Boom!
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.
Flo Braker, California's well- kn own baking teacher and author reaches back to classic French technique for her ladyfinger Génoise which is the basis for creating these delicately delicious, decorative miniature cakes.
Join us, on: [Captioning sponsored by VIEWERS LIKE YOU] This is a Génoise cake.
It's probably one of the most important classics anyone who wants to be a baker should have in their repertoire and if you know how to make this you can make ladyfingers these cute little madeleine cookies and little beauties like these and Flo Braker the baker is going to show us how to do it.
And I'm happy to do that.
Good.
First thing, we're going to take a nine-inch-square pan and we are going to grease it with some solid shortening.
I think it's ve ry important when you're making li ttle squares and li ttle circles from your Génoise you want to make sure that it comes out of the pan.
Then we'll put a little bi t of flour in here li ke this and I shake it ar ound... out, okay, so that's just fine.
Going to dump this ri ght here.
And then what I'm going to do is put the parchment ri ght in here and then we're ready to make our Génoise.
You don't need to butter or flour the parchment?
No, you do not, no , you do not.
Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to be me asuring my flour and what I want to do is the recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups of sifted flour and I like to use ju st a sieve.
I think it's easy to do... Oh, rather than a... ...than a triple-sifter.
So what we're going to do is we're going to take our cup and we're going to measure 1 1/4 cups of sifted cake flour.
Now, if you had a scale, you would be able to weigh that and it would be very fast bu t this is instead... And how much would it weigh?
That would weigh pr obably 125 grams.
Mm-hmm.
At this point, that is no longer needed.
Now I put my sifter back and this is my 1 1/4 cups so I'm going to take a tablespoon of sugar an eighth of a teaspoon of salt, like so and then what I'm going to do is, I have my butter already.
This is three tablespoons of butter and that I don't want to o hot.
I just want it a little warmer th an body temperature.
All right, and then, th ese are my eggs.
These are going to now ha ve a half a cup of sugar ad ded to it.
These are going to now ha ve a half a cup of sugar ad ded to it.
How many eggs have you got?
This is two eggs an d four egg yolks.
And the reason... Do you use large eggs?
I use large eggs.
Graded large-- two whole eggs and four yolks.
And the reason is, is that this cake I'm trying to make a little moister and a little bit mo re tender.
And now we're going to add a half a cup of sugar to our eggs and a tablespoon of sugar.
And at this point, I want to make sure that I whisk this to gether so that I do not have an y sugar sitting on to p of the eggs because it might burn them which would inhibit th eir really puffing up and, and getting li ght and airy.
I always say to make note of what it looks like wh en you turn it on because it's kind of orangy and as you whip this, wh ich will take about fi ve minutes then it gets very light, fl uffy and white and it's sort of tr iple in volume and what I'm looking for is that it sort of look like softly whipped cream.
And this is what yo u really call "w hole-egg meringue."
Now I want to test it and see how th e ribbon stage is doing.
Look at it now, it doesn't look "eggy" at all, does it?
At all, it's white an d it's fluffy.
It looks like softly wh ipped cream.
Is it making the ribbon?
It's making a ribbon, an d what I like is that it stays on top.
So what I'm going to do now is just add the vanilla and then, while I'm do ing this, I'm going to sift my flour.
And now you can see that it is this lo vely, sort of beautiful, I think, mixture.
That is staying right up there, that's beautiful.
Stays right there, an d this is not at it s most fragile point.
And what I'm going to do, yo u noticed that I add a tablespoon of sugar th at I sifted with the flour and that is to sort of se parate the particles a little bit more finely because the flour tends to clump, especially cake flour.
Mm-hmm.
And so, I'm folding.
Do that very slowly, and see how you do it.
Okay, I go down and I come up.
Down, and I always be nd my wrist.
And I'm in the center an d I'm not getting re ally crazy about getting al l the flour in.
I have a lot more fo lding to do.
And you're not deflating it, too.
Exactly, and so, wh at I'm going to do is add more flour and I'm going to add ab out a third at a time of the flour.
I just keep folding an d then sometimes I... How do you know that you've folded enough, now?
Oh, good question, be cause...
I know because I don't see any more flour and when I scrape al ong the side then that sort of gi ves me an indication of what's going on, also.
