I discovered the joys of the pastry shop when I was 10 years old. Until then, we had lived in a small village a few miles north of Belfast. A sweet tooth had to be satiated by raiding my mother's larder for dried fruit or the very dangerous purloining of her Pompadour fan biscuits, normally kept for dinner parties. We moved to the small town of Ampthill in Bedfordshire and there, a mere hundred yards from us, opposite the imposing mansion of Professor, not to say Sir, Albert Richardson was situated a rather fancy pastry shop.
The years and my imagination may have exaggerated the exact scope of this emporium. It was not exactly of the scale of Maison Lenôtre or Ladurée. It sold bloomers and scofas and, just possibly, baguettes although my memory is hazy on this point. It certainly did not sell croissants - you had to go to France for those - nor did it sell Danish pastries or blueberry muffins. However, it did sell Eccles cakes (yum yum), Bakewell tarts and iced and Chelsea buns. It sold custard tarts and bread pudding, a coarse but irresistible delight. All of these delicacies I was able to persuade my mother to buy quite often, with the possible exception of the rather vulgar bread pudding. However, there were even greater indulgences.
In 1959 fresh cream was very special and fresh cream cakes took pride of place in their own refrigerated cabinet in the pastry shop. Here lay the ultimate treasure that could only occasionally be wheedled out of mother. My favourites were Jap cakes and Othellos. The former were, no doubt with a stunning lack of political correctness, confected out of layers of Japonaise biscuit (a sort of crunchy hazelnut meringue), whipped cream, hazelnuts and chocolate. I adored them.
My mother preferred, I think, the Othellos. These were available in chocolate - unsurprisingly perhaps, even less politically correct - and coffee. They were nothing more than a large choux bun dipped in the relevant icing and stuffed with fresh, unsweetened cream. As you bit into them, fresh cream would squelch delightfully out of the sides and it was a job not to lose any.
All choux pastries are really that simple. That lovely litany of names, profiteroles (usually cream and a chocolate top), salambos (cream or pastry cream, caramel top with pistachios), religieuses (cream, another little bun perched on top, chocolate), and éclairs (fresh cream, chocolate or coffee top), are all simple vehicles for that combination of slight resistance followed by deep indulgence. The great set pieces, the croquembouche and the gateau St Honoré are too sticky for my taste. The Paris-Brest is another matter.
It comes from the golden age of the bicycle. 1891 saw the first running of a race, from Paris to Brest and back again. An enterprising patissier with a shop along the route saw the marketing opportunities and made a cake in the shape of the new inflatable tyres that were revolutionising the sport.
Even today there are bicycling obsessives who think the race is more important than the cake. We, of course, know better.
Rowley Leigh is the chef at Kensington Place, London
THE PARIS-BRIEST CAKE
One gloriously simple recipe for the filling and pastry.
Ingredients:
250ml water
200g plain flour
100g butter
pinch of salt
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
100g flaked almonds
150g caster sugar
150g whole almonds
600ml double cream
Method:
* Chop the butter into small pieces and add to a saucepan with the water and salt. Bring to a simmer and then remove from the heat. Pour in the sifted flour and beat vigorously until the mixture is smooth. Continue to beat over a slow flame until the mixture forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the dough to the bowl of an electric mixer and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before beating in the whole eggs in a steady stream. Once the dough is fully mixed, allow to cool completely.
*Preheat the oven to 180°C. Draw a circle 20cm in diameter on a sheet of greaseproof paper and place on a baking tray. Fill a piping bag fitted with a one centimetre round nozzle with the choux pastry and follow around this circle. Form another circle on the outside of this and a third circle on top, using up all the pastry. Mix the egg yolk with a dessert spoon of water and brush the ring of dough before scattering the almonds over the surface. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cake has risen substantially and turned golden brown. It should feel hard on the outside and light and hollow when lifted. Leave to cool.
*Dissolve the sugar with two or three tablespoons of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally, cleaning the sides of the pan until the sugar turns a blond caramel. Add the almonds and continue cooking until rich deep brown. Pour the mixture out onto an oiled marble surface or tray and spread into an even layer. Once perfectly cooled, lift it off and break it into small pieces. Pound into a powder.
*With a long serrated knife cut the cake horizontally a third of the way down. Scoop out any , undercooked dough. Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks before adding the pulverised nougatine. Continue whipping until the cream is firm and then fill the bottom section of the gateau. Replace the top section, dust the cake copiously with icing sugar and serve within two hours.
More at www.ft.com/leigh
