Hello everyone. I tried the vanilla Bavarian cream today from tcb. I put it in a bowl to firm up for 4 hrs in the fridge. I didn’t realize how firm it would get. I tried to scrape it up and whip it in order to spread it on the cake but it looks like a curdled mess. Still tastes great and I can see how perfect it would be in the scarlet cake. But in he future, how would u fill a cake with this? I did a chocolate cake paired with the Bavarian layered with strawberries and bananas and covered in whipped cream with the food processor. Looks pretty but the filling was a mess. Suggestions? Someone wrote before to let it set in the cake pan for the size of cake you want. I can see how that might work. If I want to use fruit would you mix it into the bc before it sets then put it in the mold?

slice79 - 08 February 2013 06:19 PM

Hello everyone. I tried the vanilla Bavarian cream today from tcb. I put it in a bowl to firm up for 4 hrs in the fridge. I didn’t realize how firm it would get. I tried to scrape it up and whip it in order to spread it on the cake but it looks like a curdled mess.

If I understand you correctly, the curdling did not happen until you tried to whip it, right? If it was curdled before then, in the sauce stage, you might have heated it above 180º F. If it wasn’t until you beat it, I wonder if it has to reach room temperature like a buttercream does before rebeating. Unlike her tips on buttercream, she does not mention waiting for it to reach room temperature before rebeating it. I’m sorry, I know this isn’t much help, but your dilemma has me very curious now because I have been wanting to try this cream and I’d like to know what happened so it doesn’t happen to me, or to you the next time.

Hi Alice,

I actually haven’t worked with Bavarian cream much, but the idea of a springform pan (sort of how Rose does the Black Forest from TCB or the ice cream cake in RHC) would work.  I have also used acetate strips for this purpose as well—wrap around your base layer and tape and you have a round form for your cake.  You could do a thin layer of cream…put on your fruit, then another layer of cream over top to avoid potential streaks, etc. 

Just my 2 cents…perhaps someone else will have other ideas and more relevant experience.

When we fill cakes with pastry cream (we usually add a little whipped cream to it and fold in chopped fresh fruit like strawberries, blueberries…), we use a ring of buttercream to hold the pastry cream in.  This works for cakes that are covered with buttercream (like birthday cakes.)  If the pastry cream is firm, I’ll stir it with a spatula to loosen it and it eventually smooths out and you can either add more whipped cream or add it then - I don’t use the recipe from tcb for pastry cream, but it should not be that different.

Yes to all the above comments, and just wanted to add that you sometimes can’t re-beat a custard set with gelatin like you can a buttercream, it’s a different animal.  You could try working with it during the first hour or two, when the gelatin has thickened the mixture enough to make it spreadable but has not yet set up as firm as it will eventually get.  Then you store/chill the cake while the gelatin continues to firm and you have a nice slice-able presentation. 

Definitely use a buttercream dam, as Jeanne points out, in case the custard is too soft to support a layer above it.

re: putting fruit in a filling, I generally put down a thin layer of filling, layer of fruit, then top/fill in with more filling.  So it’s all one layer, just applied in three parts.

Thanks everyone for the tips. Yes, it only curdled when mixing after it set not in the custard stage. The texture is not what I expected but I think it’s the gelatin that makes it that way. It’s very tasty though! When we cut into the cake it was actually pretty good. I made it with the piping whipped cream in tcb but that it was a disaster. Haha it was so soft it was hard to make a dam to hold it all in. But it was seriously the most delicious cake! I rarely eat my own creations but I devoured this one. Haha. I tried to wait until it came to room temp to repeat but I think bc of the gelatin it just held too well. . I think I’ll try the setting or a little then pouring into the acetate stripped bottom layer. In guessing it might be hard to do a 4 layer cake with this? I guess I’ll have to experiment a little huh? Thanks again!

If you can pour the Bavarian onto a chilled cake layer with an acetate strip wrapped around it, then chill that thoroughly before stacking the layers, I’m sure you’ll be just fine.

For a similar flavor profile with slightly different working characteristics, you could also try pastry cream with gelatin-stabilized whipped cream folded into it.  This is the Chiboust cream that Rose has in the Pie/Pastry Bible.  I have made a four-layer boston cream pie with this filling and it worked just fine- no special acetate strips, buttercream dams, etc.  Just working with well-chilled cakes was enough.

I like to use bavarian cream. Love the airy structure.
This is what I do: I let the gelatinmixture firm up in the fridge. I make a buttercream dam of MBC on the edge of the cake. Then I slice thin slices with a knife (like 1/2 inch thick) and arrange the slices on the cake so they cover the whole cake. It ends up a little bit uneven, but the weight of the next layer will level it out out. Sort of..
I use it with a biscuit de savoie (cake) for the light structure combines good with these fillings and aren’t too heavy.
This is a picture I posted earlier of my yoghurt bavarian filling done with this method:

The chiboust cream sounds delicious.  Is the only difference that you add the gelatin to the whipped cream instead of the custard? Oh, random question.. I’ve noticed most recipes bloom their gelatin before adding but tcb has it just added in powder form.  Anyone know why?

The idea of slicing the bavarian is genius! I’m going to have to try that!!

Pastry cream differs from bavarian in that the custard is set with corn starch in addition to the eggs.  Both Rose’s chiboust and bavarian use gelatin-stabilized whipped cream.