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.

Mmm, yum, yum-- a chocolate genoise raspberry ruffle cake.

Alice Medrich, master teacher and chocolatier will show us how it's done, step by fascinating step.

Join us on...

This gorgeous creation is a chocolate raspberry ruffle cake.

There are the ruffles and there is the raspberry.

Inside is a chocolate genoise cake, and there are raspberries and then there's a crème fraîche chocolate filling and you can make this right at home.

And Alice Medrich's going to show us how to do it.

And we're going to do it.

Let me move this.

We'll move that out of the way.

When I start this cake at home I like to prepare for the ruffles first and that means whenever we're doing chocolate we start with chopping chocolate because to melt it properly it needs to be in small pi eces to avoid burning.

And what I try to remember is that we're trying to melt it not cook it.

And this is very good chocolate that you would buy at a gourmet store.

Yes, you want some very go od chocolate for this both because it handles well and because, of course, it tastes delicious.

Oh.

I'm going to scrape th is right into a cl ean, dry bowl because chocolate an d small quantities of water are enemies so we try to keep drips an d wet spoons and wet bowls aw ay from chocolate.

Does it kind of seize it up or something?

It does, it seizes it up and we're going to put it right here in the water bath.

Now, the trick here is th at as the chocolate melts in the bottom of the bowl, we turn it and let the warm chocolate me lt the chocolate th at isn't melted and we don't need to go to a precise temperature but we do need to keep th e chocolate from burning and I aim for about 11 5 or 120 degrees.

We're not concerned with a very precise temperature so I can kind of tell wi th my finger and we're just about up to temperature and as soon as I do n't see any more un melted bits in there we're going to proceed.

How much chocolate do we have here?

We have about 15 ounces and that's... doesn't ha ve to be very precise.

Looks beautiful to me.

All right, that lo oks about right.

Let's turn off the heat and just let this sit here and that will stay at temperature.

Mm-hmm.

The next step is to turn on a burner and warm the back of the pan.

The pan we're using is not a specially coated pan; it doesn't have any no nstick coatings because that would ge t in our way.

It's clean.

We arrive eventually at a nice warm pan-- yo u want to feel?

Very warm?

No, you can still touch it.

But not too hot to touch.

And we'll move over here.

And taking the bowl out of the water-- always important when yo u've been in a water bath to wipe the bowl so we don't drip water on the work surface.

Mm-hmm.

And then I'm going to push out you know, a third of a cup, maybe and then with a good of fset spatula...

Yes, those are awfully useful.

Terribly useful-- we're go ing to spread a thin layer.

The warm pan enables me to spread a real thin layer without the chocolate starting to harden too early.

And you're sure that the pan is thoroughly washed and dry and not greasy.

Absolutely, and then probably th e hardest thing here is finding room in the re frigerator for four of these.

So this goes off in to the fridge.

All right, I'll put it in, okay.

Now, here's our sh eet of chocolate that's been we ll chilled and I like to chill it well beyond th e temperature that it needs to be be fore we work on it and then let it wa rm up gradually at room temperature.

Aha-- when it's pliable, it makes a gorgeous ruffle... Oh, that's perfect, there it was.

which I pull off in a kind of sweeping arc.

Now, let's do that slowly.

Let's see if we can go slow.

It gathers up ar ound my fingers-- it makes a great mess of your manicure.

Let's do another one.

As though you're trying to slide underneath Uh-huh.

and sweep in a kind of a fan-shaped arc an d let it gather up.

How many are you going to make for this cake?

Well, we're going to make, ma ybe, you know however many we can ge t out of three pans and you can do as many as... yo u can go up to 30 or you could get away wi th about 15.

That's wonderful.

It's very satisfying once th is clicks into place.

I should think, yeah.

And I think we 'll finish now.

And then what do you cover them with?

Refrigerate until th ey're hard and these can be ma de in advance so you don't have to do them right before the party.

So, when they're really hard then you can cover them with... You can cut... wh en they're hard, yo u can layer waxed paper.

So we'll go ahead an d put these on ice.

I'll give those to the fridge.

Now you are going to make the cake.

This is a chocolate genoise.

This is a chocolate genoise, very classic.

What's the difference between this and another cake?

It's an unleavened cake, so everything... although it's very simple everything depends on technique.

Egg power.

Egg power, a nice foam folding technique, lo ts of finesse.

Good.

It's one of the great cakes...

