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Apricot Cakes Trellised
816. Spread some puff paste (see par. 732) (trimmings will do for these cakes); spread it equally on a large buttered baking-sheet with the rolling-pin. Spread some apricot marmalade over the paste equally, then cut some more paste long and narrow, roll it about the size of strong cord, and arrange it crossways like a trellis over the marmalade; put down over the bars lightly; and lastly, bake it in a moderate oven. When done, cut them into small oblong squares, and dress them on the dish, one above the other.
PUFFS. 817. These are usually made with puff paste (par. 732), which is turned over upon the contents, pressed together at the edges, and baked without any tin or shape.
A sheet of puff paste, apricot jam and a lattice of rolled paste ropes — essentially a tray-baked jam slice. The method is sound; only the oven and the paste need translating.
- Moderate ovenRead this as 375–400F for puff paste rather than the usual 350F. Puff needs enough heat to turn its water to steam quickly; too cool and the layers leak butter instead of lifting.
- Trimmings are the pointTrimmings -- The original allows scraps ('trimmings will do'), which reads as economy: the good paste was reserved for vol-au-vents and patties. Re-rolled puff no longer rises evenly, which matters little under a flat layer of jam. Stack the trimmings in layers rather than balling them up, so what lift remains stays directional.
- ThicknessThe original gives none. Roll the base to about 1/8 inch; thicker and the centre stays damp beneath the jam.
- Apricot marmaladeIn this period marmalade meant a thick fruit paste, not the citrus preserve. Use a stiff apricot jam or a reduced apricot puree — a loose jam will boil over the lattice and weld the cakes to the sheet.
- The latticeRoll the strips to roughly the thickness of a pencil and lay them on cold. Press the ends firmly to the border of the base so they do not lift and slide as the paste puffs.
- Docking the basePrick the base all over before spreading the jam. Otherwise the sheet domes under the filling and pushes the trellis apart.
- CuttingThe original cuts them 'when done', i.e. straight from the oven; cutting cool is easier, since hot jam runs and a hot puff crumb tears. A long thin-bladed knife wiped between cuts gives clean edges.
Trellised or latticed jam tarts appear widely in nineteenth-century British and French pastry work, and puff-paste trimmings — too worked to serve as vol-au-vents or patties, too valuable to waste — were a natural use for them. Apricot was a common choice: apricot marmalade, a stiff sieved paste, held its shape under heat, and apricot glaze was in any case a staple of the pastry kitchen. The instruction to dress the cut squares 'one above the other' reflects a service style in which small pastries were piled or overlapped on the dish rather than laid flat.