White Chocolate Pattycake with Marcel Desaulniers

Boom!

Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have

baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads

right here in my own kitchen.

Marcel Desaulniers, Chef

and author of Death By Chocolate

indulges our fantasies with a white chocolate cake

all adorned with fresh raspberries

and chocolate sauces.

Learn how on...

[Captioning sponsored by Viewers Like You]

We're going to have a chocolate funfest and festival today.

Look at all of what we've got here!

There's white chocolate in two forms and cocoa

and bittersweet and bitter...

Marcel Desaulniers is going to lead us through this great event.

Well, I hope so!

I love chocolate

and if you catch me putting my finger in the chocolate bowl

and licking it you'll, uh... you'll get my point here.

And we do have quite an array.

We're going to be melting some white chocolate for the pattycake

and some dark chocolate for some chocolate balloons

we're going to be doing a little bit later on.

So, if we want to get right into that...

So, let's begin!

I'll chop the white chocolate and...

Tell me more about white chocolate.

There's some that's not very good

and there's some that's better.

That's right-- you've got to check out the label

and when you do that, look for cocoa butter.

Uh, you need to have cocoa butter

and when you say, "Well, doesn't it all have cocoa butter?"

No!

In fact, it doesn't.

A lot of this stuff is called white coating.

It can't even be called white chocolate.

So, I'm chopping this into about a quarter of an inch, and if you'd like to

we can start melting the dark chocolate.

And we're using a couple of double boilers

so, Julia, if you'd like to put the...

There you are.

We'll put that on this one here.

So, we've got a bowl with the chocolate on top

and then about an inch of water on the bottom there.

And the water is not touching the bowl.

Uh, it's not.

It's going to take two or three minutes

so while I'm chopping the white chocolate here, that will get going.

So, I'm going to start melting the white chocolate now.

I'll take the top portion of what we call an "official double boiler"

and, uh, put my white chocolate in here.

How much you got there?

I've got 12 ounces of white chocolate.

We're putting in a couple tablespoons of water.

The white chocolate has a lot of cocoa butter in it.

All chocolate has cocoa butter because that is the fat in the chocolate.

We have to handle this a little differently

and, in fact, we're adding more fat to this because we're doing some unsalted butter.

We've got four tablespoons of unsalted butter.

And I use a whisk with the white chocolate

because it needs to come together as an emulsion

and in order to do that we really have to move with it.

And if you don't mind...

we could stir this a little more

because if you do that, you'll notice in about the time

that I've got the white chocolate completely melted here

that will be as well.

And that's good semi sweet chocolate there

and let's look at our dark chocolate here.

That looks lovely.

Actually, we can shut off the heat on this one.

The dark chocolate--

We'll be dipping some balloons in here a little bit later on.

Balloons?!

That's right, and we'll have some fun!

That's going... that's going to be odd!

I hope I can blow those balloons up!

So, see how nice and smooth that is.

Oh, that's lovely.

So, let's see what happens here...

And you can see how that looks a little bit as if it's separating.

Yes.

But with some vigorous whisking...

But it definitely has a different viscosity as you can see.

Definitely-- I didn't realize it was this fussy.

But here... see how it's getting smooth now.

Yeah.

I think we can leave it right there and we'll shut...

I'll wipe a little.

Shut the heat off.

Shut the heat off, okay.

When in doubt when working with chocolate

as far as the amount of heat we're using-- just shut the heat off.

We can always bring it back.

Hmm-mm.

So, if this, for instance, now...

the optimum temperature for this, after melting, is about 125 degrees.

Hmm-mm.

If we put the balloons in at that temperature

there's a chance we might get a little explosion going on.

Because that's a little high.

We want to cool it down to about 90 degrees

and that's not only because we don't want to burst anybody's bubble.

It's because we actually are doing something very similar to tempering chocolate--

that is rehardening it, uh, so it has that little bit of snap.

