No. 3375

Javaneses

Javanais

Cook a little Genoese preparation (No. 3307) on a baking sheet, having it a quarter of an inch thick. Then divide it into two even parts; cover one of these with a layer of Quillet coffee cream (No. 48) a quarter of an inch thick and lay the other half on top, pressing it down lightly so it will adhere to the cream; cover over with apricot marmalade (No. 3675) and place the cake in the ice-box to harden the cream. Then cut it out with an oval pastry cutter two and a quarter inches long by one inch wide. Glaze these separate cakes with coffee fondant (No. 58) and in the center of each lay a pinch of lightly burnt chopped almonds.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A layered coffee petit four assembled from four separate Epicurean recipes, so the work is in the components rather than this page. Nothing here is difficult, but the fondant is unforgiving.

Fondant temperature is the hingeCoffee fondant is generally warmed to about 100F, no hotter, thinned with a little sugar syrup until it coats the back of a spoon and runs off cleanly. Much above that it tends to lose its gloss and dry dull and streaky, and reheating rarely brings the shine back.
Quillet creamRanhofer's No. 48, a rich butter-and-egg cream, flavored here with coffee. Any well-made French or Swiss buttercream flavored with strong coffee essence or instant espresso dissolved in a spoonful of water will stand in; avoid brewed coffee, which thins it.
The Genoese sheetBaked a quarter inch thick, a whisked genoise sheet wants a hot oven, 400 to 425F, for 7 to 10 minutes only, until it springs back. Longer and it dries and will crumb into the buttercream when you cut.
Apricot marmaladePeriod apricot marmalade here means a thick sieved apricot preserve, boiled down and brushed on warm. It seals the crumb so the fondant does not soak in and go grey. Modern strained apricot jam, heated and pushed through a sieve, does the same job.
Chill, then cutThe ice-box step is structural, not decorative. Fully firm buttercream is what lets a cutter go through three layers without smearing them. Dip the oval cutter in hot water and wipe it between cuts.
Burnt almonds"Lightly burnt chopped almonds" means almonds chopped and toasted to a deep gold, or caramelized in a little sugar and then chopped — praline, not scorched nuts. Set them on the fondant while it is still tacky.
Working orderAssemble, mask and chill the slab a day ahead if convenient. Glaze on the day of serving — fondant weeps in a cold refrigerator and the surface loses its shine.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's for over thirty years, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete professional reference, which is why this entry reads as a set of cross-references rather than a standalone recipe: the genoise, the Quillet cream, the apricot marmalade and the fondant all live elsewhere in the book, and a pastry cook was expected to have them on hand. The name javanais points at coffee — Java is often said to have served as shorthand for coffee, chiefly in American usage and attested from the middle of the nineteenth century onward, and the cake's identity is the coffee cream and coffee fondant working together. Petits fours of this kind, cut from a chilled slab and glazed by hand in dozens, were the visible sign of a well-staffed pastry department; a restaurant that could send out a tray of them was advertising its brigade as much as its dessert.