So that is now in and then I'm just go ing to take the rest of the flour and put it on top.
Now you're going to notice that this is starting to take on a little bit mo re body because it's got a lot more flour in it.
Do you see, every time I turn this over I don't see any flour?
Yeah.
So I know I've probably do ne enough.
Now, here is our butter and we don't want it too cold and we don't want it too hot.
If it's too hot, wh at happens is it's going to start dissolving our wonderful little bu bbles.
And we're going to put some into the butter.
Now we're going to put some into th e butter.
Now, you see, I am fo lding about a cup of the batter in.
All right, now I'm going to pour this back and you notice I'm sort of gentle about all this.
I don't really stir it at any one time.
And at this point, this is when the batter is fragile.
This is where it's fragile because that fat wi ll weigh down on the, uh, volume and I'll take the, th e cake pan and I'll put it in to the cake pan, th ank you.
All right, an d at this point I just let it so rt of fall out and I have to tell you, if , at this point you see any flour th at hasn't folded in I just sort of mi x it together and I'm just going to ease this in.
Now, the more that I want to manipulate this then the more I'm going to start popping those lo vely air bubbles that we have worked so hard to get in.
Now we're going to put this in a 35 0-degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes.
And we want to put it in the lower third of the oven and we're going to check it in 20 minutes.
Julia: Now how exactly do you tell that that... Flo: I can see that it springs back.
I don't just go by color because ovens can do di fferent colors, so me of them...
There is a little separation.
Exactly.
You say it's done.
I say it's done.
Okay.
Now we're going to le t this cool for ab out five minutes before we invert it ou t of the pan.
Now what we're going to do is invert the cake ou t of the pan.
We want to make sure that it is cleaned away fr om the sides.
It's been out for ab out five minutes and you just take, um , a little spatula li ke this and make sure th at it is free and just be very gentle.
If it isn't, it'll just tear as it comes out of it.
Absolutely.
And then that makes sure that it'll just come out ni ce and neat.
And then what I want to do is... put this on top like so and then... Hope for the best.
Right.
This down like that.
There we go.
There.
Perfect.
Then I like to take th is parchment and I just take it off li ke this.
Perfect .
And then I put it ba ck on top sort of the sticky side up, I say and then I put this on top of there and...
Multiple reversals.
It's easier to do th an to write.
It's tricky to try to write an d make that clear.
Well, that looks, that looks beautiful.
It smells... smells like I'd like to eat it right now.
Now we're going to le t it cool and when it 's completely cool then we're going to do something very in teresting with that.
In the meantime, I want to show you so mething that I think is wonderful that you can do wi th the same batter that we just made fo r that cake.
This is exactly the same batter.
Exactly, and so, wh at we're going to do is we're going to make la dyfingers and madeleines.
Great.
I'm going to pour al l this into this on e bag and so, we'll just po ur the rest in...
The batter looks beautiful, doesn't it?
And so, we will, at this point, take it...
Okay, now I'm going to make ladyfingers.
You notice that I have th ree-inch lines here that I marked off and I will pipe like so.
I think piping is a lot of fun.
You just pipe to the end of that line and up.
And lifting it up.
And you can pipe them ve ry close together although these will so rt of come together in the oven.
Okay, now, this would ma ke two sheets of ladyfingers but you can also ma ke madeleines with th e same batter.
What I like to do is just let it grow.
You notice that I just twisted the bag...
So we could make a double... but we could make a double batch...
Yes, and this would make, if you use one recipe it would make 24 of these.
Good.
All right, now I wa nt to powder-sugar ou r ladyfingers.
We're just going to tap it.
We get more control wh en we tap than ju st shake.
Yeah.
And you can co at them heavily.
Julia: Re ady to go in... no w, what the oven at?
Oven is at 400 degrees and we're going to bake them about five or six minutes and check them again.
Madeleines may take a little longer.
I think these little madeleines are just charming.
They're becoming very popular now, aren't they?
They are, they are.
These ladyfingers...
I kind of applied a little bit more po wdered sugar, like so.
And then what I do is to cut them apart, I use a pizza cutter which I can show you.
Just take this off li ke this... Oh, that's a good idea.
