Biscuit à la Reine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •7-inch (18 cm) manqué mould or deep round cake tin
• •8-inch (20 cm) plate or pastry ring for cutting the pâte sèche
• •650 ml fluted pudding mould as the home equivalent of a Richelieu mould
• •Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
• •Digital thermometer
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Pastry brush
• •Piping bag with a small star or plain tip

Instructions

1. 1

   Bake the pâte sèche

   Rub the cold butter into the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the reserved egg yolk and press the dough together; if dry flour remains, add the cold water a few drops at a time. Do not knead. Flatten into a disc and chill for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Roll the dough 3 mm thick, cut a 20 cm round, prick it all over, and chill it for another 10 minutes. Bake on a lined sheet for 16 to 20 minutes, until evenly golden and dry through the centre. Cool completely on a rack.

   If the dough cracks while rolling, let it stand for two minutes and patch it with your fingers. Ça se rattrape. If it feels greasy or limp, chill it again before baking.
2. 2

   Bake the Savoy biscuit

   Lower the oven to 340°F (170°C). Butter and flour an 18 cm manqué mould. Whisk the four yolks with ⅔ of the superfine sugar until thick, pale, and capable of holding a ribbon for several seconds. In a clean bowl, beat the whites with the salt to soft peaks, then add the remaining sugar gradually and beat to glossy medium peaks. Fold one-third of the whites into the yolks to loosen them. Fold in half the sifted flour and cornstarch, then the remaining whites and dry ingredients, turning the bowl and cutting cleanly through the centre so the foam keeps its air. Transfer immediately to the mould and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden, springy, and beginning to draw from the sides. Rest for 10 minutes, turn out, and cool completely on a rack.

   This biscuit contains no melted butter to disguise poor folding. If streaks of flour remain, fold twice more; if you stir until perfectly smooth, you will drive out the air that raises it.
3. 3

   Mould the Bavarois

   Rinse a 650 ml fluted pudding mould with cold water and leave it undried. Sprinkle the gelatin over its cold water and let it bloom for 10 minutes. Heat the milk just to a simmer. Whisk the three yolks with the sugar, temper them gradually with the milk, then return everything to low heat. Stir constantly until the crème anglaise coats the spoon and reaches 180 to 183°F (82 to 84°C); do not boil. If fine grains appear, remove it from the heat, blend briefly, and strain at once. Ça se rattrape. Stir in the bloomed gelatin, strain into a clean bowl, and cool until barely warm and beginning to gain body. Stir in the maraschino. Whip the cream to soft folds and fold it into the custard in three additions. If the custard starts setting before the cream is incorporated, place the bowl over barely warm water and stir only until fluid again. Fill the mould, cover, and chill for at least 4 hours, until fully set.

   The custard and cream should be close in temperature before folding. Hot custard melts the cream; custard already set firm leaves rubbery flecks.
4. 4

   Chill the kümmel syrup

   Bring the water and granulated sugar to a boil, stirring only until the sugar dissolves. Boil for one minute, remove from the heat, and cool completely. Stir in the kümmel only when the syrup is cold, preserving its caraway perfume instead of sending it up from the saucepan. Refrigerate until needed.

5. 5

   Mount the biscuit

   Have the strained apricot jam prepared to the small-thread stage as directed in The Cooking of Sugar (No. 2344). Warm it only enough to become brushable; do not cook it again. Set the pâte sèche on the serving plate and brush a thin layer of jam over its centre, leaving a narrow pastry rim visible. If necessary, trim the bottom of the cold biscuit level, then press it gently onto the jam. The jam is adhesive here, not a filling, so use only enough to hold the two layers together.

6. 6

   Saturate it cold

   Confirm that both biscuit and kümmel syrup are cold. Spoon or brush the syrup evenly over the top in three or four passes, waiting after each pass so the crumb can drink before receiving more. Work from the centre toward the edge and use nearly all the syrup; the biscuit should feel substantially heavier but remain upright. If syrup begins pooling at the base, stop and chill the cake for 15 minutes before continuing by small spoonfuls. Ça se rattrape. Warm cake or warm syrup is the failure that does not negotiate, so keep both cold.

7. 7

   Pipe the glace royale

   Beat the reserved pasteurized egg white with the lemon juice, then add the sifted confectioners' sugar gradually. Beat until the glace royale (royal icing) is white, smooth, and stiff enough to hold a clean ridge. If it tears as it leaves the piping tip, beat in cold water one drop at a time; if the ridge slumps, add more sifted sugar by the spoonful. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small star or plain tip. Pipe a border around the visible pastry edge, a second border around the upper rim, and close vertical shells or lines around the sides. Let the icing stand for 20 minutes to form a light crust.

8. 8

   Crown and serve

   Dip the Bavarois mould into warm water for 5 to 8 seconds, keeping the water below the rim, then dry the mould. Invert it squarely onto the centre of the biscuit and lift without twisting. If it clings, place a warm towel over the mould for several seconds and try again; repeated shaking breaks the clean shape. Chill the assembled cake for 20 to 30 minutes if the surface softened during unmoulding. Cut with a thin knife warmed in hot water and wiped dry between slices. Serve cold. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Kümmel is a clear, caraway-scented liqueur, not ground caraway and certainly not cumin. Maraschino is the dry, clear cherry liqueur, not the scarlet syrup from a jar of cocktail cherries. Those two bottles give the dish its intended perfume.
• •Use an 18 cm manqué or a straight-sided cake tin about 5 cm deep. The pâte sèche is cut slightly wider, leaving a crisp ledge for the lower border of glace royale.
• •Test the decorative mould with water before beginning. A capacity near 650 ml gives a Bavarois crown proportional to the biscuit; a large mould overwhelms the sponge and makes clean slicing difficult.
• •Do not hurry the cold saturation. A properly baked biscuit de Savoie is porous enough to absorb the syrup without stabbing it full of holes, provided each pass is allowed to settle.
• •Serve with brut Champagne or a restrained sparkling wine. Sweet wine makes the two liqueurs feel heavy, while a dry bottle leaves the maraschino and kümmel distinct.

Advance Preparation

• •Bake the pâte sèche up to two days ahead and keep it airtight at room temperature. Moisture is its enemy, so do not refrigerate it uncovered.
• •Bake the biscuit de Savoie one day ahead. Once completely cold, wrap it tightly and keep it at room temperature.
• •The Bavarois and kümmel syrup can be prepared the day before serving. Keep the Bavarois in its mould and both components well chilled.
• •Assemble and decorate the cake up to four hours before serving. Longer storage softens the pâte sèche and causes the glace royale to lose its clean ridges.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 210g)