No. 3293

Casinos

For these cakes take puff paste made at six turns (No. 146), having it an eighth of an inch thick; cut half of the rolled-out layer in two-inch in diameter rounds with a channeled pastry cutter (Fig. 16), and range them on a slightly dampened baking sheet, then egg over. Divide the other half of the layer into the same number of rounds, but only an inch and a half in diameter; empty the centers of these with a pastry cutter an inch in diameter so as to form into rings, then lay them on top of the rounds; egg over lightly and decorate the surface of each one with a rosette of fine halved almonds burnt with egg-white and sugar, and then bake the cakes in a hot oven. When done fill the center holes with orange or quince jelly.

← No. 3292 Cannelons a la Celestine Small Cakes for Entremets No. 3294 Cream Cakes Iced with Chocolate, Vanilla or →

For the Modern Kitchen

A ring of puff paste set on a puff paste disc, baked, then filled with jelly — essentially a small vol-au-vent turned sweet. The whole thing succeeds or fails on how the paste rises, so keep it cold and cut cleanly.

Puff paste at six turnsRanhofer's No. 146 is classic puff pastry given six folds, which is standard for modern all-butter puff. Good frozen all-butter puff pastry, rolled to an even 1/8 inch, behaves the same way.
"A hot oven"Read this as 425F. Puff paste needs the initial blast to turn its water to steam before the butter melts out; a moderate oven gives flat, greasy cakes.
The cutting is the hingePress the cutter straight down and lift straight up, never twisting, and use it cold. A dragged or crushed edge seals the layers together on that side and the ring rises lopsided.
Egg wash sparinglyEgg only the top surfaces. Any egg that runs down the cut sides glues the leaves shut and kills the lift, which matters more here than on a plain round.
The ring proportionsA 1.5-inch ring with a 1-inch center hole leaves a band about a quarter inch wide, sitting on a 2-inch base with a quarter-inch collar of exposed pastry. Center the ring carefully or the cake bakes crooked.
"Almonds burnt with egg-white and sugar"Not scorched: blanched almonds split lengthwise, tossed in lightly beaten egg white and then in granulated sugar, so they glaze and take colour in the oven. Watch them, as sugared nuts darken well before the pastry is done.
Dampened baking sheetThe old trick of a barely damp sheet added steam and helped anchor the paste. Parchment on a heavy sheet does the job now; skip the water.
FillingWarm the orange or quince jelly just to pouring consistency and fill the wells while the cakes are still warm, so it settles smooth and sets glossy. Quince paste thinned with a little water works if you have no quince jelly.
Yield and servingA single 8-inch square sheet of puff, rolled thin, gives roughly ten to a dozen cakes depending on scrap re-rolling. They are best within a few hours of baking; the jelly softens the pastry overnight.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) was Charles Ranhofer's summary of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this chapter of petits fours and small cakes for entremets reflects a French pastry repertoire transplanted whole to an American dining room. Casinos belong to a large family of little puff-paste cakes built as a disc plus a ring — the same construction as a vol-au-vent or a bouchée, shrunk to two inches and finished sweet. The quince jelly filling is a period marker in itself: quinces were still a common late-autumn preserving fruit in American households, and their high pectin content made a jelly that set firm enough to hold a clean surface in an open ring.