Now what we're going to do is proceed to our cake using the nine-inch-square Génoise.
Anyhow, I'm just going to slip the cake onto this cardboard round.
I think these are invaluable.
And the reason is it just makes it easier fo r me to work with.
What I like to do is I like to take a long se rrated knife.
I like it to be wider th an the cake and I put it right in the middle of the cake and I really have to lean over.
And all I'm doing is just making a short little cut maybe about a half an inch in to the cake and you see how it can re ally rotate easily because it's on the cardboard.
This is the idea, getting it even.
Exactly.
Okay, now, you see I halved this all the way across, a little bit.
Now, that's sort of my guide.
And then, at this point I'm not going to pay an y attention to anything ex cept right here.
I'm going to follow wh at I just did and I'm going to keep turning.
You're just going a little deeper.
Exactly.
All right, so now what we're going to do is take this... another cardboard, an d split it and you see th e texture?
That's beautiful inside.
That's actually the one that we baked.
Yes.
All right, now what we want to do is soak this.
This is a wine so aking syrup.
We are going to just dab it.
What are the proportions?
It's a quarter cup of sweet wine whatever you like.
Taste it, first, an d then what I have suggested is to add a tablespoon of sugar.
You don't have to heat it.
It'll dissolve.
All right, no w at this point we are going to take so me of our jelly.
This is re d currant jelly.
Red currant jelly.
And if you find th at it's got a lot of pectin in it I put it through a sieve.
What would the pectin do?
The pectin makes it difficult to really spread.
And the point is th at you want a thin layer.
Okay, so we have plenty.
We don't want too much.
And, as I say, do n't be bothered by anything that's going on in the sides because that will be ta ken care of later.
Not having filled it all doesn't matter.
It doesn't, it really doesn't.
You'll see in a moment.
Now we're just go ing to put this ba ck on top.
All right, now I think we will put this on a cooling rack and put the cooling rack on a jelly roll pan.
Now, what I'm go ing to do is glaze it with a white ch ocolate ganache.
and I'm using 12½ ounces of white chocolate.
I chopped it up pretty finely so it will me lt easily.
Oh, you've got hot, heavy cream.
I have hot, heavy cream.
and I'm going to pour a half a cup to begin with into my container.
and I'm going to pour this over the white chocolate.
That's hot enough so it's going to melt.
It's going to melt.
There's going to be an exchange of temperatures.
Now, when I buy wh ite chocolate what I'm looking for is ... on the label It should say that it has cocoa butter in it.
And I also am concerned that it is creamy-colored ivory-colored, an d not white.
Just like that.
Now, I am going to pour in another tablespoon of heavy cream like so... and then I'm going to stir that.
Now, I'm not whisking.
You see, I want this to dissolve the chocolate and I'm not whisking because I don't want a lot of air bubbles because it's going to be a glaze.
And then, at this point I'm going to take a sieve and I'm going to pour it through You're just going to sieve it.
Yes, because most of this chocolate is soft and this will sort of emulsify it.
All white chocolates can be different.
So I want to just see how much cream it takes.
I'm going to take a piece of bread and see how this glazes.
I was wondering why you had this piece of bread there.
Well, I think it 's a wonderful way to test if it's th e right viscosity.
And, see, I'm just going to take a little bit and see if I think that this could use a little bit more cream.
And this is wh at everybody can do.
See, it's working out ve ry nicely.
That makes a nice little snack.
( laughing ): Exactly... and it doesn't seem to be floating down to the bottom.
And so wh at I will do is just add a little bit... just a little bit more cream, which is like two teaspoons stir that in, and you see how you kind of do this and you can tell wh at it's like.
All right, now you pour this on top just like that... and then, at this point we're just going to spread this on.
You wait and see, this will make the pastry chef out of everybody.
Now, we have so me pastry cones some paper cones th at have been handmade.
And we're going to fill one with semisweet chocolate and one with milk chocolate and we're going to pipe it.
And I want to test that, se e how it pipes.
It's working fine.
So we're going to see that it's fluid and just make strings across.
And you'll see that whatever you do there's no such thing as a mistake.
What's nice about the paper cones: anyone can make them.
We have illustrated directions in the book that accompanies this television series.