It is one of the great cakes... for wedding cakes and everything.

and it's one of th e great satisfying th ings to master.

We're going to start out by triple sifting.

First, I have a third of a cup plus a tablespoon-- I'm sorry about that... ( both laugh ) a sifted flour, all-purpose fl our in the strainer.

Is this all-purpose flour?

And the same measure of sifted cocoa.

Now, it's very possible to use any kind of cocoa but I prefer the Dutch process for flavor.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

I'm going to sift this.

Now, the common things th at happen to genoise in my experience, are little flour balls in the cake and the triple sifting ta kes care of that pr oblem right away.

Mm-hmm.

Deflating is an other problem that happens with this ca ke from overfolding and believe it or not the triple sifting ta kes care of that, too... Oh, really?

because it makes th e flour so much ea sier to incorporate.

Uh-huh, mm-hmm.

So we get less deflating, an d I'm going to actually... it seems...

There are little things in that.

Yeah, so we're going to leave that behind because they're a little gr itty and granular.

You don't want to push it too... No, we don't want to push.

Okay, and I'm going to finish up by putting the flour an d cocoa back.

Of course, the other thing th at sifting does is it mixes the flour an d cocoa very nicely.

Mm-hmm.

Back into the strainer and it'll get sifted yet ag ain when we add it.

Now, that's go od preparation.

I didn't realize sifting was that important.

Sifting can be so important.

Mm-hmm.

We're then going to go to four eggs-- doesn't matter if th ey're room temperature because we're going to go ahead and wa rm them anyway.

Yep .

Oops, tough shell.

And these are U.S. graded large eggs.

Farm-fresh eggs, la rge eggs-- most recipes are written fo r large eggs.

Now, I'm going to add two-thirds of a cup of sugar to the eggs and I learned this th e hard way: Once you add sugar to eggs, yo u must whisk them before you take a call or answer the door.

Oh.

If we leave dry sugar on eggs, they kind of precook the eggs and we get these li ttle hard lumps th at are very annoying.

We're going to move over to the stove.

We warm the eggs and sugar and this dissolves th e sugar a little bit-- gives a stabler foam.

Some people do it ov er a water bath; I'm kind of a speedy character-- I do it directly over a gas heat if I have a bowl like this.

How warm is it going to be?

This is... not too, yo u know, 110 degrees, 10 5 degrees like a baby's milk.

Do they beat up faster if you do this?

I think they do, an d more stably and that means that when yo u fold ingredients into it it will be more stable.

How about it, do you wa nt to touch that?

That's about right, or ev en a little bit warmer but I think th at's just fine.

We're going to move ov er to the mixer an d attach this.

If you have a ch oice on your mixer, yo u use the whisk rather than the paddle be cause we want vo lume and air.

Yeah.

( mixer whirring ) In a mixer with th is kind of power this only takes ab out a minute.

Mm-hmm.

If you're using a handheld mixer or a mixer that do esn't have power, it takes longer.

So the important thing is to watch the consistency not the clock, and go until it's about tr iple in volume and kind of fluffy like ye llow whipped cream.

Mm-hmm.

( mixer whirs down ) The proper consistency is fluffy like this-- you see that ribbon that si ts on the surface there.

Mm-hmm.

I'm going to sift in ab out half of the flour- an d-cocoa mixture and fold with the biggest ru bber spatula I have and folding really is cutting through th e center of the batter and lifting and letting that batter drop over.

Rotate the bowl.

Definitely reach down in to the bottom and get that wh ite batter up.

Then as soon as the color is fairly uniform I'm going to sift in th e rest.

Folding is certainly one of the most important things in both cake and...

Very important, ve ry important.

What I'm trying not to do is deflate this batter.

Now, when that's fo lded together, we go to the butter.

Add three tablespoons of clarified butter kept nice and hot.

Rather than add it di rectly to the batter this is a great trick I learned from a marvelous school in France.

Some of the... th e batter is first fo lded into the butter and this puts the butter in suspension in a small amount of batter.

You certainly don't want the butter to sink down.

Oh, to sink to the bottom, th is is the worst.

This takes care of that pr oblem quite nicely.

You can make a genoise without butter, I guess.

You can, and, you know, th ere's not much butter in a genoise and this just gives it a little bit of extra fi nesse, I think.

That little something, je ne sais quoi.

Je ne sais quoi.

This, then, goes in, and then wi th very few folds now we'll have the butter in the batter.

