Reader Question about Creme Brulee Filling for Vanilla, Brown Butter and Almond Cake
Here’s a question from Kristine:
“Hi. I am a pastry chef and I love your new book! I was wondering how you make the warm creme brulee filling the brown butter, vanilla, and almond cake? How do you get the filling in the cake and how is it warmed for service?
Thanks so much for all your great recipes!”
Thanks for the kind words, Kristine! As I say on page 37, I make this cake at the restaurant in individual molds, served warm with creme brulee filling. Here’s how I do it.
Prepare the creme brulee base from the Prune Armagnac Creme Brulee recipe on page 89 without the prunes, but do not bake as described. Instead, bake the creme brulee base in a rectangular pan inside of a larger pan with a water bath. Once the custard is set, take the pan of custard out of the water bath and allow to cool. Once it’s cool, freeze the custard in the pan. 24 hours later, run hot water around the pan, releasing the block of frozen custard from the pan. Depending on the size of the cakes you’re making, cut the custard into squares that will inside the metal cake ring molds you will be using for the cakes. Then freeze the squares again until you are ready to bake the cakes.
In addition to preparing this recipe, make the Sweet Tart Shell recipe on page 15 of the book. Roll the dough out and punch out circles a little bit larger than the size of your cake molds. Bake the circles until they begin to brown. While the circles are in the oven, spray your cake molds well with Pam. Remove the circles of dough from the oven and, while the dough is still hot, press each metal cake ring mold onto a circle so that the bottom of the cake mold is filled with a perfect circle of prebaked dough.
Prepare the Brown Butter, Vanilla and Almond Cake recipe on page 37. Instead of baking as described, pipe the cake batter into the ring molds, filling them half way. Press one frozen cube of creme brulee into each mold, pushing them down as far as you can. Pipe a drop of cake batter over the top to conceal the frozen custard.
Bake at 350 in a convection oven until the cakes are browned and risen. Allow them to cool, remove them from the metal molds and reheat to serve.
Let me know if you have any further questions!
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February 2nd, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Hi Kate, I was about to ask you this same question! I’m also tickled that you featured my pears on your blog! Your cookbook is such an inspiration, I would just love to bake your recipes cover to cover. May I ask what the size of your metal molds are?
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
[...] Kate’s explanations are here, for those of you who own the book. [...]
February 6th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
[...] Bea at La Tartine Gourmande strikes again, with a wonderful post about making the custard filled vanilla cakes that are pictured in the book (and which I describe how to make here). There are several beautiful photos of the final results. Here is one: [...]
February 14th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Hi Kate:
First thanks for being so generous and sharing your recipes. I think the creme brulee-brown butter almond cake is great. I tried it a couple of times and have some questions.
* The batter didn’t pipe, is that ok?
* The cake was a bit underbaked even though the cake was done on the outside. Your thoughts?
* Do you include the browned parts of the butter in the batter or do you leave them out?
* What kind of shelf life do you get out of each cake?
* How do you warm the cakes to successfully get the filling to ‘ooze’?
That’s a lot, sorry but I really want to get this cake down!
Look forward to your response.
Regards,
Tony Cabrera
tclcjc@cox.net
February 14th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Tony:
Thanks for writing in. Here are my thoughts:
The batter should pipe if it’s chilled; make sure you’ve chilled it before trying to pipe it.
Sometimes the batter that surrounds the frozen filling is a little underbaked because of the temperature of the filling. My only recommendation for that is to use as big a square of frozen filling with as little cake batter surrounding it as you can, i.e. so that it doesn’t fall apart when you unmold it.
Yes, I definitely include the tasty brown parts of the butter in the batter.
This cake lasts for three or days or so. Also, as to your next question, if you heat it before serving, you can eke out an extra day or so.
Once you heat it, the filling should be runny if you used a large enough piece of frozen custard and if the custard was cooked properly, i.e. it should not have been overcooked at all. I usually heat the cakes in a convection oven at work; at home, I use the toaster oven and pull them out before the tops start to brown.
Let me know if this helps.
-Kate
February 25th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
I have made this dessert a couple of times for my guests. I usually have the mold ready with the pie crust. Before we sit down to dinner I preheat the oven to 350F and take out the batter from the fridge. After dinner, as my hubby is putting away the dishes and the guests are unwinding on the couch, I quickly pipe the batter into the mold , take out the precut creme brulee and afix it into the battered mold. Cover the creme brulee with more batter and put it into the oven. I wait till the top starts browning before I take them out about 25 minutes (i guess it depends on the mold). This gives me perfect tea-cakes with an oozing creme brulee filling.
Amazing dessert and is my favorite right now.
To reheat, I usually bring the cake to room temperature(if refrigerated) and then put them into a preheated 350F oven for 10 minutes. That is enough to heat it through.
March 25th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Kate:
Used your suggestions with much more success. Thanks again for your time and help!
Regards,
Tony Cabrera
March 25th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Tony:
Glad I was able to help!
-Kate
August 9th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
do you have to make this with a tart crust base? what ifyou make the cakes without it?
September 20th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Dawn:
Sorry to take so long to respond — I was out of town for August and I’m only just now getting back into the swing of things, really.
You don’t have to use the tart crust base, but I like to use it because it adds another texture to the cake.
Have fun making it.
-Kate
September 24th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Hi Kate!
Could I use muffin tins for this cake? Or are the muffin cups in standard tins too large?
Thanks!
Dana
September 25th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Dana:
You can use muffin tins, though I never have. You might have to adjust the size of your brulee cube and the amount of batter that you put in each cup.
Let me know if it works.
-Kate
October 17th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Dear Kate,
Firstly, thank you so much for writing this book. I am very happy and thrilled to buy your book, The Sweet Life. I love the clear instructions and the further explanations of the Beyond the Basics column. It adds extra knowledge to my growing passion for baking.
I have tried making cookie on page 57 (Crisy,Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie). It was very well received from my housemate and friends. I love the soft and crunchy of the outer edge cookies. It was all like you have remarked in your book.
However, I have one very important question. It concerns the shape of my cookie. May I know how can I achieve a perfect uniform round shapes for all my cookies. I tried shaping them in balls and bake them off. But then they did not turn out round and uniform shapes at the end.
Please enlighten me. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.
Very inspired fan of yours,
Michelle Chow
Brisbane, Australia