Boom!

Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads right here in my own kitchen.

Mmm, yum, yum-- a chocolate genoise raspberry ruffle cake.

Alice Medrich, master teacher and chocolatier will show us how it's done, step by fascinating step.

Join us on...

This gorgeous creation is a chocolate raspberry ruffle cake.

There are the ruffles and there is the raspberry.

Inside is a chocolate genoise cake, and there are raspberries and then there's a crme frache chocolate filling and you can make this right at home.

And Alice Medrich's going to show us how to do it.

And we're going to do it.

Let me move this.

We'll move that out of the way.

When I start this cake at home I like to prepare for the ruffles first and that means whenever we're doing chocolate we start with chopping chocolate because to melt it properly it needs to be in small pieces to avoid burning.

And what I try to remember is that we're trying to melt it not cook it.

And this is very good chocolate that you would buy at a gourmet store.

Yes, you want some very good chocolate for this both because it handles well and because, of course, it tastes delicious.

Oh.

I'm going to scrape this right into a clean, dry bowl because chocolate and small quantities of water are enemies so we try to keep drips and wet spoons and wet bowls away from chocolate.

Does it kind of seize it up or something?

It does, it seizes it up and we're going to put it right here in the water bath.

Now, the trick here is that as the chocolate melts in the bottom of the bowl, we turn it and let the warm chocolate melt the chocolate that isn't melted and we don't need to go to a precise temperature but we do need to keep the chocolate from burning and I aim for about 115 or 120 degrees.

We're not concerned with a very precise temperature so I can kind of tell with my finger and we're just about up to temperature and as soon as I don't see any more unmelted bits in there we're going to proceed.

How much chocolate do we have here?

We have about 15 ounces and that's... doesn't have to be very precise.

Looks beautiful to me.

All right, that looks about right.

Let's turn off the heat and just let this sit here and that will stay at temperature.

Mm-hmm.

The next step is to turn on a burner and warm the back of the pan.

The pan we're using is not a specially coated pan; it doesn't have any nonstick coatings because that would get in our way.

It's clean.

We arrive eventually at a nice warm pan-- you want to feel?

Very warm?

No, you can still touch it.

But not too hot to touch.

And we'll move over here.

And taking the bowl out of the water-- always important when you've been in a water bath to wipe the bowl so we don't drip water on the work surface.

Mm-hmm.

And then I'm going to push out you know, a third of a cup, maybe and then with a good offset spatula...

Yes, those are awfully useful.

Terribly useful-- we're going to spread a thin layer.

The warm pan enables me to spread a real thin layer without the chocolate starting to harden too early.

And you're sure that the pan is thoroughly washed and dry and not greasy.

Absolutely, and then probably the hardest thing here is finding room in the refrigerator for four of these.

So this goes off into the fridge.

All right, I'll put it in, okay.

Now, here's our sheet of chocolate that's been well chilled and I like to chill it well beyond the temperature that it needs to be before we work on it and then let it warm up gradually at room temperature.

Aha-- when it's pliable, it makes a gorgeous ruffle... Oh, that's perfect, there it was.

which I pull off in a kind of sweeping arc.

Now, let's do that slowly.

Let's see if we can go slow.

It gathers up around my fingers-- it makes a great mess of your manicure.

Let's do another one.

As though you're trying to slide underneath Uh-huh.

and sweep in a kind of a fan-shaped arc and let it gather up.

How many are you going to make for this cake?

Well, we're going to make, maybe, you know however many we can get out of three pans and you can do as many as... you can go up to 30 or you could get away with about 15.

That's wonderful.

It's very satisfying once this clicks into place.

I should think, yeah.

And I think we'll finish now.

And then what do you cover them with?

Refrigerate until they're hard and these can be made in advance so you don't have to do them right before the party.

So, when they're really hard then you can cover them with... You can cut... when they're hard, you can layer waxed paper.

So we'll go ahead and put these on ice.

I'll give those to the fridge.

Now you are going to make the cake.

This is a chocolate genoise.

This is a chocolate genoise, very classic.

What's the difference between this and another cake?

It's an unleavened cake, so everything... although it's very simple everything depends on technique.

Egg power.

Egg power, a nice foam folding technique, lots of finesse.