Because everyone has to know how to make them.
Yes, and what's so wonderful is that they're for just small amounts and then yo u discard them.
Then we take se misweet chocolate all right, again, ju st piping.
Don't worry ab out any kind of unconnected lines But, you know, th is is what happens.
And then, at this point I take this pick and I'm just go ing to do... Oh, yes, that's nice, isn't it?
And if you notice...
I guess you could do it with a knife.
You could, or with toothpicks.
Now, you notice I go all in one direction.
I don't go down and up and now I think this sort of looks li ke Florentine.
It looks very professional.
Well, of course, you are a pro.
Oh, well, thank you.
Then we're going to set this aside.
We're going to let it set up, which will take about an hour.
But if you wish to speed it along you can put it in the refrigerator.
And then I will show you how we will trim this an d cut it into little pieces of petits fours.
Well, while the cake is setting up for the Florentine sq uares let me show you something el se that we can do with the nine-inch- sq uare Génoise.
This one ha s been soaked with the same wi ne syrup but, instead, I'm using an apricot jam that has been sieved and spread just like we did th e currant jelly.
These, we're going to cut out little circles, an d it will expose the outside.
And I just press down, so rt of twirling and this is a 1½-inch cutter.
And then, just put it on, li ke so.
That's a little petit four.
Okay, now, what we want to do is our white chocolate glaze.
This is ou r ganache... That's the same stuff.
...nice and creamy.
You can chill this cake before you cut out th e little circles.
It will sometimes give you le ss crumbs on the side when you start pr essing them out.
And also, whatever goes off th e cake is no problem.
It's re-usable fo r the next time.
That's great.
Okay, now... th ese are glazed.
This is when th e fun begins.
I will show you, he re is our piped...
This must be our milk chocolate and then I like to do something li ke that.
And then I take a tooth-pick.
I go in front of that little circle and just like so, and that's like a little heart.
Oh, that's a little heart.
And then you can also do little squiggles back and forth, like this.
You can do whatever you wish.
I take a little bi t of a lilac, ca ndied lilac and I just put that on the top sort of stand it up.
Right now, you can't pi ck these up.
What we'll do is put them in the refrigerator and we can le t them get harder.
And they will be easy to pick up or you can le t them sit out.
The other thing th at's very important is you take a spatula and you just rotate this a little bit because you're cutting off any of the glaze from underneath.
Oh, I see.
And then it's easy to pick them up and they won't stick to this.
Now, what we're going to do is cut our Florentine squares an d here it is.
And this hasn't totally set up.
But we want to show you how you can make th ese nifty little guys.
I love that.
All right, what I do is now, I cut away the sides.
Of course, those you can eat.
Oh, absolutely.
These are nice sweet ho rs-d'oeuvres.
Okay, and then we ca n cut away this side but you cut as close to the corner as you can because you don't want to waste too much.
That's why I was being so careful to get the cake to come out of the pan.
And you cut al l along the sides.
Here we go... Now, at this point, I have a ruler so what I do is, I take this.
I just do 1½ like so, all the way down.
But I'm just go ing to do a few, ri ght now.
And I'll make notches here.
1½, on all four sides.
All right, now, at this point... Now, this hasn't set up co mpletely.
But we'll just pr etend it has.
And what I do is I cut through ju st the glaze.
This is what keeps it fr om cracking... on you when you cut it because you don't want to just take a knife and just start pl unging in.
You've learned all this from bitter experience.
Exactly, ab solutely.
That's the only reason I can stand here an d speak like this.
Right, and the next one yo u line up and do the same thing always cleaning your knife.
You can't rush through these things.
No, you can't.
Now, you've cut th rough your cake.
And again, if you wish, yo u could chill this cake and it would probably ha ve less crumbs.
It's very fresh.
And then you cut all the way down.
And then this, yo u could leave just like th is early in the day.
It will not get stale because they're al l together.
And then, when it's time to put them on your little plate then you have them and you can put them on your plate.
Aren't those cute?
Look at these lovely things these madeleines and lady fingers... these darling little minicakes.
Flo, it's been wonderful to have you.
You've taught us how so here's to Flo Braker, baker.
Thank you, and here's to you.
( clink glasses ) Julia: Bon appétit!