Viennese Cardinal Slice with Markus Farbinger

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Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have

baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads

right here in my own kitchen.

This gorgeous cream cake layered with meringue

is a Viennese specialty.

Pastry chef and master teacher Markus Farbinger

of the Culinary Institute of America

shows us how to do it.

Join us on...

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This beautiful dessert is a classic Viennese pastry

that has been made for decades

and it's made out of layers of meringue.

Here's one of the layers.

That's meringue and then a cake batter there

all baked together

and sandwiched between them is an espresso cream.

And this little decoration, that's a little caramel cage.

We will learn how to make all of these today

from pastry chef Markus Farbinger.

The cardinal is a very traditional dessert from Austria

that is maybe less known, but I think it's very delicious.

So, where are we going to begin?

We are going to begin

by prepping the parchment paper and the sheet pan.

We're going to butter the sheet pan.

That's not so much that things will release

but it's more so that the parchment paper will stick

when we pipe so we don't drag it along.

We fold the parchment paper...

and we cut it in half

and we do that one more time.

So we have strips that are about three inches wide.

That's how wide our strips are going to be at the end.

You can see that it sticks nicely with the butter.

We put three strips on the sheet pan

a little bit away from the edge

so in case we go over

it doesn't stick to the edge.

The next thing is the meringue.

And for that we are going to take four eggs

and we put the whites in here.

If you're not very well versed with cracking eggs

and separating eggs

separate them one at a time into small bowls.

Which is very sensible anyway, I think.

Yes, so in case you lose a yolk

you don't have to...

And you don't want to have

any yolks at all in the whites, do you?

It's very important, yes.

The bowl has to be very clean.

You have to wash it out with hot water

maybe a little bit of vinegar

and then rinse it with cold water

and making sure, of course

that it's free of any particles or any fats.

So we have our four egg whites.

We add the six tablespoons of sugar

and we take the whisk with our hands

and just stir it up a little bit...

Mm-hmm.

to ensure that the sugar

doesn't go all the way to the bottom.

Mm-hmm, that's a good idea.

So it will whip up properly.

Very important always that we start

the egg whites and the sugar

on medium speed first.

This way the egg whites loosen up a little bit

and then we get a nice light foam.

And then after a few minutes we turn it on high speed

because we want to get it done.

So with a meringue

it is very important that... that it's stiff

especially if you fold in another ingredient.

So, a stiff meringue, as you can see.

You make the peak

and it stands up straight without curling over.

That's really thick, yes.

So it's quite important.

Then we fold in more sugar.

This is a three-quarter cup of powdered sugar

and we sift in about half

fold that in and then we sift in the rest.

Mm-hmm.

And with a rubber spatula...

A nice big one.

fold it in very gentle.

That is wonderfully stiff.

It's always important, dry ingredients, to sift them

very close to the time you fold them in

because the moisture and so on

lumps it up quite a bit.

Fold in the rest.

A nice motion going all the way

through the center bottom of the bowl

and bringing it up.

Okay, good.

Just get it good and stiff that way.

Yes, it is very important

that the meringue should still, you know, have

some nice stiffness to it.

In order to shape it, we have a piping bag.

Any bag can really be used for that.

I just like to use the plastic

because you can see through.

I've not seen these plastic bags.

They're new now.

And in the industry

they're used for sanitation reasons

because, naturally, if the bag is not cleaned out

it's better to just throw it out

especially for very sensitive...

For egg things, too.

For egg things and for chocolate things.

Now, holding a piping bag--

there's a little trick that I would like to show.

You use your thumb and your index

and kind of hold the bag open as wide as possible.

Oh, yes, yes.

With the middle finger, you secure the bag

so it can't fall off.

With the small finger

you hold, kind of, your tip

so when the bag is a little loose...

Oh, that's a good idea.

it doesn't run through.

And you can hold it open for me.

All right, I will.

And I put the batter inside.

Always use small portions.

That's a very sensible way of...

The bowl, we don't worry too much about.

We use it for the next batter.

We don't have to clean it, so another step less.

Again, then you fold up

the end that was flipped over

and we close it up like that.

And I always say, like milking cows we close it

but I guess mostly people don't know

what that is, milking cows.