Good.

It's one of the great cakes...

It is one of the great cakes... for wedding cakes and everything.

and it's one of the great satisfying things to master.

We're going to start out by triple sifting.

First, I have a third of a cup plus a tablespoon-- I'm sorry about that... ( both laugh ) a sifted flour, all-purpose flour in the strainer.

Is this all-purpose flour?

And the same measure of sifted cocoa.

Now, it's very possible to use any kind of cocoa but I prefer the Dutch process for flavor.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

I'm going to sift this.

Now, the common things that happen to genoise in my experience, are little flour balls in the cake and the triple sifting takes care of that problem right away.

Mm-hmm.

Deflating is another problem that happens with this cake from overfolding and believe it or not the triple sifting takes care of that, too... Oh, really?

because it makes the flour so much easier to incorporate.

Uh-huh, mm-hmm.

So we get less deflating, and I'm going to actually... it seems...

There are little things in that.

Yeah, so we're going to leave that behind because they're a little gritty and granular.

You don't want to push it too... No, we don't want to push.

Okay, and I'm going to finish up by putting the flour and cocoa back.

Of course, the other thing that sifting does is it mixes the flour and cocoa very nicely.

Mm-hmm.

Back into the strainer and it'll get sifted yet again when we add it.

Now, that's good preparation.

I didn't realize sifting was that important.

Sifting can be so important.

Mm-hmm.

We're then going to go to four eggs-- doesn't matter if they're room temperature because we're going to go ahead and warm them anyway.

Yep.

Oops, tough shell.

And these are U.S. graded large eggs.

Farm-fresh eggs, large eggs-- most recipes are written for large eggs.

Now, I'm going to add two-thirds of a cup of sugar to the eggs and I learned this the hard way: Once you add sugar to eggs, you must whisk them before you take a call or answer the door.

Oh.

If we leave dry sugar on eggs, they kind of precook the eggs and we get these little hard lumps that are very annoying.

We're going to move over to the stove.

We warm the eggs and sugar and this dissolves the sugar a little bit-- gives a stabler foam.

Some people do it over a water bath; I'm kind of a speedy character-- I do it directly over a gas heat if I have a bowl like this.

How warm is it going to be?

This is... not too, you know, 110 degrees, 105 degrees like a baby's milk.

Do they beat up faster if you do this?

I think they do, and more stably and that means that when you fold ingredients into it it will be more stable.

How about it, do you want to touch that?

That's about right, or even a little bit warmer but I think that's just fine.

We're going to move over to the mixer and attach this.

If you have a choice on your mixer, you use the whisk rather than the paddle because we want volume and air.

Yeah.

( mixer whirring ) In a mixer with this kind of power this only takes about a minute.

Mm-hmm.

If you're using a handheld mixer or a mixer that doesn't have power, it takes longer.

So the important thing is to watch the consistency not the clock, and go until it's about triple in volume and kind of fluffy like yellow whipped cream.

Mm-hmm.

( mixer whirs down ) The proper consistency is fluffy like this-- you see that ribbon that sits on the surface there.

Mm-hmm.

I'm going to sift in about half of the flour- and-cocoa mixture and fold with the biggest rubber spatula I have and folding really is cutting through the center of the batter and lifting and letting that batter drop over.

Rotate the bowl.

Definitely reach down into the bottom and get that white batter up.

Then as soon as the color is fairly uniform I'm going to sift in the rest.

Folding is certainly one of the most important things in both cake and...

Very important, very important.

What I'm trying not to do is deflate this batter.

Now, when that's folded together, we go to the butter.

Add three tablespoons of clarified butter kept nice and hot.

Rather than add it directly to the batter this is a great trick I learned from a marvelous school in France.

Some of the... the batter is first folded into the butter and this puts the butter in suspension in a small amount of batter.

You certainly don't want the butter to sink down.

Oh, to sink to the bottom, this is the worst.

This takes care of that problem quite nicely.

You can make a genoise without butter, I guess.

You can, and, you know, there's not much butter in a genoise and this just gives it a little bit of extra finesse, I think.

That little something, je ne sais quoi.

Je ne sais quoi.

This, then, goes in, and then with very few folds now we'll have the butter in the batter.

