Cake in honor of Saint Honoré

Sweet dessert: a little history

The saint was born in the sixth century in the French town of Amiens. From early childhood, Honoré was distinguished by an unusual meekness, which prevented him from becoming bishop of his hometown. The saint himself did not consider himself worthy of such a high position. According to legend, at the very moment Honoré resigned his post, a ray of sunlight illuminated his brow, which could only mean one thing: God himself blessed the priest to accept the episcopacy.

When news of the miraculous event reached Honoré's home, his nanny couldn't believe it. The woman thrust her baking shovel into the ground and confidently declared that she would only believe it if her kitchen utensils immediately blossomed and bore fruit. In an instant, the shovel transformed into a wondrous blackberry bush, adorned with flowers and ripe, juicy berries.

Today, there's a street in Paris also named after Saint Honoré. Legend has it that the recipe for the eponymous cake was invented here. In the 19th century, the pastry chef Chiboust, whose bakery was located on Rue Honoré, first created the amazingly delicious dessert, which he named after the saint.

Ingredients

The shortcrust pastry recipe calls for the following ingredients:

• butter – 70 g;
• flour – 140 g;
• baking powder - half a teaspoon;
• one egg yolk;
• water – one tablespoon.

To prepare choux pastry, the recipe calls for:

• water – 300 ml;
• flour – 140 g;
• butter – 115 g;
• eggs – 4 pieces;
• one pinch of salt.

For the custard, the recipe calls for:

• eggs – 4 pieces;
• sugar – 200 g;
• milk – 250 g;
• vanillin – 1 g;
• gelatin – 15 g;
• water – 60 ml;
• two tablespoons of cognac;
• corn starch – 30 g.

To prepare the dessert, you will need butter cream, and for this you will need to stock up on:

• powdered sugar – 3 tablespoons;
• one packet of cream thickener;
• cream 33-35% - 200 ml.

The recipe for making caramel involves using:

• sugar – 180 g;
• water – 60 g.

How to make Saint Honoré?

1. The recipe for choux pastry begins with bringing water, butter, and salt to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Add flour to the boiling liquid and mix thoroughly. Let the dough simmer for a couple of minutes. It should easily pull away from the sides of the pan.
2. Let the dough cool slightly. Then begin adding the eggs one at a time. Mix thoroughly. The finished dough should be smooth and uniform, slightly stretchable when folded in with a spoon.
3. Let's get started with the shortcrust pastry recipe. Sift the flour and baking powder thoroughly, add the butter, and then begin cutting the mixture with a knife until it forms crumbs.
4. Add the yolk and sugar, and quickly knead the dough. Add a couple of tablespoons of cold water if necessary. Form the dough into a ball and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
5. The dessert will be round, so roll the dough into a circle. Using a pastry bag, pipe two rings of choux pastry on top. Shape the remaining dough into small pastries.
6. Bake the dough in an oven preheated to 200 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit) for approximately 15-20 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 170 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) and bake for another 20 minutes.
7. While the dessert ingredients are cooling, start making the cream. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Refrigerate the whites and beat the yolks with starch, vanilla, and sugar (150 g). You should get a creamy consistency.
8. Add warm milk to the resulting mixture and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once the cream begins to bubble, transfer it to a deep container, cover with plastic wrap, and place it in a cold water bath to cool.
9. Soak the gelatin in cold water. Then place it over the heat, add 50 g of sugar, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Leave the prepared solution in a warm place in a bowl of hot water to keep it warm.
10. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Continue whisking and slowly pour in the gelatin and sugar. Whip the dessert until it's fluffy and smooth.
11. Mix one third of the whipped egg whites with the cooled custard.
12. Add the remaining egg whites in two additions, stirring constantly with a spatula. Add the cognac. Chill the dessert in the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving.
13. Now for the buttercream recipe. Whip the cream with the thickener and powdered sugar.
14. Fill the pastry blanks - cakes and rings - with butter cream.
15. To make caramel, combine water and sugar in a saucepan. The water should just moisten the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and skim off any film that forms. Let the syrup simmer briefly until it takes on a caramel color. Then remove the saucepan from the heat and plunge it briefly into a bowl of cold water.
16. Dip the prepared cakes into the hot caramel and glue them to the outer ring of the base cake.

Once all the rings are filled with cake, pour the custard into the center of the cake. Refrigerate the dessert for a couple of hours. Before serving, you can decorate the cake with powdered sugar.

Video recipe for Saint-Honoré cake