I came to France because I have always admired French pastry, and today I am proud to be recognised as an active participant in this tradition. Sometimes it feels like the world of French pastry is divided, with innovators on one side and craftspeople who uphold tradition on the other.
Personally, I try to create things that nourish and ensure that the forms my creations take arise from my explorations into taste.
Mori YoshidaCaroline Faccioli
And I think that it is the act of going to the workshop every day that makes it possible to pass on knowledge. That is how I share my high standard of serving clients products of only the highest quality. I approach being a pastry chef wholeheartedly.
Cakes – gâteaux – are mirrors of ourselves. When we make them with sincerity, care, and honesty, what comes out of the oven will have the taste of authenticity. If we try to cheat, to find the easy way, the gâteau will taste artificial. It would be a shame if professional pastry were only about efficiency. We can create recipes that facilitate the preparation of large quantities or that make pastries easier to store.
In contrast, my pastry is demanding: my recipes require skill and experience. But once these have been mastered, the cakes will have finer contours and richer, more nuanced textures.
Perhaps the reason that I, Japanese pastry chef that I am, offer classic French cakes is because I can seem them objectively. I did not spend my childhood looking for Easter eggs or playing with the fève in a galette des rois (king cake).
But that is precisely why I do not base myself on any pre-existing recipes. I start with a blank slate, asking questions at each step to determine why it is necessary. What matters most to me is that a recipe points the way to a “path of delight.”
In this book, Gateaux: Sweets, I invite you to follow this path using my favourite recipes that correspond to different moments throughout the day.
Foodpictures/Shutterstock
Cannelés
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Texture is obviously crucial in these cannelés, but the combination of vanilla, rum, and orange zest provides an equally important foundation.
Traditional cannelés do not contain orange zest, but adding it lends an aroma and flavor that blossom in the mouth and linger on the finish.
To allow these three ingredients to shine, it is best to use relatively large molds rather than mini ones so that there is ample flavor packed inside each cannelé.
1. The day before baking, combine the milk, butter, sugar, salt, and orange zest in a large saucepan. Scrape in the vanilla bean seeds and drop in the pod. Stirring continuously, heat the mixture to 176°F (80°C), then remove from the heat and let infuse for 3 hours.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and lightly beaten egg, then whisk in half of the infused milk mixture. Sift the flour and cornstarch together into the bowl and whisk until well combined. Whisk in the remaining infused milk mixture, followed by the rum.
3. Pass the batter through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl and let it rest overnight in the refrigerator. This allows any air trapped inside to escape and stabilizes the batter.
Gateaux: Sweets by Mori YoshidaTra Publishing
Baking:
1. The next day, preheat the oven to 340°F (170°C). Grease the molds with butter and place them on a baking sheet. Remove the batter from the refrigerator and, using a whisk, mix it well. Divide the batter between the molds, filling them just shy of the brim. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the cannelés are a deep mahogany brown.
2. Turn the cannelés out of the molds while they are still hot and place them on a rack to cool.
This recipe is featured in Gateaux: Sweets by Mori Yoshida with photography by Caroline Faccioli. Published by Tra Publishing.
