I have no aspirations of becoming a professional pastry chef, but I am fascinated with what the pros learn in their training. I received a review copy of The Elements of Dessert by Certified Master Baker Francisco Migoya and The Culinary Institute of America. This is a pastry textbook covering every technique needed for creating stunning treats. It’s also a beautiful book full of photos of show-stopping plated dessert courses. In The Basic Elements section of the book, methods are carefully explained for everything from blending ingredients, making custards, creating different types of meringue, and mixing doughs, to making your own chocolate from the point of selecting the beans. There’s even a chart showing ingredients, their flavor characteristics, and compatible flavors for them. Then, there are the recipes. Each one is a work of art. There are Pre-Desserts with things like a Goat Cheese Bavarian Cream with Beet Jelly and Date Pound Cake Crumbs which is a perfect, little cylinder of Bavarian cream that’s been wrapped in a sheet of beet jelly and placed on a plate with cake crumbs. The Plated Desserts are no less complex. There’s the Butternut Squash and Cinnamon Ice Cream with True Red Velvet Cake, Black Currant “Paper,” Indonesian Cinnamon Bubbles, and Silver Honey Sauce. That’s all one dessert with recipes for each of the components which are neatly stacked with a swirl of the sauce surrounding them on the plate. There are ideas for Dessert Buffets and Passed-Around Desserts as well as Cakes and Petits Fours. It’s so interesting to learn how these creations are built and to see the final presentation for every dessert. It’s also a bit intimidating, but there are several parts and pieces I’d love to try even if I don’t combine them into the completed masterpieces shown here.
Something I’d wanted to attempt at home was canneles. I’ve wanted the molds for years but never bought them. When I saw the Chocolate-Rum Canneles recipe in the book, I had to try it. Since those pretty, copper molds cost about $25 each, and this recipe would make 20 little cakes, I opted for a silicon mold for my first experiment. I thought I should find out if I really enjoy baking and eating canneles before investing in the top-of-line bakeware. The mold I ordered online has even smaller cups than I expected. It made cute, little, mini canneles. Even though it is silicone, I had read that batter can stick in the cups. So, I brushed the cups well with melted butter and placed the mold in the refrigerator while making the batter. Sometimes, cannele molds are brushed with a beeswax and butter mixture to give the pastries a glossy outer surface, but beeswax wasn’t mentioned in this recipe. The recipe, included below, is, however, very precise. All ingredients are listed by weight both metric and imperial and by percentage. For instance, 3.53 ounces or 100 grams of eggs are needed. That amounted to two of the eggs I had on the day I baked these. And, the 40 grams of egg yolks was two yolks. Although it’s precise, the recipe is also very easy. It results in a very thin batter that bakes for a long time to produce canneles with crisp edges and a custardy center.
The long baking time causes the edges of the canneles to caramelize, and that adds to the rich chocolaty, buttery flavors running through them. I know the copper molds would have given them each sharper lines and a nicer shape, but the silicon mold worked well enough. Next, I want to try the baguette ice cream or maybe the pate a choux puffs with espresso pastry cream and chocolate disks. And, I want to learn a few more secrets of the pros from these lovely desserts.
Mini Chocolate-Rum Canneles
YIELD: 1.15 KG/2 LB 8.64 OZ
INGREDIENT METRIC or U.S. or %
spray.
2. Preheat a convection oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
3. Sift the confectioners’ sugar, flour, and cocoa powder
together.
4. Bring the milk to a boil and then pour it on top of the
butter and chocolate in a bowl. Stir until both the butter
and chocolate are melted and combined.
5. Combine the eggs and the yolks and then whisk them
into the sifted sugar-flour mixture to form a paste.
6. Combine this mixture well with the milk mixture and
then stir in the rum.
7. Fill the molds to within .5 cm/.2 in from the tops.
8. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. The crown of the cannelés
should feel firm when you press down with a fingertip.
Remove the canneles from the mold before they cool.
9. Reserve uncovered at room temperature.
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