Home › Dainty Dishes › Marsh Mallow Paste
Marsh Mallow Paste
The preparation of marsh mallow cake depends upon the successful preparation of the famous pate de Geusnauxe, or marsh mallow paste, of which the familiar square confections of this name are also made. This paste is no longer made, as it once was, of the gum of the marsh mallow (Althea of ficinalis), but of the finest quality of gum arabic. The candies are made in moulds. Marsh mallow cake is always a layer of cake with one or two layers of marsh mallow paste spread between. A delicate, tender, white cake is generally prepared for this purpose, though a dark chocolate cake is sometimes used. The marsh mallow paste must be made the day before it is needed in order to have it become a little stiff. For the paste half a pound of the best gum arabic. Pour over it a half cupful of cold water, let it soak over night, and in the morning put the mixture in a double boiler with a pound of sugar and let it cook until it is a smooth, white, even paste. When it is so stiff that a drop may be rolled between the finger and thumb without being sticky, it is time to stir in the whites of two eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Pour the paste out in a bowl after stirring it for five minutes over the fire, after adding the whites of eggs. Let it stand over night, and the next morning make a delicate white layer cake.
This is a gum-arabic marshmallow, the older French style, with no gelatin and no corn syrup in it. It behaves quite differently from the modern bagged confection, and the two-day schedule is not optional.
- Gum arabic, not marshmallow rootBuy food-grade gum arabic (acacia gum, E414), sold as powder or as tears for baking and cocktail syrups. The recipe is explicit that althaea root mucilage had already been abandoned when it was written; do not substitute root powder from a herb shop.
- The soak is the whole recipeHalf a pound of gum arabic in half a cup of cold water is a stiff, barely wet mass, and it will look wrong at first. It needs the full overnight soak to hydrate; if you shortcut it you get gum grains suspended in syrup that never dissolve.
- Double boiler means low and slowKeep the water below a simmer and stir often. Gum arabic paste scorches easily against direct heat and will turn grey and taste of caramel; the goal stated in the original, "smooth, white, even," is a colour instruction as much as a texture one.
- The doneness testRolling a drop between finger and thumb without stickiness is a genuine test and reliable here, but the drop must be cooled first on a cold plate. Testing it hot will read as sticky no matter how far along the paste is.
- Egg whitesTwo whites beaten stiff, stirred into the hot paste and held five minutes over the fire, works on a similar principle to an Italian meringue, but nothing in the text confirms the whites reach a safe temperature. If you are serving anyone who should avoid lightly cooked egg, use pasteurised whites.
- Weights and yieldHalf a pound gum arabic to one pound sugar plus two whites gives roughly a pound and a half of paste, ample for the one or two layers of filling the recipe describes. The paste sets by drying rather than gelling, so it will stay tacky in a humid kitchen.
- Why overnight twiceThe first rest hydrates the gum, the second lets water evaporate so the paste stiffens enough to spread and hold between layers, which is the reason the original gives for making it a day ahead. Without the second rest it will be too soft to hold.
- For moulded squaresThe text says only that the candies are made in moulds. The same paste, poured about half an inch deep into a pan dusted heavily with cornstarch and left uncovered overnight, will cut into squares; dust the cut faces or they weld back together.
The "pate de Geusnauxe" of this entry is a garbled rendering of pâte de guimauve, guimauve being the French name for the marsh mallow, Althaea officinalis, whose root yields a sweet mucilage long used in lozenges for coughs and sore throats. French confectioners whipped that mucilage with sugar and egg white into a pale, springy paste, and the sweet kept the plant's name even after the plant left the recipe: by the time this book was printed, gum arabic from acacia trees had replaced the root. Gelatin took over from gum arabic soon after, which is why modern marshmallow is bouncy rather than short and slightly chewy.