Your patronage of our affiliate partners supports this web site.  We thank you!

Bourbon Chocolat


Food and Wine Presents Best of the Best:
The Best Recipes from the Year's 25 Best Cookbooks, Vol. 3
Food & Wine Books, Editor in Chief Judith Hill, 2000, American Express Publishing Corp.
from


The Art of the Cake:
Modern French Baking and Decorating
by Bruce Healy and Paul Bugat, 1999, William Morrow and Company

for 10 to 12 servings

“Although this gâteau utilizes two distinctly American ingredients, pecans and Kentucky bourbon, it is clearly French in style. The cake layers are pecan mousseline.”

Filling and frosting
1 3/4 cups (11 ounces; 315 g) Coffee Buttercream
3 tablespoons (1 ounce; 25 g) pecans, finely chopped

Cake
One 6-cup (1.5-L) loaf pecan Mousseline (recipe follows)

Brushing syrup mixture
1/3 cup (8 cl) heavy syrup (recipe follows)
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons (4 cl) Kentucky bourbon
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons (4 cl) water

Glaze
12 ounces (340 g) European bittersweet chocolate, melted
3 1/2 tablespoons (1 3/4 ounces; 50 g) clarified butter* at room temperature

Decoration for top of gâteau
1 pecan half

Equipment
Rectangle of silver or gold matt board or foil board cut about 1/4 inch (6 mm) larger in length and width than the génoise loaf
Chocolate thermometer or pocket digital thermometer
Small pastry bag fitted with fluted decorating tube (such as the Ateco #17
star tube)

* For clarified butter: Place the butter in a butter melter or small saucepan and melt it over low heat, without stirring. When the butter is melted, remove it from the heat and skim off the foam (which contains the whey proteins) that comes to the surface. Let rest for a few minutes to allow all of the milk solids to settle to the bottom. Pour the clear yellow liquid – the clarified butter – through a very fine sieve into a bowl, leaving the milky residue at the bottom of the saucepan.

Storage – In the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Before glazing, freeze for up to 2 weeks. Once frozen, cover airtight with plastic wrap. Remove the plastic wrap and defrost overnight in the refrigerator, then glaze and decorate.
 

Pecan Mousseline

For one 6-cup (1.5-L) loaf

“We devised this variation on a classic recipe to take advantage of the availability of superb pecans in the United States. Pecan Mousseline can also be baked in a round cake pan or cake ring and used just like génoise in round gâteaux.”

Batter
4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (7 ounces; 200 g) nut-and-sugar powder, made with pecans
(recipe follows)
1/8 teaspoon (a few drops) pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon (a pinch) cream of tartar (optional)
2 tablespoons (1 ounce; 25 g) superfine or extra-fine sugar
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces; 70 g) all-purpose flour

Equipment
Electric mixer
6-cup (1.5-L) loaf pan (brush with butter, dust with flour)
Heavy baking sheet

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

1.  Combine the yolks with the pecan-and-sugar powder and beat at medium speed in the mixer until light and cream-colored. Beat in the vanilla extract.
2.  Using a clean wire whip and bowl, whip the egg whites in the mixer at low speed until they start to froth. If you are not whipping the whites in a copper bowl, then add the cream of tartar. Gradually increase the whipping speed to medium-high, and continue whipping until the whites form very stiff peaks and just begin to slip and streak around the side of the bowl. Add the sugar and continue whipping at high speed for a few seconds longer to incorporate the sugar and tighten the meringue.
3.  Sift the flour over the egg yolk mixture. Scoop about one third of the meringue on top and quickly and thoroughly mix it in with a rubber spatula. Add the remaining meringue and gently fold it into the batter.
4.  Scoop the batter from the mixing bowl into the loaf pan, filling it to three fourths of its height. Smooth the surface and make a slight depression down the center. Place the loaf pan on the baking sheet.
5.  Bake until the top of the cake is lightly browned and firm to the touch but not crusty, about 35 to 40 minutes. The tip of a paring knife inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean.
6.  Remove the cake from the oven and slide the tip of a paring knife or small icing spatula between the edge of the cake and the pan to loosen the edge. Let the cake rest in the pan for about 5 minutes. Unmold the cake onto a wire rack. Turn it upside down and let cool to room temperature.

Storage – Covered airtight with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days in the refrigerator. Or freeze for as long as 2 months. If frozen, defrost overnight in the refrigerator, and unwrap the cake at least 2 hours before using to allow condensation produced by defrosting to evaporate.
 

Pecan-and-Sugar Powder

“…The recipe below can be prepared in a standard 7-cup (1.7-L) food processor.”

6 ounces (170 g) pecans
1 1/4 cups + 3 tablespoons (6 ounces; 170 g) confectioners’ sugar

1.  Combine the nuts with half the confectioners’ sugar in the food processor work bowl. Process the nuts and sugar, stopping to scrape down the dies of the bowl and break up any caking as needed, until the nuts are finely ground, but not so long that the mixture becomes oily.
2.  Sift through a medium sieve – with 1/16- to 3/32-inch (1.5- to 2-mm) mesh. Return the nuts that don’t pass through the sieve to the food processor with the remaining confectioners’ sugar and process until the nuts have been reduced to a fine powder.
3.  Transfer all of the nut-and-sugar powder to a bowl, break up any caking with your fingertips, and mix thoroughly.
 

Heavy Syrup

For 2 cups + 2 2/3 tablespoons (5.2 DL)

“This is the standard syrup for cake making. Because it has the ideal density (30 degrees on the Baumé scale), it keeps almost indefinitely. A syrup with a lower concentration of sugar would ferment or become moldy eventually, and one with a higher concentration would crystallize.
In American volume measures the proportions are easy to remember: 2 cups sugar for each 1 cup water. (Or in metric measures, 1,700 g sugar for each 1 L water.) So you can prepare any quantity you like."

2 cups (14 ounces; 400 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (2.4 DL) water

1.  Combine the sugar and water in the saucepan and bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve all the sugar.
2.  Cover and allow the syrup to cool.

Storage – Covered airtight, for up to several months at room temperature. If some sugar crystals form in the syrup (indicating that some water has evaporated), strain them out before using.
 

Index - Chocolate Recipe Archives
Recipe Archives Index