What Does A Yeast Cake Taste Like

The discovery of a new dish does more than for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a new star.
— Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was a 19^th century French gastronome who became one of the most historic food writers of all time. His well-nigh famous work,The Physiology of Sense of taste or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomyis a "historical, philosophical, and epicurean collection of recipes, reflections, and anecdotes on everything and annihilation gastronomical," according to its current publisher, Penguin Random House. Get-go published in 1825, his book has never gone out of impress.

Erstwhile in the 1840s, it is said, a Parisian pâtissier by the name of Julien, experimenting with the Eastern European baba, invented a similar yeast-leavened block broiled in a large ring mold and soaked in syrup and named it after Brillat-Savarin. Instead of having stale fruit baked in it like a baba, the heart hole in the savarin is filled with fresh fruit and foam.

The savarin is one of many yeast-leavened cakes that come mostly from continental Europe. Among the most well-known are the Kugelhopf or Gugelhupf, from central Europe, and the panettone from Italy. Some people as well classify brioche and babka as yeasted cakes; others phone call them breads. To each his ain.

This signature challenge was for an old-fashioned, European-inspired yeast-leavened cake. Fillings and decorations were left up to the bakers. Chetna, Nancy and Martha all made savarins with various flavored syrups and fillings, Luis fabricated a Kugelhopf, Richard fabricated a Gugelhupf, and Kate made a babka.

My savarin features the brilliant spring flavors of rhubarb and elderflower, adapted from this recipe. While some savarins are served with crème fraiche, I used a recipe I institute here using whipped foam and yogurt — its tanginess serves as a foil to the sweetness of the rhubarb-and-elderflower-syrup-soaked block. I likewise made a rhubarb compote as an accessory, using a recipe from New York Times Cooking.

The block is made from a simple batter of flour, carbohydrate, eggs and yeast — with a footling bit of liquid and flavoring — beaten together to make a thick, sticky batter. After beating for about five minutes, I added softened butter a little at a time, beating continuously until it was fully incorporated. I then allow the dough ascension until doubled.

Afterwards the first prove, I transferred the dough to a greased Bundt pan and permit it rise a 2nd time. It was supposed to ascent to fill three-quarters of the pan, only my dough rose so apace the pan was almost full by the fourth dimension I put it in the oven. I was afraid information technology would overflow, but information technology just rose to near ¾ inch above the pan.

I made the soaking syrup by roasting fresh rhubarb sprinkled with saccharide, elderflower cordial and lemon zest. I then added the resulting liquid to more elderflower cordial and simmered information technology down to a syrup. When the block was done, I took it out of the pan, poured about one-half the syrup into the pan and advisedly put the cake back in the pan to soak upwards the syrup. I also poked holes in the top of the block and poured the residual of the syrup over the surface, allowing the syrup to soak in.

To make the rhubarb compote, I gently cooked rhubarb and sugar but until the fruit was soft, so removed the rhubarb and let the liquid cook until it was syrupy. I poured the syrup over the rhubarb and permit it cool. I then whipped the cream, added a little bit of elderflower cordial and folded in the yogurt.

When combined, all the elements of this elegant dessert worked really well together. The syrup moistened the bread-similar cake and gave it a more frail crumb structure. The compote added sweetness, which was offset by the tangy cream. Information technology was a succulent combination of flavors and textures that made information technology perfect for a springtime tea. I was able to relish it with friends on our screen porch every bit the newly mown grass and budding copse soaked up a gentle rain.

Rhubarb and Elderflower Savarin

Credit for rhubarb syrup and elderflower cream: BBCGoodFood.com
Savarin recipe adjusted from TeaAndMangoes.com
Credit for rhubarb compote: Cooking.NYTimes.com

For the cake:

2¾ c. all-purpose flour

¼ c. sugar

½ t. salt

3¾ t. instant yeast

3 T. elderflower cordial

6 eggs

¾ c. butter, very soft, cut into cubes

Zest of one lemon

For the soaking syrup:

1 lb. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1½-inch slices
½ c. superfine (baker's) sugar
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
½ c. + 2 T. elderflower cordial, divided
¼ c. granulated sugar

For the rhubarb compote:

¾ lb. rhubarb, cubed
¾ c. sugar
Red nutrient coloring (optional)

For the elderflower cream:

1¼ c. heavy whipping cream
2 T. elderflower cordial
½ c. full-fat plain yogurt

Directions

To brand the cake: Put the flour, carbohydrate, table salt and yeast in a large mixer bowl. In another bowl, mix the elderflower cordial and eggs together; then pour into flour mixture and beat well for about 5 minutes to brand a thick, gummy batter.
Gradually add the butter, beating until the mixture is smooth, elastic and shiny. Finally, fold in the lemon zest. Encompass the bowl with a make clean dish towel and allow rise for one hour.
While block is ascension, make the syrup. Rut oven to 400°F. Put the rhubarb in a roasting pan and sprinkle with ½ loving cup superfine sugar. Combine lemon juice and 2 T. elderflower cordial and drizzle over rhubarb, then sprinkle with lemon zest. Encompass with foil and roast in the oven for 15-25 minutes, only until soft. Remove from the oven and strain the rhubarb from the liquid. (You tin reserve the rhubarb to add to the compote if you lot like.) Measure out two/3 loving cup of liquid from roasting the rhubarb and pour into a saucepan (reserve the rest). Add together ½ cup elderflower cordial and ¼ cup sugar. Melt over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil and allow to simmer until thickened to a syrup. Strain and set aside to cool.
Grease a 9-inch savarin mold or Bundt pan. (I use Nancy Birtwhistle's lining paste recipe here: https://world wide web.youtube.com/watch?v=PL5ydEOCSgE.) When the batter has risen, stir it down, then pour or spoon it into the prepared pan. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let ascension for 25-45 minutes, until it fills 3-quarters of the pan.
Heat oven to 350°F. Remove plastic wrap from pan and bake cake for 20–25 minutes until the savarin is risen and golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
While the savarin is baking, make the compote. Combine rhubarb and ¾ cup sugar in a bucket over low oestrus. Cook for about 5 minutes, until rhubarb starts to soften simply before it falls autonomously. Use a slotted spoon to transfer rhubarb to a bowl. Cook remaining liquid until information technology thickens to a syrup, almost 5 more than minutes. (If your rhubarb is not very ruby-red, you may want to add a few drops of red food coloring to make they syrup pink.) Pour syrup over rhubarb and let cool. (Yous may add reserved rhubarb and liquid from making the soaking syrup if yous like.)
Remove cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to absurd for 5–10 minutes. Poke holes in the surface of the block with the skewer to assist soak upwardly the syrup.
When savarin is cool enough to handle, remove it from the pan and pour half of the syrup into the pan. Identify the savarin pan inside a baking pan with sides to catch any spillover, and so carefully place the cake back into the savarin pan to soak upwards the syrup. Gradually cascade the remaining syrup over the surface of the cake, letting the syrup soak in and trying not to let it overflow. Leave cake in the pan for about 5 minutes to let it soak up the syrup.
Advisedly turn savarin out of cake pan onto serving platter. Pour any leftover syrup from the savarin pan or the spillover pan over the block and leave it to absurd completely.
For the filling, whip the foam to soft peaks. Stir 2 T. elderflower cordial into the yogurt and gently fold it into the whipped cream. Transfer to piping bag fitted with an open star tip and pipe the foam into the center of the savarin and pipage stars effectually the lesser edge. Spoon some compote on height of the cake. Slice and serve with boosted compote.