The pan, very simply prepared-- eight-inch pan, no butter, no flour just the parchment paper in the bottom.

Mm-hmm.

Turn the cake batter in to the pan and, you know, this may si t a little bit low because the size of eg gs vary and everything va ries every day.

Is that about a two-inch...

It's two inches tall.

Mm-hmm.

Then let's go to th e oven with this.

Then we have the... what's the oven...

The oven is at 350 and th e rack is either in the lower third or just below the center so that the cake is in the center.

And how long does it go?

About 30 minutes, gi ve or take five.

Okay.

So, after about 30 minutes, we check for doneness.

It's not the time that's important but what's happening wi th the cake.

I don't test with a to othpick, I just wait till it springs back and I don't hear a lot of mo isture under the surface.

A little earlier when I pe eked, it was domed up a little bit.

When it gets done, it shrinks down ju st a bit and levels.

Mm-hmm.

So I'm going to call this done.

I like the way it looks, I like the way it smells and I like the way it feels.

Here's our cooled cake and you'll notice I left it in the pan.

I didn't try to get it ou t while it was hot.

I set it on a rack an d I don't work on it until it's completely cool.

A slim little sp atula or this... even this little plastic th ing, and I just push it in the side and I try to hug th e side of the pan so I don't make a ragged edge.

Well, that's good because that's flexible.

It's flexible.

Even if I do make a ragged edge, no big deal.

Flip it out, remember there's pa rchment on the bottom so we never worry about the bottom.

Oh, that came out perfectly.

And that looks ni ce to me.

It smells chocolaty, indeed.

And I'm going to flip it ov er on its face... Mm-hmm.

and get rid of the rack.

All right, I'll get rid of it for you.

And put it on a piece of pa rchment paper for now.

Slicing the cake in three is really si mpler than it seems Mm-hmm.

There are a couple of tricks, and one is a good serrated knife-- a ragged-edge knife, no t a straight one.

I'm going to start about a third of the way down from the top of the cake and I'm not going to try to get all the way through but I'm just going to cut a little score or a track and now once I've got it scored all the way around I'm kind of home free un til I meet in the middle and that gives me an even layer.

Very good.

For the second layer I'm going to do th e same thing.

I'm going to go halfway down th e remaining distance here.

Mm-hmm.

And again, I'm go ing to rotate.

The paper makes it mu ch easier.

So now we have three layers.

Let's set the layers as ide for a moment and go to the simple syrup.

I've cooked in advance a third of a cup of sugar with a third of a cup of water simmered for a couple of minutes just to reduce a little bit an d dissolve the sugar.

Mm-hmm.

To this, we're going to add this wonderful fr amboise liqueur which smells like a garden.

This is a judgment call... And costs a fortune.

And costs the earth bu t worth it.

This is a judgment call.

I say about a third of a cup, but I usually ad d a little less then taste it and then I give in and add the rest so we'll pour this in an d you can give a taste and tell me whether mo re is merrier or it's just right as it is.

Now, some people like it sweeter and some pe ople like it boozier.

Good and boozy, I would say, just right.

Good and boozy, okay.

Filling is made wi th crème fraîche.

Okay, we're going to beat th is lovely cream li ke whipped cream but first, I'm going to add tw o teaspoons of vanilla.

So we'll go ahead an d beat this-- and we're not go ing to beat it ma ximum stiff... just yet.

This isn't qu ite as stiff as I want it but let's add a bit of that sugar.

Again, sugar is to taste because the cr ème fraîche is always a little different wh en you make it.

Okay, now, once th e cream is beaten-- and it's a soft be at, you can see-- it's not too stiff, and th at's just what I want.

Now, we're not going to wait very long but if we did, we'd put it either on ice or in the refrigerator.

So I'll do that now, to get it out of the way.

Good to get us used to doing that.

So, let's go back to the assembly step.

Here's our cake ni cely cut in three.

And we're going to layer th is cake, actually, in a pan.

A springform is good-- you know, wi th a spring on the side-- or this, my favorite, wh ich is a loose-bottom pan Oh, I see, that's... so they can be unmolded.

These are available, so this is my pr eferred pan.

This first layer ge ts flipped up... our syrup and, uh... framboise, we're going to moisten that first layer.

And this is all do ne in the pan.

It's a very wonderful way of layering a cake, and... Now, this is a very French thing of putting a liqueur syrup.

