Chantilly Cake or Trifle Cake , from early 1800 , is a trifle within a Savoy Cake. The top of the tall cake is cut off and the inner part of the cake removed to form a container for the custard , whipped cream and liquors: Port (“Lisbon Wine”) , Brandy , and White Wine. This delicious dessert makes an interesting twist to a trifle in a glass bowl , or the later Tipsys –Squires , Cakes , and Parsons.
Burnt Custard , by Mary Randolph (1824) was built on Savoy Cake slices , as described in an earlier post , HERE. The original recipe for Chantilly Cake , by Nutt , (1809) is below.
“Bake a sponge cake [Savoy Cake] mixture in a turban-shaped mold , one with a good pattern.” [King , Charles. Cakes , Cake Decorations and Desserts. Phila: 1896] The mold should be buttered (or clarified butter) and instead of flour , dust with fine sugar. This will create a hardened sugar crust when the cake is removed from the mold after baking.
Hollow out the cake with a spoon or knife , making sure not to create any holes. Or – “… have an inner mould , about three inches smaller than the outer one. Butter the outside of this inner mould , and form the cake upon it of a sufficient thickness to fill the larger mould. When baked , remove the inner tin , which leaves the space ready for the custard.” [Copley , Esther. The Housekeeper's Guide. London: 1838]
Pour Lisbon Wine over the cake , then fill with brandy flavored custard and white wine in the whipped cream. Blanche almonds , cut lengthwise in quarters and stick around the cake.
Chantilly Cake
Cut a piece out of the top of a Savoy cake , and scoop out all the inside; put it on the dish in which it is to be sent to table , pour Lisbon wine into the cake , and as the wine soaks out pour it over it with a spoon; when it has absorbed as much wine as it can , pour the remainder off the dish , pour custard down the sides , and put some in the middle; whip up some cream , the same as for a trifle , and put it in the middle of the cake: blanch some sweet almonds , cut them in quarters , and stick them round the edges , and on the sides of the cake.
A Trifle
Cut a few slices off a savoy cake , and put them at the bottom of a trifle-dish , (which is something like a salad-dish , in respect to depth); lay a layer of macaroons on them and a layer of ratifees [Almond Cakes/biscuits]; pour a pint of Lisbon over the cakes , leave it long enough to soak all the wine up , and then cover the cakes with
custard , made in the following manner:— put a quart of milk and cream mixed , and a little cinnamon , lemon-peel , and sugar; let it boil for half an hour; take it off the stove , and put it to cool: to this quantity of milk and cream put the yolks of eight eggs , and a spoonful of flour; beat them up in a bason , with a spoon , very well; put the milk in by little at a time , and keep stirring it all the while; then strain it through a hairsieve into a stewpan; put it on a brisk fire , and be sure to keep stirring it until it comes to a boil; then take it off , and put it to cool; when half cold , add a glass of brandy and a few spoonfuls of ratifee [ratifia - almond cakes , or a cordial]; then cover the cakes with it , and lay apricot jam upon the custard ; then put a pint of good
cream [2 cups] into a bason , with the white of an egg , a lump of sugar rubbed to a lemon , and about two glasses of white wine; beat it up with a whisk , and skim the froth with a spoon that has holes in it; lay the froth on the back of the sieve , which should be laid upon a dish , to save the drainings to return into the pan again , for whipping; lay the whipped cream over the trifle; put a few harlequin seeds ["minute coloured comfits...or nonpareils"] in any form you think proper: garnish the edge of the dish with preserved orange , or dried orange-peel.
Nutt , Frederick. The Imperial and Royal Cook. London: 1809 ©2012 Patricia Bixler Reber
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