Savarain Aux Fruits
Submitted by jlketterman
Savarin aux fruits, a classic French rum-soaked yeast ring cake. A light, beaten dough is baked, then drenched in flavored syrup until saturated and filled with whipped cream and fresh fruit. An elegant patisserie dessert.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
20 minREADY
30 minA savarin is a jewel of French patisserie, a light, rum-soaked yeast ring cake that is a close cousin of the baba au rhum. This version crowns it with whipped cream and fresh fruit for a true showstopper.
The dough is unusual: very wet and loose, more batter than dough, and you beat it rather than knead it until it turns smooth, shiny and elastic and stops sticking to your finger. That beating develops the springy, open crumb that lets the cake soak up syrup like a sponge.
Baked in a ring mold, then cooled, the cake is drenched in a flavored sugar syrup, rum being classic, though anise or citrus are lovely too, poured over and over until it absorbs as much as it can hold.
Pipe whipped cream into the center, pile on fresh fruit, and you have a dessert that looks straight out of a Paris bakery window.
Chef Tips
- Beat the wet dough until it is truly smooth, shiny and elastic. This gluten development is what gives the cake its syrup-soaking sponge.
- Soak the cake while it is cooled but the syrup is warm, pouring repeatedly so it absorbs the maximum.
- Do not rush the soak. A properly saturated savarin should be moist and glistening all the way through.
Variations
- Soak with dark rum for a classic baba-style cake, or try kirsch, Grand Marnier or a citrus syrup.
- Fill the center with pastry cream instead of plain whipped cream.
- Top with berries, sliced kiwi, peaches or whatever fruit is in season.
Ingredients
Directions
Put yeast in a bit of warm water with a bit of sugar.
Let eggs come to room temperature.
On a clean surface, sift the flour and salt.
Make a hole in the center with your hand, put the eggs and butter inside.
Mix the egg and butter together and add a bit of water.
Mix in the remaining water and sugar, add the yeast, and mix everything together.
Take the dough and begin beating it.
It should be very liquidy. Beat the dough untill it becomes smooth and shiny and doesn’t stick to your finger when you prod it. Put it in a angel-food cake mold and let rise untill it is about doubled in size. Bake in oven at 375 to 390 untill it’s done (toothpick comes out clean). Boil the sugar and water together, remove once it comes to boil. Add the flavorings, suggested flavors are: Rum, anise (5 spice powder is good), and citrus peel or fruit. When cake has cooled, put the cake on a serving plate and pour the syrup over it. Repeat untill as much syrup as possible has been absorbed into the cake. Pipe whipped cream on in a decorative manner and place fruits on it.
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