I notice a lot of American cakes don't do it.

I always miss it.

Although it seems li ke the wrong time to do this we're going to break away an d make the chocolate filling because the chocolate filling, on ce it's made, cannot wait.

This is done by taking fi ve ounces, again of my good bittersweet or semisweet.

Mm-hmm.

And this is a little unusual-- we're going to ad d boiling water to it.

Oh.

Mostly, we're told no t to keep water an d chocolate together but if there's enough water, it 's a safe thing to do.

Three tablespoons hot water, and...

It's melting immediately .

And if I've been good about cutting the chocolate at just the right size... by the time th e chocolate's melted this mixture will be ju st under lukewarm which is perfect fo r folding in the cream.

Now, believe it or not usually we test th e temperature-- ah, perfect-- on our upper lip which gives us a chance to lick it off.

This is perfect!

Here's our crème fraîche.

I recommend measuring fo r this task but I've done it so many times th at I can tell you that this is about a quarter of a cup.

Correct?

Mm-hmm.

Just a first folding in of a quarter of a cup.

You want to move here because you don't want to let th e cream and the chocolate set.

Mm-hmm, which, of course, they would.

And then, finally, an other half-- does this look li ke a half a cup?

I think so.

Exactly.

About exactly, right?

But measure it th e first time, so you... Yeah.

And you can see that th e little bit of color change and it begins to lo ok like chocolate silk.

Beautiful color change.

As soon as I know th at this is all mixed in and without letting it sit any longer it all goes on th at first layer.

Uh-huh.

All of it, and th at's why I went ahead and put that fi rst layer in there and moistened it ri ght away.

Mm-hmm.

So there would be no waiting.

And spread.

With your favorite spatula... Now, we don't have to worry about ul timate smoothness because we're going to ha ve another layer on there.

Now we can go back to the pr oper assembly part of this.

We're going to moisten th e next layer.

This is going to get mo istened on both sides-- Mm-hmm.

th at should be ke pt in mind Yeah... so we don't so ak it silly so to speak, th is first go-around.

So we're going to flip this over put it moist side down in to the pan and do some nice pr essing to level.

And we'll soak again.

Okay, and now here co mes the loose... what we call the loose la yer of raspberries which means lots of raspberries but a little space in between for the cream to seep down.

That's an awfully good idea.

Well, you couldn't keep this around very long with the fresh berries, could you?

No, I would assemble it up to a day in advance.

Mm-hmm.

But I think th e best would be assemble it in the morning to eat at night.

Because the berries ar e like fresh flowers they go so quickly.

That's about right-- pl enty, but not too crowded.

Now, at this point, I want to wh ip this cream a little stiffer so it will hold up.

I liked it soft fo r the chocolate and a little bit stiffer fo r the rest.

It's very useful for people to know when whipping cream... How do we know when it's enough?

Well, you know, I'd like it to stand up a little but I know that when I spread it , it'll stiffen more.

That holds its shape in the...

Yes, it does, it 's nice, it's nice.

So, you know, this much, a cup and a half to two cups.

I spread it and push it because I'd like it to get down in there... Mm-hmm.

An d if I need to put more on, I will.

That's a beautiful consistency, isn't it?

Crème fraîche makes an ex tra-luxurious consistency when it's whipped.

Some people who might not care fo r the crème fraîche taste could do this wh ole dessert wi th whipped cream.

This is the third layer; it's getting its little moistening.

Flip it up, and again, it 's moist side down... Well, if you...

If you had people who didn't want alcohol I suppose you could make the sugar syrup with vanilla, couldn't you?

Yes, you could, and di lute it a little bit more so it's not so syrupy sweet-- or nothing, you know nothing would be fine.

So, once it's soaked we refrigerate it fo r a couple of hours or up till to morrow.

Good.

Well, here's our cake se veral hours later or maybe up to 24 hours later-- Well chilled... well chilled, an d assembled.

But not more, because you've got them raspberries.

No, we've got th ose raspberries.

We don't want them to die.

Now, unmolding the cake is simple.

We need to elevate it in order to get the pan off.

And so, we need these-- a canister, a can of peas, or something like that.

A very... heavy one.

A heavy one so you don't knock over after all that work and all that framboise.

And just sl ide it off... and, you see, the advantage to having assembled it in the pan means everything is st raight and beautiful.

Mm-hmm, it looks beautiful.