The pan, very simply prepared-- eight-inch pan, no butter, no flour just the parchment paper in the bottom.

Mm-hmm.

Turn the cake batter into the pan and, you know, this may sit a little bit low because the size of eggs vary and everything varies every day.

Is that about a two-inch...

It's two inches tall.

Mm-hmm.

Then let's go to the oven with this.

Then we have the... what's the oven...

The oven is at 350 and the rack is either in the lower third or just below the center so that the cake is in the center.

And how long does it go?

About 30 minutes, give or take five.

Okay.

So, after about 30 minutes, we check for doneness.

It's not the time that's important but what's happening with the cake.

I don't test with a toothpick, I just wait till it springs back and I don't hear a lot of moisture under the surface.

A little earlier when I peeked, it was domed up a little bit.

When it gets done, it shrinks down just a bit and levels.

Mm-hmm.

So I'm going to call this done.

I like the way it looks, I like the way it smells and I like the way it feels.

Here's our cooled cake and you'll notice I left it in the pan.

I didn't try to get it out while it was hot.

I set it on a rack and I don't work on it until it's completely cool.

A slim little spatula or this... even this little plastic thing, and I just push it in the side and I try to hug the side of the pan so I don't make a ragged edge.

Well, that's good because that's flexible.

It's flexible.

Even if I do make a ragged edge, no big deal.

Flip it out, remember there's parchment on the bottom so we never worry about the bottom.

Oh, that came out perfectly.

And that looks nice to me.

It smells chocolaty, indeed.

And I'm going to flip it over on its face... Mm-hmm.

and get rid of the rack.

All right, I'll get rid of it for you.

And put it on a piece of parchment paper for now.

Slicing the cake in three is really simpler than it seems Mm-hmm.

There are a couple of tricks, and one is a good serrated knife-- a ragged-edge knife, not a straight one.

I'm going to start about a third of the way down from the top of the cake and I'm not going to try to get all the way through but I'm just going to cut a little score or a track and now once I've got it scored all the way around I'm kind of home free until I meet in the middle and that gives me an even layer.

Very good.

For the second layer I'm going to do the same thing.

I'm going to go halfway down the remaining distance here.

Mm-hmm.

And again, I'm going to rotate.

The paper makes it much easier.

So now we have three layers.

Let's set the layers aside for a moment and go to the simple syrup.

I've cooked in advance a third of a cup of sugar with a third of a cup of water simmered for a couple of minutes just to reduce a little bit and dissolve the sugar.

Mm-hmm.

To this, we're going to add this wonderful framboise liqueur which smells like a garden.

This is a judgment call... And costs a fortune.

And costs the earth but worth it.

This is a judgment call.

I say about a third of a cup, but I usually add a little less then taste it and then I give in and add the rest so we'll pour this in and you can give a taste and tell me whether more is merrier or it's just right as it is.

Now, some people like it sweeter and some people like it boozier.

Good and boozy, I would say, just right.

Good and boozy, okay.

Filling is made with crme frache.

Okay, we're going to beat this lovely cream like whipped cream but first, I'm going to add two teaspoons of vanilla.

So we'll go ahead and beat this-- and we're not going to beat it maximum stiff... just yet.

This isn't quite as stiff as I want it but let's add a bit of that sugar.

Again, sugar is to taste because the crme frache is always a little different when you make it.

Okay, now, once the cream is beaten-- and it's a soft beat, you can see-- it's not too stiff, and that's just what I want.

Now, we're not going to wait very long but if we did, we'd put it either on ice or in the refrigerator.

So I'll do that now, to get it out of the way.

Good to get us used to doing that.

So, let's go back to the assembly step.

Here's our cake nicely cut in three.

And we're going to layer this cake, actually, in a pan.

A springform is good-- you know, with a spring on the side-- or this, my favorite, which is a loose-bottom pan Oh, I see, that's... so they can be unmolded.

These are available, so this is my preferred pan.

This first layer gets flipped up... our syrup and, uh... framboise, we're going to moisten that first layer.

And this is all done in the pan.

It's a very wonderful way of layering a cake, and... Now, this is a very French thing of putting a liqueur syrup.

I notice a lot of American cakes don't do it.