Okay, so we start on the left

and kind of try to move with the entire body

leaving the arms very loose.

So there.

Bottom part.

You're getting it off nicely.

And then the center.

You place the tip down and you start pressure.

If you move fast, the strip is thinner.

If you move slow, the strip is thicker.

So kind of the perfect combination

between movement and pressure.

And then at the end, you kind of stop the pressure

and pull it away to the other side

so you don't have a big worm sticking out there.

And we just use that leftover batter

for our next layer, our sponge layer...

Uh-huh.

and whip it up so we have no leftovers.

Good.

And you can use the bag again for your next layer.

Okay, for the next layer

we're using the four yolks from our meringue...

Mm-hmm.

and we crack four more eggs.

With the four egg yolks, the four whole eggs

we have also 4½½ tablespoons of sugar.

Mm-hmm.

And, again, we just stir it up

to ensure that the sugar is properly mixed in.

And, again, we put the eggs in

for a few minutes on medium speed

again, to loosen them up

so that they incorporate air properly.

And then we turn it on high speed

and with the whole eggs at the end

we slow it down one more time for two minutes.

And you want that to be sort of foamy.

Yes, very foamy and stable.

We will see that later on.

It's kind of very thick and full.

And then we fold in three-quarter cups of flour.

All-purpose is fine.

You can use cake flour.

Well, this is really a genoise batter, isn't it?

Yes, it is.

It's a very light one, relatively low in sugar.

And there's no butter in it.

No butter.

And we fold it in

again, all the way down through the center.

It's very important.

Down the side, coming back up on the other side

and through the center.

Yeah.

Now, this is a little bit more fragile

so we have to be... almost cut out the batter

rather than, you know, scrape it out.

So really gentle.

Don't spread it, just cut it out.

You don't want to deflate it.

Yes, very important

because the more you deflate it

the harder the product is going to be at the end

and it's going to be very gritty

rather than nice and light and nice to eat.

Very important now

we really have to squeeze that batter inside.

And I'm sure you can see

that batter is actually ahead of the tip.

That will tell me that all the crevice is filled.

And you really kind of hold it very low.

That's very important.

If we don't really squeeze it inside

those layers will fall apart afterwards.

Uh-huh.

For the baking, that's a very important step.

We bake this at 300 degrees and 40 minutes

and that we have to put in a wooden spoon

to keep the door ajar

so that any steam that may come from the baking

can escape.

What the steam would do is

it would make the product rise quickly

but then it would deflate.

Fine.

And now the chef is going to make a caramel.

That's certainly one of the most important things to know

for pastry baking, isn't it?

It is a very important product.

We can go right into it.

Very important for the caramel

is that we have a pan that's wide enough

and medium heat at the beginning.

That's very important.

If the pan is heated up too quickly

the sugar will caramelize unevenly

and may burn on some parts.

So we use a very unusual method.

What we do is preheat the pan...

I've never seen that.

on medium.

And then we just sprinkle the sugar on the pan

and now we wait for the sugar to just melt.

Immediately after it's melting

we sprinkle some more sugar on top of it

and we can see nicely

how the sugar is melting nice and light.

Mm-hmm, yeah.

It is always the pride of any pastry chef

to make the caramel as light as possible.

So we just continue sprinkling in the sugar

where it's molten.

It kind of cools off the sugar that way and it doesn't burn.

And we do that about with half the sugar

and then we start to use a wooden spoon

and we can see that the sugar is very molten

and we just stir it in there.

And the sugar is all molten.

There're no lumps in there.

So now we add in our sugar in small stages

a tablespoon at a time, approximately.

And we only add as much as the molten sugar will take.

If there's more dry than molten

that's when you may get lumps.

So just be patient and...

Do it carefully.

Do it carefully

and you don't have to do it again.

Okay, so the caramel is now ready.

One can see the smoke a little bit.

It's time to shock it, very carefully, very slow.

( steam hisses )

Nice and easy.

Just stop the cooking process.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

And now we just stir it very gently

to turn it into a thick honey consistency

so it runs off like...

Mm-hmm.

like honey.

We let the sugar just rest for a moment

and we prepare those cones.

Again, parchment paper

and with caramel, it's good to oil it.

One also can use oiled aluminum foil.

What kind of oil?