So let's get rid of the can of peas... Get rid of... an d get rid of this... and I'll just put this ri ght back on the turntable because it's so useful.

We're about to make a sheet of chocolate to wrap around.

We can do it on this freezer wrap.

You know, this is the stuff th e butcher puts around the meat Yeah.

It 's got a slick side an d a paper side.

We would spread on the slick side... On the slick side, yeah.

What I've found useful an d reusable is this piece of plastic matting.

You buy it in th e housewares department of the hardware st ore... What's it for?

it comes on a long roll and it's for draining yo ur glassware.

Oh.

It has a ridged side an d a slick side and we're go ing to use th e slick side.

Mm-hmm.

I'm going to put it first on a big piece of waxed paper.

This is going to save th e mess on the counter.

Make sure in advance th at your cake is just a little shorter th an the width of this.

This is three inches.

We didn't use all of our chocolate fo r the ruffle making and here's th e leftovers rewarmed to about 11 5 or 120.

And here I'm ju st going to pour.

And it takes ab out three ounces but you know, it's no t so precise as that because the excess will allow it to ru n off the band.

Nice and smooth... Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo...

It's heavy.

Okay, up and around.

The trick is to wrap it ar ound while it's still wet... Let one side actually hug th e cake, and the other side-- be careful, we don't want to wrap the plastic in there; we want to leave it away from the cake and if it wants to touch just slip in some wa xed paper for now.

This, then, gets chilled, at least an hour or so so that we can th en pull the plastic.

So that goes right in to the fridge.

Okay.

Once again, here's our we ll-chilled, assembled cake with a well-chilled wrap.

And this is one I did wi th the freezer paper rather than my plastic wrap and you can see th e difference.

Mm-hmm.

Here is the whipped cr ème fraîche which we've kept it co ld in the fridge.

And we're just going to pile some of it in here.

This is going to be th e glue for the ruffles and also additional cream for the cake, of course.

So, this is a real work of art, isn't it?

I made lots of fans for us... Mm-hmm.

or ruffles-- and be cause they're in dividual like this I can arrange them an y way I want.

And I start at the pe riphery of the cake, ar ranging them.

Mm-hmm, those are just charming, aren't they?

Isn't that nice?

And looking at this, you wouldn't think a normal human being could do it.

We would expect you to...

Question about no rmalcy, right?

Okay... Now, I'm just going to go around and around and you know, th e turntable is great because you can in spect your work.

Now, in the center, yo u know, you can pick out some of your little less su ccessful smaller ones because they fit ju st perfectly.

When we finish with the fans, it 's nice sometimes for the center just to give a little hint of what's inside maybe with a raspberry.

Can you find a beautiful one?

I think that's a gorgeous one.

Should we just put it right in there?

Some people like to tuck so me here and there but I kind of like th e look of a single.... Oh, I like just the pristine quality of one.

Now I like to chill it an d do the final unveiling when I know everything is cold on the outside so we'll put that in the fridge now.

Okay.

Here we are again, on ce again well chilled or well chilled out.

This is the great moment now.

This is the gr eat moment.

If you've put wa xed paper in there you want to pu ll that out.

Mm-hmm.

And then with a little knife, or even a fingernail...

I'm just going to want to peel the inside one back.

Pull it back just a little for now-- that's going to be beautiful but we have a little re pair to make and that is to join these... a little me lted chocolate left over from before, or remelted.

Now, I'd like to peel... this is a moment of... gl ory, really.

And once again, if the chocolate st icks to the paper get it right back into the fridge.

Oh, look at that... it's so shiny!

Beautiful.

One thing I like to do just to highlight th e ruffles just to give a little dusting... a little snowfall of powdered sugar.

It's not a drench, it 's a light... A subtle final dressing.

Oh, my.

You know, it 's so nice nowadays that it's fashionable to dirty the plate.

We don't have to wipe the plate and we want a little sn ow on the plate.

That's just beautiful!

So, it's ready to serve.

The really nice thing about this is that we have a book that comes with this TV show so if you forget what to do it'll be in the book...

It's all in the book.

in your words, which is great.

That's just lovely.

So, this is now se rving time.

Mm-hmm.

After you.

Mmm...

I'll have to have another piece.

( both laughing ) That's lovely.

I think we should drink to you and the cake, Alice.

This has been a wonderful lesson.

Thank you, it's be en a pleasure.

Thank you so much for coming.

That's just beautiful.

Julia Child: Bon appétit!