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Crème Frâiche
Dora Question:
Hello Rose,
Before I get to my question, I must let you know that your Cake Bible is phenomenal. Thank you for sharing all your expertise.
I've been an avid baker all my life, and this past April I made my first wedding cake for a very special occasion: my sister's wedding. She loves everything lemon, so I decided on a three-tiered cake, each layer consisting of an almond dacquoise base topped with a light layer of lemon buttercream, then alternating layers of genoise classique & lemon curd, and coverered with the buttercream and finished with porcelain white fondant.
Her bouquet consisted of white calla lilies, so I made some lilies out of the fondant for the top, and since she loves pearls, the cake was decorated with a royal icing "pearl" variation-on-a-theme: 7 pearls arranged in flower patterns for the bottom layer, 3 pearls arranged in a triangle for the middle, and single pearls for the top. It was a lot of work, but everyone loved it.
Now, onto my challenge. I've made creme fraiche many a time before, but lately I've been encountering lots of difficulty with it thickening properly. In the past, after having left the well-covered cream/buttermilk mixture on top of the fridge out to thicken for about 24 hours, it's thickened, and I've put it in the fridge to let it continue to thicken. Afterwards, I've sweetened it, and had no problems.
But I'm getting really frustrated with all of my recent attempts. I know that heavy cream can vary slightly from batch to batch, but even though I've tried a couple of brands of whipping cream, I'm still not having much luck. And when I try sweetening it after it's been refrigerated a while, it liquifies way more than it ever has in the past.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for your time and for your generous spirit.
Warm regards,
Rose Reply:
crème frâiche is one of the most useful ingredients to temper the sweetness of desserts, to add to scrambled eggs for a rich creaminess and tangy flavor, and to sauces. there is an excellent product available from vermont butter and cheese company. as you know, making your own is quite easy if you can obtain cream that is NOT ultrapasteurized. sadly this is becoming more and more difficult. it has been my experience that with ultra-pastuerized cream, it will eventually thicken if left in a warm spot of 80 to 90 degerees but it may take several days. my best advice is to befriend your local bakery. they usually have access to commercial 40% butterfat cream that is not ultra-pasteurized. (that's what i've done!) offer to buy it and i'm sure they will be generous in ordering extra for you.
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Comments
Ernestuna - you can find Mineral Oil in the pharmacy department.
Reply to this Posted by: Tammy Bartley | January 18, 2008 12:14 PM #
Lisa - check out Rose's recipe for home made fondant in The Cake Bible. Many have suggested using the organic brand SPECTRUM shortening in place of the new Crisco formulation ("no trans fat", which apparently doesn't work as well as the old formulation). Search for "spectrum" on this blog to read about it.
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | January 18, 2008 10:03 AM #
how do you make fondant, that taste good?
Reply to this Posted by: lisa | January 18, 2008 8:57 AM #
Cake/candy supply store. You could try a bakery too.
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | September 26, 2007 5:59 PM #
I would love to make the recipe for whote chocolate glaze, but have no idea where to buy mineral oil. Could you please point me in the right direction? Thans so much for all the information you provide,
Reply to this Posted by: Ernestuna | September 25, 2007 9:26 AM #
the recipes that i offered in the cake bible have been tested innumerable times to be sure they will work. your ideas sound terrific but you'll have to do the same thing if there is nothing similar in my book to compare it to. whenever i did something new for a wedding or event, i always did a test cake before hand to be sure it would work.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | July 14, 2007 4:39 PM #
After taking a couple of classes in cake and pastillage making, I volunteered to make a wedding cake. I've been practicing with smaller cakes for flavor and textures. I am planning to do a white cake (almond and vanilla flavor) with buttercream icing (vanilla flavor) that we will enhance with your strawberry puree between layers. Then will use your pistachio marzipane for top of each cake, cover with butter cream crumb coat, and then the whole cake will be wrapped in white chocolate fondant,
Am going to use some lemon and wild stawberry essence in the strawberry buttercream filling. Was thinking to that I might use some rose water in the syrup for the cake.
My questions:
Do you think there are too many flavors going on?
If I use rose water how much?
Could/Should I add a little amond or vanilla flavor to the whte chocolate fondant?