So, 90 degrees is... just two or three degrees north or south won't make that much difference.

No.

But in that general range.

So, I think I'll put that off to the side right now.

We can get this out of the way.

We'll just set it here on the counter.

So, I better get this cake going

if we're going to get it into the oven.

So, I need a half a cup of cake flour.

Plain, unbleached cake flour.

That's right.

And I'm going to sift that, actually.

And the reason I do that is to aerate the flour

and then it will incorporate...

it will absorb the liquids a little bit better.

And, of course, sifting is good

if you have additional ingredients in there...

if we had a little cinnamon

which would give some additional flavor.

And the reason we're doing it on parchment paper

is a little later on when we add it

it makes it a little easier.

You can do it on wax paper also.

Now, I've got ten egg yolks in the bowl

and I'm going to put a half a cup of sugar in there.

Now, do you use large... large eggs?

Yes.

Okay, so we're going to put it on high for two minutes.

What I'm doing here is dissolving the sugar--

that half a cup of sugar.

And, uh, eventually we want these egg yolks to be, uh, light and lemon in color.

Make the ribbon!

That's right, make the ribbon!

And we'll do that by putting them on for another two minutes.

So, here we go, on high.

Okay, this is looking great here.

And we can see that the sugar is totally dissolved--

Otherwise, we'd see little grains.

So, the sugar is dissolved

and it's nice and light and lemon in color

and I think it's...

It's interesting-- you use a paddle rather than the whisk.

That's right because, uh, we'd create too much volume.

The next thing I'll be doing

and right now I'm going to put this on low speed

because if I do too much talking

which I do sometimes

the eggs would get lumpy if they stayed there

for several minutes without some agitation.

So, we're going to put it on low.

Now for that volume, we'll whisk egg whites.

I have six egg whites and a quarter of a cup of sugar.

I'm going to hold off a little bit on the sugar

and get some volume going here

and whisk until soft peaks form.

And you've got a great little tool here-- an electric whisk.

We can do it by hand, certainly

but I'll use the electric whisk

and it's going to take me about two to three minutes to do that.

It looks like we're in good shape here.

Those are soft peaks.

Nice, soft peaks.

So, now I'll add my sugar

and I can do that all at once or gradually.

It really is such a small amount of sugar

that we can just put it right in there.

So, it's a quarter of a cup of granulated sugar.

I'll whisk that for probably another two minutes

and, uh, we should be in good shape...

Looks like we're there.

Nice, stiff peaks

and, uh, they're not dry though.

The big thing about that is that if we dry them out

then those little air bubbles that we've created won't expand in the cake

and the cake won't rise gloriously out of the pan.

They're lovely and shiny-- they look beautiful.

They have that glistening quality.

That's another thing-- if you overbeat them

they get sort of this dull, glazed look.

So, let me...

If I could get you to hold that just for a moment.

Okay, there you are.

Shut off our mixer.

Now I am going to add the white chocolate.

If I can show you this here, how significantly different

the white chocolate is in appearance to the dark chocolate

and the reason is that we've tried to create an emulsion.

We've got water in there, we've got additional butter

and, of course, lots of cocoa butter in the white chocolate.

So, it doesn't look as smooth as one might think it should

but this is fine because it's going to...

Once it goes into the eggs it will create an emulsion.

It will create an emulsion.

Let me go ahead-- I'm going to put this on low

and incorporate the chocolate.

You got a little bit left in there.

Oops, sure do!

Should we lick that off or put it in there?

I think we'll... let me, uh...

I'll lick a bit.

So, I can go ahead now, actually, and take this off.

That looks great.

And use the rubber spatula...

You want that little bit more?

Sure, let's put it in there.

Boy, that's sticky stuff.

That white chocolate, again, because of all that cocoa butter

definitely reacts a little bit differently.

Mmm, tastes good!

So, we can lose the paddle here now.