I always miss it.

Although it seems like the wrong time to do this we're going to break away and make the chocolate filling because the chocolate filling, once it's made, cannot wait.

This is done by taking five ounces, again of my good bittersweet or semisweet.

Mm-hmm.

And this is a little unusual-- we're going to add boiling water to it.

Oh.

Mostly, we're told not to keep water and chocolate together but if there's enough water, it's a safe thing to do.

Three tablespoons hot water, and...

It's melting immediately.

And if I've been good about cutting the chocolate at just the right size... by the time the chocolate's melted this mixture will be just under lukewarm which is perfect for folding in the cream.

Now, believe it or not usually we test the temperature-- ah, perfect-- on our upper lip which gives us a chance to lick it off.

This is perfect!

Here's our crme frache.

I recommend measuring for this task but I've done it so many times that I can tell you that this is about a quarter of a cup.

Correct?

Mm-hmm.

Just a first folding in of a quarter of a cup.

You want to move here because you don't want to let the cream and the chocolate set.

Mm-hmm, which, of course, they would.

And then, finally, another half-- does this look like a half a cup?

I think so.

Exactly.

About exactly, right?

But measure it the first time, so you... Yeah.

And you can see that the little bit of color change and it begins to look like chocolate silk.

Beautiful color change.

As soon as I know that this is all mixed in and without letting it sit any longer it all goes on that first layer.Uh-huh.

All of it, and that's why I went ahead and put that first layer in there and moistened it right away.Mm-hmm.

So there would be no waiting.

And spread.

With your favorite spatula... Now, we don't have to worry about ultimate smoothness because we're going to have another layer on there.

Now we can go back to the proper assembly part of this.

We're going to moisten the next layer.

This is going to get moistened on both sides-- Mm-hmm.

that should be kept in mind Yeah... so we don't soak it silly so to speak, this first go-around.

So we're going to flip this over put it moist side down into the pan and do some nice pressing to level.

And we'll soak again.

Okay, and now here comes the loose... what we call the loose layer of raspberries which means lots of raspberries but a little space in between for the cream to seep down.

That's an awfully good idea.

Well, you couldn't keep this around very long with the fresh berries, could you?

No, I would assemble it up to a day in advance.Mm-hmm.

But I think the best would be assemble it in the morning to eat at night.

Because the berries are like fresh flowers they go so quickly.

That's about right-- plenty, but not too crowded.

Now, at this point, I want to whip this cream a little stiffer so it will hold up.

I liked it soft for the chocolate and a little bit stiffer for the rest.

It's very useful for people to know when whipping cream... How do we know when it's enough?

Well, you know, I'd like it to stand up a little but I know that when I spread it, it'll stiffen more.

That holds its shape in the...

Yes, it does, it's nice, it's nice.

So, you know, this much, a cup and a half to two cups.

I spread it and push it because I'd like it to get down in there... Mm-hmm.

between the raspberries.

And if I need to put more on, I will.

That's a beautiful consistency, isn't it?

Crme frache makes an extra-luxurious consistency when it's whipped.

Some people who might not care for the crme frache taste could do this whole dessert with whipped cream.

This is the third layer; it's getting its little moistening.

Flip it up, and again, it's moist side down... Well, if you... and a fair amount of pressing.

If you had people who didn't want alcohol I suppose you could make the sugar syrup with vanilla, couldn't you?

Yes, you could, and dilute it a little bit more so it's not so syrupy sweet-- or nothing, you know nothing would be fine.

So, once it's soaked we refrigerate it for a couple of hours or up till tomorrow.

Good.

Well, here's our cake several hours later or maybe up to 24 hours later-- Well chilled... well chilled, and assembled.

But not more, because you've got them raspberries.

No, we've got those raspberries.

We don't want them to die.

Now, unmolding the cake is simple.

We need to elevate it in order to get the pan off.

And so, we need these-- a canister, a can of peas, or something like that.

A very... heavy one.

A heavy one so you don't knock over after all that work and all that framboise.

And just slide it off... and, you see, the advantage to having assembled it in the pan means everything is straight and beautiful.

Mm-hmm, it looks beautiful.

So let's get rid of the can of peas... Get rid of... and get rid of this... and I'll just put this right back on the turntable because it's so useful.

