 2382), exactly one-quarter of the filling cream by volume. If breaking produced dust, lift out the irregular pieces and leave the powder behind; it would dissolve into paste. Fold the pieces through the 3 cups of Chantilly with three or four broad turns of a flexible spatula, stopping as soon as they are distributed.
Volume governs this ratio because meringues vary enormously in weight. Measure the pieces only after breaking them, and never press them down in the cup. - 4
Fill, seal, freeze
Spoon the mixture into the chilled lined mold without crushing the meringue pieces. Ease it into the corners with the spatula and level the top, but don't pack it down. Lay a fresh piece of parchment directly over the surface, fold over the lining, and seal the mold tightly with foil. Freeze in the coldest part of the freezer for two hours, until the center feels firm when pressed through the covering. If it still yields deeply, give it another twenty to thirty minutes.
- 5
Tint the cream
Stir the strained strawberry and raspberry juices together. Fold them into the reserved Chantilly in three additions until the cream is evenly pale pink, preserving as much volume as possible. If the juice loosens the cream enough that it no longer holds a ridge, chill it for ten minutes and whisk it gently by hand until the curved peak returns. Fit a piping bag with a 1/2-inch grooved or star pipe, fill it with the pink Chantilly, and keep it cold.
- 6
Turn out and pipe
Uncover the mold only when you are ready to serve. Invert it onto a cold platter and lift away the mold using the parchment overhang. If it clings, wrap the outside with a room-temperature damp towel for five seconds, then try again; don't warm the cream itself. Peel off the paper and pipe the berry-pink Chantilly generously along the ridges and around the base. Cut with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped dry between slices. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Ordinary Meringue (No. 2382) must be completely dry before it enters the cream. A chewy center dissolves, while a crisp meringue keeps the irregular pockets that define Crème Caprice.
- •A narrow loaf pan is the honest home equivalent of the Madeleine-mould. Its straight sides release easily and give the dessert enough height to show the meringue pieces when sliced.
- •Outside strawberry and raspberry season, thaw a few good frozen berries and press them through a fine sieve. You need only their juice and color, and fruit frozen when ripe is better than a pale fresh berry.
- •Serve the dessert directly from the freezer if it has set for only two hours. After a longer freeze, let it stand in the refrigerator for ten minutes before unmolding so the Chantilly is softly firm rather than hard.
Advance Preparation
- •Ordinary Meringue (No. 2382) may be prepared several days ahead and kept completely airtight at room temperature. Humidity softens it, so don't refrigerate it.
- •The filled mold may remain frozen for up to eight hours. Longer storage softens the meringue pieces as they absorb moisture from the cream, so this is best made on the day it is served.
- •The berry juices can be strained a day ahead and kept cold. Tint and bag the reserved Chantilly during the final half-hour so the piping remains full and sharply ridged.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 99g)
Calories
335 calories
Total Fat
31 g
Saturated Fat
20 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
10 g
Cholesterol
95 mg
Sodium
30 mg
Total Carbohydrates
13 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
13 g
Protein
3 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Entremets (Sweets) - Cold Sweets
Browse the full collection
Chef Juliette
Various Preparations of Filberts and Hazel-nuts
A pastry pantry lesson in one tray: filberts warmed only until their red skins release, rubbed clean, cooled, and chopped into a fragrant mise-en-place for cakes, creams, pralines, and petits fours.
Chef Juliette
The Buttering and Glazing of Moulds
The smallest pâtisserie discipline decides whether a cake leaves its mould intact: clarified butter in every corner, followed by the lightest veil of dry flour or fécule.
Chef Juliette
How to Beat the Whites of Eggs
Four whites, one spotless bowl, and a patient change of speed: whisk gently until loosened, then briskly to glossy stiffness, with powdered sugar waiting if the foam begins to granulate.