And, uh, the next item is the... the sifted flour...

and how handy it is like this.

Just put it all in at once.

All at once and give it a couple of quick turns.

And sometimes I see people folding ingredients in

and they do it so deliberately

and you want to get in there.

You're going to get a little flour dusting outside the bowl

but it's definitely...

Because you don't want it to deflate.

No, no, and we don't want to play around with it too much

because then we start losing volume.

Don't answer the telephone!

I'm going to add about a third of the egg whites to begin with

just to lighten up the batter a little bit.

Now, let's see... does that look...

I've already failed my math test a couple of times.

Does that look good?

That looks good... to me, anyway.

Okay, and we'll get that in there...

So, that's looking good there

and let me add the rest of the egg whites.

And this really is, uh...

I think when people think about chocolate

they're automatically looking for a dark

sort of turbid- looking situation

and in this case here with the white chocolate

it sort of surprises you.

But the flavor is definitely there.

So, a few more quick turns-- not too many

because we certainly don't want to deflate the, uh...

You don't put any vanilla or anything like that in?

Not in this one.

There's a little vanilla in the white chocolate.

If you don't mind handing me the buttered pans.

I've got two pans, and they happen to be non-stick pans

and the question might be "If you're using non-stick, why go through the trouble?"

Well, a little more insurance.

We want to make sure that when we pop these out of the pan

they come right out.

Now, why is this square?

I didn't have a round cutter today

so I just cut it in square pieces.

So, it doesn't make any difference?

No, it doesn't, no.

I thought there was a purpose.

So, evenly divide it into the two.

There's a little egg white there

but that doesn't make any difference?

No, it really doesn't.

No, it really doesn't.

That will dissipate when it cooks

because, remember, we're going into the oven now.

It's a 325-degree oven

and it's going to take us about 26 to 28 minutes

until that old, trusty toothpick

inserted in the center comes out clean.

Okay, how does... does that look about even?

Hmm-mm.

I think so-- pretty close to it.

So, anyway...

I'll get those in the oven.

I'll open it for you.

Already it's smelling good-- that white chocolate has a beautiful aroma.

Julia: That's 325 in about...?

26 to 28.

26 to 28.

Julia: Why do we have balloons?

Is this going to be a kiddie thing?

Well, we're going to have a party, Julia, so...

Our chocolate is looking really good.

It has a beautiful color to it... glistening, as it should.

It's cooled off.

Actually, it's cooled a little too much

so we'll place it over some hot water.

Hmm-mm.

And it's going to take about...

oh, all of ten seconds to get to exactly where I want it.

I don't know about you, but this is one of my favorite sights...

a big bowl of melted chocolate!

Then having to taste it to see if the temperature is right.

Well, that's the fun about cooking with chocolate!

Yes, it is.

It's not like chopping onions!

Who wants to get a handful of raw onions?

Ooh, that looks great.

I love these ribbons, too.

But I think it's just about there.

Once you get a feeling

for just the viscosity it has

not too stiff and not too thin

somewhere in between there.

Yeah, just barely warm on the bottom, exactly.

So, now for the balloons.

And you really do have to use a special type of balloon for this.

Really, on the serious side, and they're little devils

and I call them little devils because they actually

they're very difficult to blow up.

If you try...

and I'm not...

They won't blow.

They won't blow.

You have to stretch them out with your hand.

And give them a couple of tugs like this.

These are the balloons that kids of all ages

use for water balloon fights.

If you don't buy a quality balloon like this

you end up... they'll pop before their time.

There it goes.

Must've been that cigar I smoked on Sunday.

( snorts ) Whoo!

Okay, and then you have to make sure

you get a good knot in there

because otherwise the air will run out, so that's what we've got.

And now the fun is that the balloon goes...

and no you don't wash them, I get that question all the time

And the balloon goes right into the chocolate and then

that's all you need to do

if you want to make just a real tiny little cup.