We're about to make a sheet of chocolate to wrap around.

We can do it on this freezer wrap.

You know, this is the stuff the butcher puts around the meat Yeah.

and you can buy it.

It's got a slick side and a paper side.

We would spread on the slick side... On the slick side, yeah.

What I've found useful and reusable is this piece of plastic matting.

You buy it in the housewares department of the hardware store... What's it for?

it comes on a long roll and it's for draining your glassware.Oh.

It has a ridged side and a slick side and we're going to use the slick side.

Mm-hmm.

I'm going to put it first on a big piece of waxed paper.

This is going to save the mess on the counter.

Make sure in advance that your cake is just a little shorter than the width of this.

This is three inches.

We didn't use all of our chocolate for the ruffle making and here's the leftovers rewarmed to about 115 or 120.

And here I'm just going to pour.

And it takes about three ounces but you know, it's not so precise as that because the excess will allow it to run off the band.

Nice and smooth... Now, just spread it on there... Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo...

It's heavy.

Okay, up and around.

The trick is to wrap it around while it's still wet... Let one side actually hug the cake, and the other side-- be careful, we don't want to wrap the plastic in there; we want to leave it away from the cake and if it wants to touch just slip in some waxed paper for now.

This, then, gets chilled, at least an hour or so so that we can then pull the plastic.

So that goes right into the fridge.

Okay.

Once again, here's our well-chilled, assembled cake with a well-chilled wrap.

And this is one I did with the freezer paper rather than my plastic wrap and you can see the difference.

Mm-hmm.

Here is the whipped crme frache which we've kept it cold in the fridge.

And we're just going to pile some of it in here.

This is going to be the glue for the ruffles and also additional cream for the cake, of course.

So, this is a real work of art, isn't it?

I made lots of fans for us... Mm-hmm.

or ruffles-- and because they're individual like this I can arrange them any way I want.

And I start at the periphery of the cake, arranging them.

Mm-hmm, those are just charming, aren't they?

Isn't that nice?

And looking at this, you wouldn't think a normal human being could do it.

We would expect you to...

Question about normalcy, right?

Okay... Now, I'm just going to go around and around and you know, the turntable is great because you can inspect your work.

Now, in the center, you know, you can pick out some of your little less successful smaller ones because they fit just perfectly.

When we finish with the fans, it's nice sometimes for the center just to give a little hint of what's inside maybe with a raspberry.

Can you find a beautiful one?

I think that's a gorgeous one.

Should we just put it right in there?

Some people like to tuck some here and there but I kind of like the look of a single.... Oh, I like just the pristine quality of one.

Now I like to chill it and do the final unveiling when I know everything is cold on the outside so we'll put that in the fridge now.Okay.

Here we are again, once again well chilled or well chilled out.

This is the great moment now.

This is the great moment.

If you've put waxed paper in there you want to pull that out.

Mm-hmm.

And then with a little knife, or even a fingernail...

I'm just going to want to peel the inside one back.

Pull it back just a little for now-- that's going to be beautiful but we have a little repair to make and that is to join these... a little melted chocolate left over from before, or remelted.

Now, I'd like to peel... this is a moment of... glory, really.

And once again, if the chocolate sticks to the paper get it right back into the fridge.

Oh, look at that... it's so shiny!

Beautiful.

One thing I like to do just to highlight the ruffles just to give a little dusting... a little snowfall of powdered sugar.

It's not a drench, it's a light... A subtle final dressing.

Oh, my.

You know, it's so nice nowadays that it's fashionable to dirty the plate.

We don't have to wipe the plate and we want a little snow on the plate.

That's just beautiful!

So, it's ready to serve.

The really nice thing about this is that we have a book that comes with this TV show so if you forget what to do it'll be in the book...

It's all in the book.

in your words, which is great.

In my words.

That's just lovely.

So, this is now serving time.

Mm-hmm.

After you.

Mmm...

I'll have to have another piece.

( both laughing ) That's lovely.

I think we should drink to you and the cake, Alice.

This has been a wonderful lesson.

Thank you, it's been a pleasure.

Thank you so much for coming.

That's just beautiful.

IzIÑ Julia Child: Bon appétit!