And what about weighing ingredients???
Oh, I live in Miami and an doing this in Virginia with the help of friends. Flowers are daisys, lots of small white flowers and two large lillies.
And I love your book, too
thank you
Reply to this Posted by: Barbara N. Young | July 7, 2007 11:26 AM #
Dear Rose:
As others have mentioned, Manufacturing cream is available in Smart and Final stores on the west cost. It is much richer in Butter fat, holds up for days and a dream to work with. Besides it is much cheaper than the heavy cream.
Reply to this Posted by: Silvio Di Loreto | May 18, 2007 12:48 AM #
Dear Rose:
As others have mentioned, Manufacturing cream is available in Smart and Final stores on the west cost. It is much richer in Butter fat, holds up for days and a dream to work with. Besides it is much cheaper than the heavy cream.
Reply to this Posted by: Silvio Di Loreto | May 18, 2007 12:48 AM #
paul, i don't know the term manufacturing cream but since you say it has a higher fat content i suspect it's the cream that is available to restaurants and other commercial enterprises that's around 40% butterfat.
if so, you have only to try the two types of cream side by side to see the difference and see if it's worth it to you. when i can get 40% cream i'm always delighted. it's not ultra-pasteurized which means it has a fresher 'uncooked'flavor, it whips more quickly, and has more stability. in a mousse or ganache it will be smoother and slightly denser. as whipped cream it will hold its shape better and not water out or break down if a fruit sauce is spooned over it.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | October 6, 2006 7:05 AM #
Rose,
Please explain the difference between heavy cream and manufacturing cream. In the SF Bay Area, Smart and Final sells manufacturing cream for substantially less than heavy cream. And I've found on the web that manufacturing cream has a higher fat content. How would that higher fat content affect mousse and ganache?Â
Thank you,
Paul
Reply to this Posted by: Paul Divin | October 3, 2006 5:30 PM #
i haven't experimented with making my own though i did taste albert uster's which is excellent. honestly, i don't find that white chocolate has much flavor--it's mostly sugar, milk solids, and cocoa butter. i'd rather flavor the fondant itself with rose water for example.
it makes sense that you'd need to add syrup and glucose to counteract the effect of the cocoa butter that is solid at room temperature. do let us know if you come up with a formula that works! i'll certainly try it.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | July 20, 2006 6:17 PM #
I have made your white rolled fondant. As much as I like the pure white background that rolled white fondant provides, I don't find the taste very appetizing. I am wondering if you have experimented with white chocolate fondant and have any words of wisdom or caution. I've found the same recipe for white chocolate fondant several places on the web. It calls for adding glucose, simple syrup, and 16 oz white chocolate to a 1 lb 8 0z rolled fondant. My fantasy is a fondant that has the taste of white chocolate, but is as easy to use and holds up as well as traditional rolled fondant.
Reply to this Posted by: Ruth | July 17, 2006 1:04 AM #
sounds like the humidity is the problem. you need to add less egg--follow the instructions for the finished texture.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | July 5, 2006 9:13 PM #
Hi Everyone,
I tried to make some profiteroles this afternoon with some students. We were all dissapointed to see that the dough took forever to cook and that the puffs didn't rise. Can someone help us make this recipe a success.
We all live in Miami.
Thanks.
n.
Reply to this Posted by: Nathalie | July 5, 2006 4:35 PM #
white chocolate ganache is white chocolate and heavy cream. if you mean white chocolate without the heavy cream you could just do the white chocolate glaze on page 248. you do need to add the oil or it would be too hard.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | March 2, 2006 11:31 AM #
Dear Rose.
I use your Cake Bible so much that itIS falling apart. Many wedding cakes later I have been asked for a cake covered with a white ganache. Is there any way to accomplish this with white chocolate alone?
Thanks for all you do!
Reply to this Posted by: Cindy | March 2, 2006 10:48 AM #
Here in the Los Angeles area, Smart & Final sells manufacturing cream that is pasteurized, but not ultra-pasteurized. I believe it is around 40% butterfat. I use it all the time to make whipped cream and ganache, but I have not yet made creme fraiche out of it. It might be worth checking out, if you geographical location permits.
Reply to this Posted by: Christine | November 28, 2005 4:20 PM #