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Blown glass cake pedestal by Phil Grenyer. Turned figured maple platter by Thomas Saunders. |
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About ten years ago, I came across a Williams-Sonoma
Paris cookbook at Costco, a mix of recipes, great photos and wonderful insight into Parisian cuisine. I was intrigued and challenged by the Charlotte Aux Framboises, or Raspberry Charlotte, and decided to give it a go. It was delicious but the bavarois (Bavarian cream) was a fussy component to make; not a favorite task. Haven't made another Charlotte since; some recipes are best left to the professionals. I'll look forward to one day enjoying a Charlotte slice made by a patissier somewhere France :^)
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Rear view. See the "raspberry pulp" in the bavarois? |
The appearance of the miniature Charlotte is based more or less on what I remember of the one I made versus the book photo. The finished bavarois had specks of raspberry pulp that passed through the sieve while in the process of making the raspberry brandy coulis.
Each raspberry was built from scratch, by covering a polymer clay base
formed on a toothpick tip with tiny clay spheres formed by hand. My
initial efforts in March 2010
were clumsy and the base was left exposed in the underside of the
berries. Practice and repetition brought improvements. It's a tedious process, but I've yet to develop a quick technique for a
realistic raspberry. Shortcuts like molding will speed up production but it doesn't work for me; I'm terrible at making molds and cleaning up pieces takes more time and effort than building or sculpting from
scratch.
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Mat measles! Approximately 1,000 raspberry bumps :^) |
If you're in the mood to zone out while listening to your favorite music for hours on end, make raspberries ;^)
Wishing you an enjoyable weekend...