And you just let the chocolate drip off

and put it right on the parchment paper there.

But if we want to get a bit more decorative

we can actually rock the balloon

back and forth in the chocolate

and what we're doing there

is creating sort of a petal-like effect.

That's lovely.

And see how pretty that is?

And the reason you put it on there

because you want it to stand up...

It will be less of a mess

when we actually remove them from there.

Well, that's such fun.

Yeah, and then we put them in the refrigerator.

It takes about 25 to 30 minutes

and then if you like, also, a little white chocolate

you can drizzle a little white chocolate in with the dark

and you get a marbleized effect.

That's fun and it's nice having that little petal effect.

And then, after they've been refrigerated

and hardened, then we'll pop them.

And actually pop them and remove it

so we'll do that a little bit later on

so I think we've got enough now

for our little plate presentation

and perhaps, I didn't mention that we're going...

actually this will be part of the white chocolate pattycake.

It will be a garnish and we'll fill it with red raspberries.

Of course, if you want to fill it with chocolate mousse

that's not a bad way to go, either.

Okay.

I'll put them in the fridge.

All righty.

Desaulniers: Not a moment too soon, I think here.

Well, that's a nifty device there.

Okay, I can actually tell

but let's give it the old skewer here.

And absolutely dry, so they look like they're ready.

It's beginning to separate from the sides of the pan.

Yes, it is, so I'm going to put them on a cooling rack

and they need to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes

before we start handling them.

Julia: They really shrunk up quite a bit.

Yeah, they did, and I think they were in the oven

two or three more minutes than they should have.

But once we put all those great raspberries...

Nobody will know.

I don't think anyone's going to complain.

So, now we just turn them over

and we have to allow them to cool for a bit more

but I will remove the parchment paper, however

and you can see the bottom's a little dark, but...

They smell awfully good.

They sure do.

I think they're going to be delicious.

So, I'll do this other one.

And now we want to let them cool just a bit more

before we handle them because as you were mentioning earlier

it is quite a delicate cake with all those eggs in there and good butter...

So, can you, how much ahead can you do these, would you say?

Well, you could bake them ahead

and actually refrigerate the layers

without putting the red raspberries on there.

Because once we put the red raspberries on there you'll...

Eat it...

within the next two to three hours.

But at this stage, once they're cool

put them in the fridge.

Wrap them with some plastic wrap

and you can keep them refrigerated

for two to three days

or if you have room in the freezer put them in there.

True, well, that's good to know.

It sure is.

You could bake them one day, and eat them another.

Certainly.

Okay, we actually have some cooled off

so that we can move the party along here.

I've got two layers and you can see...

Yes, those, yes, a little lighter.

A little bit lighter.

This is, has a lovely, delicate feel to it.

Nice texture.

So, now we have to do a little pattycake

and actually press down on the edges

just to give it a little, a bit more level base.

So, I'll just slide this off onto our cake base here.

And then we've got some red raspberry crush.

We've pureed in the food processor.

Two cups of red raspberries

and a couple tablespoons of sugar and a little lemon juice.

Half of that goes on one layer

and we'll spread that out a little bit.

And then the other layer's going on top.

Are those fresh raspberries or frozen

or you could use either one?

Actually, these are two eight-ounce packages

of frozen raspberries, for the red raspberry crush.

We're using some fresh raspberries to garnish

and of course, eight ounces is a cup, but it...

they are two eight-ounce packages.

Could use fresh raspberries if you wanted.

Absolutely.

So, the remaining cup on top.

And what happens is that

the cake is still just a little bit warm

and it absorbs a little bit of that raspberry.

Of course, it's so moist anyway, you know

I'm going to save a little bit of this

to do something fun with that, in a bit.

But we'll spread it out, just a little bit.

The cake smells awfully good.

You would never think there was white chocolate in it.

Yes, really an ambrosial aroma to it, I think.

These raspberries are quite extraordinary.

