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Gâteau d'Abricot (II)
Ingredients.
Half a tin of Apricots.
Half a pint of Whipped Cream.
One tablespoonful of Castor Sugar.
One teaspoonful of Vanilla Essence.
Savoy Biscuits (about twenty).
One tablespoonful of Apricot Marmalade.
Two slices of Genoese Pastry cut out with a round cutter. Three quarters of a yard of Pale Pink Ribbon.
The book gives only the ingredient list; the method was expected to be obvious to a trained cook. This is a ribbon-tied charlotte: a case of Savoy biscuits standing upright around a génoise base, filled with apricots and flavoured cream.
- How it goes togetherTrim the Savoy biscuits to a uniform height, spread one génoise round with apricot marmalade and stand the biscuits round it sugared side out, using the jam as glue. Tie the ribbon round the outside to hold the case while the filling sets, fill with drained apricots folded into the sweetened vanilla cream, and cap with the second génoise round if it is to be turned out.
- Half a tin of apricotsTin sizes were not standardised, so treat this as a rough measure: a drained 400 g can of apricot halves is in the right region for a case of this size. Drain them thoroughly and blot on a cloth or the cream will slacken.
- Half a pint of creamAn imperial half pint is 10 fl oz, about 285 ml. As written the measure is of cream already whipped, so start with rather less liquid cream. Whip to soft peaks only; a firmly whipped cream will not fold round the fruit without breaking.
- Castor sugarSuperfine or caster sugar. Granulated will not dissolve in cold cream and leaves the filling gritty.
- Savoy biscuitsThese are ladyfingers, sold as boudoir biscuits or savoiardi. Twenty will ring a tin of about 6 inches; buy a few extra, as the ends snap when you trim them.
- Genoese pastryGénoise sponge, baked in a shallow sheet and cut with a plain round cutter to the diameter of your case. A bought plain sponge layer will serve if you are not baking one.
- Apricot marmaladeNot citrus marmalade — a smooth apricot jam, warmed and sieved. It works here as both adhesive and glaze.
- Chilling and yieldSet it in the refrigerator for at least two hours before untying the ribbon, and retie a fresh length for the table. It will not stand more than a few hours out of the cold.
The ribbon-tied gâteau belongs to the late Victorian and Edwardian sweet course, where a charlotte case of Savoy biscuits, bound with a length of coloured satin, could be assembled ahead and carried whole to the table. Savoy biscuits themselves are much older — light finger-shaped sponge biscuits traditionally associated with the ducal court of Savoy, though the attribution is not firmly documented — and by the later nineteenth century they were widely available ready-made in Britain, which is why the book assumes rather than teaches them. The tinned apricots are the telling detail: canned fruit had become cheap and dependable enough by the closing decades of the century that half a tin could be specified without apology, in a dish otherwise built on hand-whipped cream and baked génoise.