No. 3635

Cornucopia, Horn of Plenty

Corne d'Abondance

This cornucopia is molded in a mold the shape of Fig. 751. It is made of pulled sugar (No. 3618), remelted and rolled out with a roller--this must be done very quickly--or else it can be made of white nougat (No. 3622) decorated with royal icing (No. 101) or of gum paste (No. 3624). Fasten it on the opening side on a nougat surtout, and support the body of the cornucopia by fastening two rests molded in gum paste in a two-piece mold, and place a wire in the center of each; attach the two pieces together and let get very dry. The cornucopia is surmounted by a gum paste Cupid; the inside border of the opening of the dish is made of pulled sugar and is composed of rings, with smaller ones of a darker color placed inside of one another; bend them lightly to spread open on sheets of tin, then fasten them to the inside border of the dish with cooked sugar; between each one arrange a lozenge of glazed angelica. The opening of the cornucopia is filled with candied fruits, or else others made of chestnut or almond paste (No. 125), and glazed with sugar cooked to "crack" (No. 171). This piece may be made of white gum paste (No. 3624) and decorated with gold reliefs, or it may be utilized by replacing the fruits with fruits imitated in cream or water ices.

← No. 3634 Chariot of Swans Large Show Pieces No. 3636 The Dosser a la Denivelle →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is an assembly instruction rather than a formula: nearly every component lives at another number in The Epicurean, and Ranhofer assumes a pastry cook who already has pulled sugar, nougat and gum paste on the bench. What follows is what a modern confectioner needs to know before attempting it.

The hinge: humidityPulled sugar and gum paste both absorb atmospheric moisture, and a cornucopia is a large thin shell carrying its own weight on two struts. Work in the driest room available, keep finished elements under a lamp or in a sealed box with silica gel, and do not attempt the piece on a humid day — the shell will slump and the joins will weep.
"Cooked to crack"Ranhofer's cass he put put at roously 290 tendered...

Pulled sugar, remeltedThe instruction to remelt pulled sugar and roll it out "very quickly" means keeping it warm and pliable, traditionally under a heat lamp or over gentle heat; once it cools it shatters rather than bends.

SurtoutA surtout here is the raised centerpiece stand or plinth the piece sits on, in this case built of nougat. It is not a sauce or a garnish.

Gum pasteRanhofer's No. 3624 is a sugar-and-gum-tragacanth modelling paste, the ancestor of what cake decorators now sell as gum paste or florist paste. Modern commercial gum paste can be molded and dried in much the same way, though its binders differ.

Royal icing and raw egg whiteNo. 101 is beaten raw egg white with confectioner's sugar. On a display piece that will be eaten, use pasteurised whites or meringue powder; either sets comparably.

The wiresThe wires set into the molded rests are structural, not edible. Use food-grade stainless or paper-wrapped florist wire, keep it fully enclosed in paste, and tell whoever dismantles the piece that it is there.

AngelicaCandied angelica stem is still made, mostly in France, but is no longer a supermarket item. Any firm green candied peel cut into lozenges reads the same at display distance.

Scale and purposeThis is a buffet centerpiece for a large banquet, not a dessert course. The edible payload is only the candied fruits, marzipan or chestnut-paste fruits, or the water ices suggested at the end; portion for the number of guests independently of the shell, which most of them will never taste.

A Little History
The cornucopia — corne d'abondance, the horn spilling fruit that classical tradition attached to the goat Amalthea — was standard iconography for abundance long before it was standard confectionery, and by the nineteenth century it was among the recurring subjects of the pastry cook's repertoire of pièces montées, alongside temples, harps, baskets and swan chariots. Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York for some three decades, worked in the tradition Carême had codified earlier in the century, in which the architectural sugar centerpiece served as visible proof of a kitchen's standing; pieces of this kind were built in advance and set out to be looked at rather than eaten. That the recipe ends by offering to fill the horn with cream or water ices instead of candied fruit at least suggests an interest in centerpieces that could actually be served.