I don't know who your gardener is

but uh, they really are incredible.

We can simply scatter the berries on top and get going

or we can be a little bit more precise

and actually do some circles of raspberries

and it looks pretty when we do it this way.

I can help you.

Have to try one, too.

They are so sweet.

I'm eating all the crushed ones.

There's one.

Oh, I think you've got room for one more there, great.

It's finished, though.

It is...

You don't put anything around it?

No, we don't.

No, it's...

I guess a rustic presentation, if you will.

It looks lovely.

Well, let me see if I can get this cut up here

so we can set up a nice piece.

You're going to cut right through it.

Get through those beautiful raspberries

without disturbing them too much.

We might find a few falling, a bit askew, but I think...

Well, the presentation is important.

And do you know what I should do

is wipe this blade, and a nice thing to do

is run it under some hot water every time you make a cut

and you end up with a much cleaner-looking cut.

I can give you some hot water right here.

You got your towel?

Thank you.

So we do that.

Well, that's always a good idea, isn't it?

And it really, as they say, it will cut like butter.

Yes, it does, doesn't it?

Do that every slice, and you'll end up

with a professional- looking piece of cake...

You can still do that at the table, too

you could have a nice... pitcher.

Sure, you can dunk it in your hot tea.

So, let's see, how does that look there?

Oh, that looks nice.

And I saved a little bit of the raspberry sauce.

I wanted to show you on my plate presentation here.

And you know Norman Van Aken, don't you, down in Miami?

Yes, I do.

Well, the first time I ate at Norman's restaurant

they brought out these plates

and they were just so wildly decorated

I asked Norman how he did that and he explained to me

that he actually put the plate in a deep sink

and then he would take a cup of raspberry puree

and just throw it down on top of the plate

and this stuff goes all over the place.

So we won't, I won't get that animated here

but I think you can get the idea that just by dripping it over...

Well, this sort of, oh, is this the contemporary dribble?

Sure, just like that, a little splish and splash

and if you don't like that sort of look

then you can actually put it in a little squeeze bottle

and give it a little squirt like that.

And then we have a little chocolate sauce, too.

I'm so enamored with dark chocolate

that I couldn't leave it out of the equation here.

And we'll give it a little...

so it's just sort of an eclectic look.

Yeah, put a little bit on that.

Okay.

That looks kind of bloody.

( laughing ): How's that?

And... that's fun.

And so we'll put a slice on a plate here, right in the center

and once we put...

That actually looks very nice.

Yeah, I think so.

When you're using nice ingredients

it's amazing how little you really need to do

because these fresh red raspberries

are so extraordinary

that they certainly stand on their own.

Okay, it's time to pop these balloons.

I'll get my trusty little knife out here.

Bingo.

Whoa!

Isn't that... that's fun.

And then you just pull it out?

And see, that's the real little one that we did.

And then you just have to make sure

that you get all of the balloon out of there.

But we can...

I can see you really have to, have it really cold, don't you?

Yeah, they do, and actually these

are starting to soften up just a little bit

so we put a few raspberries right in these little cups like this

and I think that's a really nice garnish.

And another thing if you'd like,

a little whipped cream in there would also be nice.

Forget the raspberries, put some whipped cream in there

because it certainly would be complimentary...

We could put some whipped cream on that side.

We could.

( laughing )

I think you and I are on the same wavelength

when it comes to desserts.

So that's our presentation there.

Oh, well, that's beautiful.

Are we going to eat one?

Should as well, I think we better.

We'll have to hand in our... our dessert card if we don't.

That really is...

you can see the raspberry is really soaked into the layer there.

How would you describe the taste of that cake?

It's delicious.

I think the nice thing about it, on the serious side

is that it has a very clean

and it's not an overly sugary taste to it.

It's been great fun.

Thank you so much.

That's going to be part of my repertoire.

Good, sweet dreams.

Julia: Bon appétit!