Regular.

Vegetable oil?

Yes.

You can be generous

because it's better a little bit too much

than not enough.

And we cut them in four- by four-inch square.

Just approximately.

And then we kind of fold this in half

and one more time in half

just so we know where the middle is

and then we make little hats out of that

folding over approximately a quarter

so that this line and this line kind of match up.

So this way we also make sure

we have the same size on all of them.

Okay, and we can staple them...

Put them together.

just so they don't come apart.

Well, that's interesting.

And we make six... six hats like that.

Mm-hmm.

Now, we have a few prepared.

Mmm-hmm.

Okay, let it drizzle on the main part first

so it's the thickness you like

and then just bring it out here

and do your best to aim.

Just drizzling on here.

A little thicker on the tip

because that's where all the support is.

And, of course, when the sugar's in the right consistency

you really can guide it nicely.

Would you like to try some?

Mmm-hmm.

Still a little thick.

Okay.

Good... wonderful.

That's fun, isn't it?

Just pick it up.

It's almost easier to remove it quickly

while they're still a little warm

because the caramel is not that brittle yet.

There, that's cute.

Very nice.

Then we just keep them until we're ready to use them.

Yep.

Put the sugar back.

And with that same sugar

we are going to make our couleur--

which means "color" in French.

But really it is an espresso extract we are making.

It also can be made well ahead of time.

That's still very hot.

You were saying...

What if you burn yourself with caramel

what are you supposed to do?

Yes, it's very important.

If it splatters--

splatters on you or anything...

a mistake happens, whatever--

then you right away put your hand

or the thing it splattered on in ice water

and keep it there for a minute or two.

And it will save you from getting...

That's why you always have ice water nearby.

It's a good thing to have.

At least at the beginning...

A good thing to remember.

Yes, until you feel more sure about it...

But even so, it's probably...

You never know what's going to happen.

I like to do it always

because it doesn't cost much to make a quick ice bath

and a burn would be very severe.

So, our caramel now turns dark.

And for that I cut a small white cardboard.

It's very important that we have a white cardboard like this.

You can't see it on parchment paper

because it's not white enough.

And we make a little drizzle on here

and we see the color.

It's really quite dark.

And if you make the thing...

The differences are already big.

Yes.

And you want to get it darker and darker?

Very dark.

It's going to smoke, as you can see.

Yeah, it is.

And this is how

you're going to make you color.

Yes, the couleur.

It's called "color," but it's really a flavoring.

And certainly also, the caramel makes sure

that the color of the butter cream will be nice.

While if you just put coffee in the cream

it kind of grays.

It's not very appetizing.

There's that smoke coming out.

Yes, and the sugar at this point

is pretty much so hot

and I don't have the scientific explanation for that

but the sugar is so hot

it starts to cook by itself.

And when those bubbles come

that's when you can turn off the heat

and it will just continue cooking by itself.

Okay, and that goes now very rapid

and we have to be very careful.

We get our espresso ready.

And it's good if it's hot

because it will splash a little less.

The temperature difference won't be so big.

I think we take it out now.

Almost has the color of the espresso.

Mmm, yes.

I think we're ready to go.

So at this point

it's very important that the heat is off

because we have enough heat as it is.

We've gone way way.

Yes.

We add just a little bit.

( sizzling )

Very patient-- one has to be patient.

And you just stir it in very slowly.

If you don't have an espresso machine

just double your amount of coffee.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

This way you can also adjust

the strength of your coffee extract

that you're making.

And don't add it too quickly.

If you add it too quickly

then the liquid will seize up the sugar--

it will cool it off so much that you have lumps.

So, we can add the rest.

Okay.

We bring that now to one more boil.

Make sure that all the sugar is dissolved--

all the caramel is dissolved.

Get down the sides.

Yeah.

We can use a...

Preserving jar.

Yeah, or bottle does the same thing

with a cork on the top.

Heat-proof, I guess.

And then we try to pour that in here

and close it up.

And this makes a great flavoring

for a milkshake-- coffee milkshakes

and butter cream.

You're going to do whipped cream now?

We're going to make

our cream for the cardinale with that.

How long will it last now?

About six weeks at room temperature.

That's fascinating.

I never heard of that before.

