Assembling mini savarins with whipped cream and diced mango

I first discovered savarins in pastry school and fell in love with them. While their pastry counterparts, baba au rhums, have rum and raisins, I prefer the citrus notes of savarin and the garnishes of fresh fruit and whip cream. For the Bouchon Bakery recipe the interpretation is tropical with a passionfruit soaking syrup and mango, papaya and banana accompaniments.

Gougeres! Puffs with delicious gruyere cheese. They’re meant for an appetizer but I find as soon as they come out of the oven I eat them straight off the pan. If they’re not piped perfectly circular, this is an instance where it actually adds to the character of these treats. Rustic and no-fuss.

I was unfamiliar with this cake when I saw it come up in the book. Is it supposed to taste like a madeleine? I wondered. The cake is prepared in a quarter sheet pan and then cut into bars. If frozen, it can be cut into other shapes as is the case for the Lemon Meringue Tarts. The madeleine cake is a secret layer in the middle to separate the lemon curd and meringue top. It is rather versatile.

A family of cream puff swans! I’ve made these before and loved the process of assembling the different choux components to make these pretty pastry creatures. Dusted with powdered sugar it looks like the splashing/rippling in the water.

Doing a bit of catch up on my posting. I just finished up the Pate a Choux chapter in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook. The choux dough for Eclairs is also used for the Swans and Paris-Brest so I made one batch and went to town piping different shapes.