This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe comes from Baking with Dorie. Parfait-Layered Vacherin sounds fancy but honestly it couldn’t be easier to make. Case in point – I made this in my tiny kitchen in France on a very hot day with a less-than-ideal-freezer for this type of thing and it still turned out ok!
This gets my vote for entry into the pantheon of great frozen desserts. There are layers of chunky meringue and layers of parfait, a mixture of beaten egg whites, yolks and whipped cream, lithe, luscious and, when frozen, reminiscent of the richest ice cream you’ve ever had. The cake is built in a soufflé dish or springform and stowed in the freezer until it’s ready for its star turn. Then, just before serving—or at the table, if you want to share the drama—you pour on warm caramel sauce, allowing it to cover the top and slip over the edges before you finish the cake with a flourish of toasted almonds. It’s stunning, but not fussy to make. This recipe was given to me by my Parisian friend Thibault Lafarie, who told me it had been a favorite in his family for generations—one spoonful, and I understood why.
Ok, so our rental house in France has a very well-equipped kitchen, however, it does NOT have a soufflé dish or a springform pan and neither does the kitchen in our little studio attached to the main house. I DO have a silicone tart pan that is quite high (I made the S’mores Ice Cream Cake in it 2 summers ago) so I figured that would have to do. And knowing the freezer takes a little longer than a regular size freezer, I made this the day before I was serving it so it was to have a good long amount of time in the freezer.
I took a couple of shortcuts here using store-bought caramel sauce and local-to-me-right-now mini meringues:
This comes together really easily – basically you whip cream, then egg yolks and sugar, then egg whites and then it’s all mixed together and then layered in your dish with the crushed meringues. Dish goes into the freezer and then it’s served in slices topped with toasted almonds and caramel sauce.
My mixture was softer than I imagine it is supposed to be – the “whipping cream” here is 30% fat as opposed to 35% at home so it never quite whips into stiff peaks. No matter, I did my best and figured all the freezer time would help it set. 24 hours later…
Ok, it was definitely set… *Would* it come out of the silicone mold?
Yes it would, very easily in fact! Made it onto the serving plate ok too!
Sprinkled with a few toasted flaked almonds and drizzled with some caramel sauce…
Looks good, huh?
It’s VERY soft as you can see from it being out of the freezer for about 8 minutes while I took these photos:
Already melting a little…
So – back to the freezer it goes because it’s tonight’s dessert (I tasted some of the melty bits on the plate – OMG, so good!) and I will come back to share a photo of the sliced dessert (or update you if it doesn’t slice!).
Can’t wait to share this with the rest of my travel companions and my neighbours tonight!
Get the recipe for Parfait-Layered Vacherin on p 239 of Baking with Dorie or here.
Buy Baking with Dorie and join us baking through the book!
Buy Baking with Dorie on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store geographically closest to you). For free worldwide shipping, buy it on Blackwell’s. To support your local Indie bookstore, purchase on Bookshop.org.
Then join us over on Tuesdays with Dorie and bake your way through the book!
_________
Please note: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post also contains affiliate links from Blackwell’s and Bookshop.org. This means that if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you). Thank you in advance!
_________
Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Baking with Dorie” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions are 100% my own.
_________
Buy my books! In the French kitchen with kids and French Food for Everyone: le goûter (after school snacks), le dîner (dinner) and le petit déjeuner (breakfast) are out now!
Click here for details and how to order!
Wow! This looks amazing. I’m sure it was a great success.
Mardi, this looks wonderful. I will admit, when I saw the photo in the book, I immediately went into panic mode and thought, “I’ll think about this later….” Now that I’ve seen yours and read the write-up, I’m a little less intimidated, although, I have to say, I put this in the Mardi Can Make It, But Can I? category-list. We shall see. Beautiful photos. Yum.
You have given us many tips to follow. Good to know I can make a few short-cuts if I need to. I hope your guests like it and are impressed like I am.
Making and taking pictures of frozen, or rather, melting desserts on a hot day is challenging. Based on your report, I may have to wait for colder days to make the vacherin. Yours look so cool and delightful!
Bravo for being brave enough to make this on your travels! It looks nice and cold and delicious.
Good job getting this done while on vacation…always a challenge! I just made mine and boy…you are right, so delicious!
Late comment as I was too busy enjoying gobbling this in France – but I’m with Dorie on her vote — this was amazing! 🙂