Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Whisk Wednesdays—Bavarois à la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise (Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis)

Bavarois à la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise (Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis) This is the best dessert in my Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook so far! If you love ice cream, whipped cream and the texture of pudding, then this Vanilla Bavarian Cream dessert is for you.

The recipe combines techniques learned earlier in this curriculum. Crème anglaise, the base of ice cream, is also the foundation of this dessert. What gives it structure is gelatin. The gelatin is dissolved in water and later stirred into the cooled crème anglaise mixture that has been lightened with whipped cream. After the gelatin does a bit of its magic and sets the mixture slightly, it's poured into molds and chilled.

The raspberry coulis is just puréed raspberries that have been strained to remove the seeds and stirred with sugar and lemon juice. This sauce is drizzled on the Bavarian cream.

The hardest part about this dessert is getting it out of its mold. {Luckily, I only needed one for a photo! The rest we enjoyed eating out of the plastic, golden containers circa-1950s!}

Recipe

Serves 6

Bavarois à la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise (Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis) mise en place
¼ ounce powdered gelatin (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons cold water

For the Crème Anglaise:
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
1¾ cups heavy cream

For the Raspberry Coulis:
1½ cups raspberries
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
Juice of ½ lemon, strained

You can find the recipe for Bavarois à la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise (Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis) 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!

Spoon and RaspberryTasting Notes
If there's a spectrum, Bavarian cream sits between a mousse and a crème brulée. Its smooth and creamy texture carries the slightly tart raspberry coulis expertly on your taste buds. This is a stunning chilled dessert for summer that you will want to lick clean when no one's looking.
"The orangey sugar cubes at last mooshed, I proceeded to zest and squeeze oranges, soften gelatin, separate eggs — doing it just the way Meryl Streep does in The Hours, by gently juggling them back and forth in my hands, letting the white slip through my fingers into a bowl waiting below. Felt like the way Julia would do it — very cook-y."
— Julie Powell in Julie & Julia, page 108
Links
• Khalyapina Kitchen: Orange Bavarois Recipe
• The Kitchen Pantry: Bavarois au safran et miel
• What's for Lunch, Honey?: Strawberry Bavarian Cream

Next Class
• Velouté Du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup) pages 419-420

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $1,434.41 + $11.01 = $1,445.42
($1.84 per serving)

Butter used so far: 12 pounds, 20.5 tablespoons

87% complete

. . . . . . . . . .
::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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  • 32 comments:

    Ria Mathew said...

    Shari,it looks so good! I am sure I would love its texture! And good pics! :)

    Christelle said...

    Looks+fab, lobve the inserts in your photos too!

    Unknown said...

    Lovely picture! Seriously, you could serve that in a restaurant. It sounds delicious -and so elegant!

    Maria said...

    Gorgeous photos and dessert!

    Hilary said...

    Red and white for Canada Day?

    grace said...

    yes ma'am, this sounds downright dreamy! you've captured its beauty, to be sure--terrific post all-around, shari!

    AmyRuth said...

    You know Shari, your photos of the Bavarian cream really looks so appealing even for a late breakfast he he. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful talents.
    AmyRuth

    Jennifer said...

    Not only does that sound sooo good but the pictures are amazing!!! :)

    Eliana said...

    This dessert looks incredible. Great job as always.

    Cathy said...

    What a gorgeous, elegant dessert. This would be perfect for a dinner party!

    oneordinaryday said...

    Looks amazing. Great photo!

    katie said...

    I'm always trying to get rid of the leftover gelatin I used to make almond mallows...

    Anonymous said...

    Now this is something I can get into. Looks and sounds wonderful!

    Monica H said...

    It's so pretty and girly- I love it!

    lisaiscooking said...

    This is exactly what I always want for dessert! Nicely done.

    vibi said...

    Very pretty Shari! Absolutely delicate and airy...

    Your pictures are amazing, the light and colours are remarquable. WOW.

    foodcreate.com said...

    Amazing photos and Dessert~





    Have a wonderful Day~

    Linda said...

    Ice cream, whipped cream, pudding -I've never had bavarian cream before, but you've definitely sold me on the sound of this dessert.

    Gorgeous presentation!

    Manggy said...

    Berries and custard= always a winner. As in *always*, without fail :) Looks deeeevine! Did you do the dip in hot water trick to unmold it?

    Kayte said...

    Gorgeous, and I am going to get to it as soon as the guys finish the desserts sitting around here. For some reason, there has been a plethora of desserts lately. Great post. Looking forward to tasting your favorite dessert recipe out of the book so far. And, thanks for the heads up on the molding/unmolding process.

    CaptainCrunch said...

    Your photos are amazing - from the Bavarian cream to the simple raspberry you make everything look so good. This dessert looks and I'll bet tasted awesome. Great job!

    Unknown said...

    Shari, your dessert looks soo good! I would have loved to see them in the vintage containers you mentioned!

    Deeba PAB said...

    Just honest-to-goodness great stuff. I have a LBC Bible which is my first love. Beautiful pictures Shari!!

    Donna-FFW said...

    Oh My goodness.. does this ever look divine. It would be dancing in my mouth for sure.. a very happy jig!

    Karine said...

    I love your pics and that dessert seems so decadent! I want some!

    CookiePie said...

    So beautiful, and sounds delicious!

    Anonymous said...

    I think that as long as you have a dessert with a French name, I'm sooo there. I just made a blueberry galette just because it's called a "galette". I know that's total name discrimination, but "monkey peanut butter cookies", just doesn't do it for me. Did I mention you're my food photography hero? You're my food photography hero!

    Hannah said...

    So lovely- Gorgeous photos!

    genial said...

    cute presentation :)
    it's a great idea.. greetings from Jakarta Indonesia ;)

    have a great day to you :)

    Marta said...

    Unmolding these things is a bit of a pain... hahaha but like you say, just need one for the photo! I do the same all the time too!
    This looks like a perfect light summer dessert. Clean and simple, with the addition of seasonl fruit it's perfection!

    pigpigscorner said...

    So pretty!! Love ice-cream, pudding but not so much of whipped cream...but it still looks and sounds good!

    e-bruxelles-city.com said...

    ehmmm very yummy, look very delicious.....can i try...? lol