No. 3390

Magicians

Magiciennes

Prepare three pastes of different tints and flavors; have an almond paste with egg-yolks (No. 126), another paste made of pistachios the same as for pistachio lozenges (No. 3395), only keeping it a little firmer, and the third of almond paste as for ordinary fancy cakes (No. 124); into this incorporate a little softened cocoa. Roll these pastes separately to three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness and on the chocolate one spread a thin layer of well-reduced apricot marmalade (No. 3675); on top of this place the pistachio flat, cover it with more of the same marmalade and lastly put the almond flat on top. Slide this on a grate and leave it stand in a cool place for one hour to set, afterward cooking it in a hot oven; as soon as done and partly cold ice the cake with vanilla icing and divide it into small lozenges.

← No. 3389 Madrillians Fancy Cakes — Petits Fours No. 3391 Demidoff Marchpanes →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a layered marzipan sheet rather than a batter cake: three tinted almond pastes, apricot glue between them, baked briefly and cut into diamonds. Ranhofer writes it as a set of cross-references, so the work is in assembling the components before you start.

The three pastesAll three are almond-paste style confectioner's pastes — one enriched with egg yolks, one worked with pistachios (Ranhofer's pistachio-lozenge paste) and kept a little firmer, one plain almond paste with cocoa kneaded in. Commercial marzipan or almond paste can stand in, but knead the pistachio and cocoa versions until uniform in colour or the layers will look muddy rather than banded.
"Softened cocoa"Most likely cocoa worked to a paste with a little warm water or syrup, though the phrase could also mean cocoa mass softened by gentle warming; the book does not spell it out. Added dry it will not disperse and will dry the paste out.
Thickness mattersThree-sixteenths of an inch, about 5 mm, for each sheet. The finished bar is three of these plus two thin films of marmalade, and it is meant to be cut small; roll thicker and the pieces eat as candy blocks.
"Well-reduced apricot marmalade"Apricot jam cooked down until a spoonful holds its shape and sieved smooth. A loose jam will soak into the pastes and the layers will slide apart when you cut them.
The hour in the coolThis is the hinge. The stacked sheet must rest until the marmalade sets and the pastes bond, otherwise the layers shear apart in the oven and again under the knife.
"A hot oven"Ranhofer gives no temperature; a hot oven in this period is at the upper end of the range. The bake is short — only until the surface is set and lightly coloured. Marzipan at that heat browns fast and then cracks, so watch it rather than timing it.
Vanilla icingProbably a fondant thinned over gentle heat and flavoured with vanilla; the recipe has it applied while the cake is only partly cold, so it flows level. Confectioners' sugar glaze will do but sets duller and softer.
Cutting and yieldIce first, cut second, as the recipe directs, with a long thin blade wiped between cuts so the icing does not drag. The recipe gives no sheet size or yield.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its petits fours chapter is essentially a French confectioner's repertoire transplanted whole. Fanciful names were the convention there: Magiciennes means simply "sorceresses," and it sits alongside the Madrillians and Demidoff Marchpanes either side of it on the page. The thing itself belongs to the long marchpane tradition, almond paste tinted and layered and cut into lozenges, which reached the nineteenth-century pastry room from much older European sugar work. Green pistachio, brown chocolate and pale yellow yolk paste gave a striped cut face that was the whole point of the pastry.