Whisk Wednesday: Bavarois â la Framboise

Bavarois â la Framboise or Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis.

A few weeks ago, I introduced zabaglione, an Italian dessert made with egg yolks, sugar and wine and a few months ago, sabayon, a french dessert that is the same exact thing.

Today, I am talking about another dessert that depends upon whisked egg yolks and sugar, only mixed into boiled milk. Each get the same heavy whisking, but this process is called créme anglaise.

You will recognize this as the base of ice cream. Interestingly though, a gelatin is mixed in and then this is cooled before whipped heavy cream is folded in. At this point the entire mixture is turned into a mold, chilled for several hours and is now called bavarois. Serve with a raspberry coulis and it is Bavarois â la Framboise. Did you get all that?

If I sound very smart, like I’ve been making sabayon, and bavarois all my life, take heart. Until two weeks ago, I had never made a zabaglione, and if you take a good look at the picture, you can clearly see that until today I never made a bavarois.

I never read enough ahead to realize that it went into a mold. This is an example of making something completely blind. Le Cordon Bleu at Home did not show a picture of this, and in all honesty, I had no idea what it was supposed to be. To further the kitchen fiasco, two little two-year olds were under foot, watching my every move. The infatuation with the mixer, and the whisking, which believe it or not I was doing at the same exact time, kept my audience still, at least for enough time to whip the cream. At one point, one little boy had to be held during the remaining whisking and help a little to see what was going on. There was a moment the beater with whipped cream was on the floor, and when I read that I needed a mold, I just laughed and made my memorable mistake.

Once you pour your bavarian cream (bavarois) into a mold, do not touch it.

Once your bavarois is poured, you have a few seconds to smooth it out with a spatula and that’s it. The smooth texture will change, similar to marshmallow cream.

This doesn’t affect the taste at all, which is heavenly. How could it not be with milk, cream, egg yolks, vanilla bean, sugar and lots of whisking?

Unlike sabayon or zabaglione, which is soupy, the gelatin gives this it’s body, so it has a thicker texture and will hold up in a pastry. I can only dream for such a pastry as I write this, but it will give me a future reason to revisit bavarois and perhaps perfect it.

The recipe instructions can be found in Le Cordon Bleu at Home.

Recipe (from Le Cordon at Home)

• 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