Now... what?

We finish it.

Finish it?

Assemble it?

We have a pint of heavy cream

and about two tablespoons of sugar

that we whip.

And you can whip it the night before.

But make sure it's soft-peak.

And the next day, if you finish whipping it

it will be a little bit more stable.

So it's easier to handle.

And the cardinale...

Keep it in the fridge?

Yes, you keep it in the fridge

and the cardinale will then be

a little bit more stable.

For the flavor we add now the couleur

which, of course, must be cooled.

And, again, approximately two tablespoons.

And that really is kind of a syrup.

It is very syrupy.

If you like it stronger, then...

You can put in more.

You can add a little bit more.

That's sort of a light café au lait color.

Yes, it's a nice color.

And you finish blending it with a rubber spatula

because it goes all along the glass

while the whisk only...

That's a lovely color, really.

Yes.

Like so.

That was easy enough.

And we cut a cardboard--

just a regular cardboard-- into a nice square.

Even if it's a little short, that's fine.

It's just so it's easier to lift it around

when you put it in the refrigerator.

It's so pretty--

that's the one we made, too.

And we pick the best one.

Which one do you think

we should pick for the top?

That one's pretty nice.

So, we peel off the paper-- gentle, though.

It's quite fragile.

It's very crispy at this point.

And the nice part is

once you've filled them, about an hour later

the surfaces get a little soft

from the moisture in the cream.

So, we take about half of that cream

and, uh, just, uh... place it onto the first strip.

Small palette knife-- spreading, very gentle.

Not too much spreading is necessary-- just roughly.

So, we just place it on, and gently we...

That's very gentle.

Fasten it.

And we get the last.

Again, we kind of just...

It looks so good.

Mmm.

We place the last one on top.

Just... spackle the sides.

So, if you do home improvement

you're good at that.

Do this one more time.

I think that's it.

Mm-hmm.

Corners.

Good.

Now it's important

that we chill it approximately an hour

or we put it in the freezer

for about ten, 15 minutes.

Oh, the freezer?

You can put it the freezer.

If you need it very quickly

you put it in the freezer to speed it up

and even if it's a little bit frozen on the outside

that's just fine.

It will help and aid you when cutting the cake.

Okay.

Now, how long has that been in the fridge?

At least an hour I would say.

It should chill down well.

But, uh, now the cutting part.

It's something everybody's scared of.

And there are a few tricks to that.

First of all, a serrated knife and hot water.

The hot water will cut nicely through the cream--

it won't stick to it too much.

If you're right-handed, you cut from the right side

so you can support with the left.

If you're left-handed, you'd cut it like...

Yes, well, that's a good point.

I never would have thought of that.

And another trick for that is--

and this would be a good trick

for almost all items that are creased on the top--

you just cut the first layer.

Oh.

Very gentle, only with three fingers

and the weight of the knife is cutting it.

So, just cut the first layer.

That guides you.

Yeah, it guides

and also it won't kind of squish the layers down.

So you have the first cut already.

And this is also a nice and helpful tool

so you can cut straight.

As well as it supports it.

So you cut very gently in a sawing motion--

not too much pressure.

You can cut down.

You can slide over... and the next one.

Very gently.

Mmm.

And, after each cut

one should clean the knife again

because that cream would get caught on the top

and it wouldn't look very good.

I'm going to powder-sugar it just a little bit--

just a tad.

So you still can see the colors underneath.

Look at that, mmm...

Isn't that lovely?

Now, a little...

That's such fun, isn't it?

A little fruit-- just to finish it off.

Very nice.

A few... red currants if they're in season.

That's lovely.

Are we going to eat it?

I hope so.

Show us how you do it.

How I do it...

If a dessert is quite tall in general

it's good to bend it over.

You should probably be served

a fork and a spoon, shouldn't you?

Absolutely, yes.

It's very crunchy.

And that becomes a little softer

as it stays in the refrigerator.

Mm-hmm.

Mmm...

It's important to get everything, the meringue on the...

It's my father's favorite dessert.

Is it?

No wonder.

Markus, a great experience.

And you've taught us so many

good, little tricks about how to do this.

I'm glad.

Thank you very much.

Great.

Julia's got the tastiest site on the

Julia: Bon appétit!