The Daring Bakers' April, 2013 Challenge: Savarin !

For the April Daring Bakers' Challenge, Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina challenges us to make a traditional Savarin, complete with soaking syrup and cream filling! We were to follow the Savarin recipe but were allowed to be creative with the soaking syrup and filling, allowing us to come up with some very delicious cakes! I am very excited as this is my first Bakers' challenge and I can't wait to start, however, I was so busy and finally able to make this wonderful savarin couple days ago! I have made savarins and her smaller version baba au rhum a few times before but this recipe is different, takes a bit more time but I think really worth my extra time and effort. Because this Savarin taste wonderful and has an amazing texture!

For this wonderful Savarin, I stick with original recipe and only scale it down by half since I won't be able to finish a normal size one, you need..

time required

• sponge rising - 60 minutes
• mixing dough and resting - 30 minutes
• first rising - 3 hours
• shaping and forming - 20 minutes
• second rising - 60 minutes
• baking - 30 minutes
• finishing - about 60 minutes

equipment

• a Savarin mold, I use a ring shaped mold instead

Savarin

you need

• 175 g bread flour
• 15 ml lukewarm water
• three large eggs (room temperature and separated)
• 2 g instant yeast
• 10 g sugar
• 38 g butter (room temperature) and more for mold
• 1 Meyer lemon zest
• 3 g salt
• Darjeeling and rum syrup (see recipe below)
• nappage (see recipe below)
• chocolate whipped cream (see recipe below)

Making this amazing Savarin needs a bit organization and preparation, once you get your rich dough ready, you have lots of time to prepare your syrup, nappage and whipped cream. Or you can prepare your syrup and nappage a day ahead and finish your whipped cream for the final step.  Okay, let's start my Savarin time....

directions

First thing is to make my sponge. My last few savarins has no sponge at all but I can assure you its definitely worth your time to do it! You will see it very soon! In a small bowl, mix 15 ml luke warm water, 13 g flour and yeast, cover them with cling film and rest and rise for 60 minutes

About 30 minutes time you can start make the dough. Put your three egg whites in mixer bowl, start from low speed , add 112 g of flour until it forms a soft and tacky dough. Cover it with cling film and rest for another 30 minutes. Then you can add your sponge and lemon zest to dough with another 10 g of flour at low speed. Lots of adding ingredients? Yes, more to come too :)

Hmm, my mixer is working overtime today! But everything is getting there... Once dough starts pulling away from bowl we can start adding my first egg yolk, when yolk has absorbed, add 10 g of flour. Then, add another yolk and 10 g of sugar, once they absorbed, add 10 g of flour. Raise your mixer speed a bit, again, add another yolk and 3 g of salt, once they absorbed, add another 10 g of flour.

Keep mixing until your dough forms sticky elastic threads, then add your butter, once they absorbed, add last 10 g of flour. Yay, I finally finish my dough... Cover it up with cling film and I let my dough rest for 3 hours. It will be amazed to see how it looks after this long long 3 hours... I go take a nap now!

Let me see how my dough goes...omg! It rise up and getting not 2 times bigger but I think 4 or 5 time, holy molly! Okay, now turn it on your work surface and fold it about three times, cover it and let it rest for another 15 minutes, in the mean time butter your mold and sprinkle lightly with a bit flour.

Form your dough into a ball, make a hole in the middle and gently place it into your buttered mold. Cover it up with cling film and let it rise in a warm spot until your dough reach to top of your mold... about 60 minutes. Pre-heated your oven to 340 F, bake your Savarin for 30 minutes (turn once). It should be golden brown and its done! And my baked Savarin looks like a monster now!! I let mine rest for about 10 minutes, turn it over and leave it overnight at room temperature before my last few steps. Okay, time to bed cause its nearly midnight and I got no more energy, nighty nighty!

Time to do some sweet stuff now... soaking your Savarin! I trimmed off the bottom of mine and put it back into my mold, then pour my syrup until it reaches nearly the rim of mold and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Now my Savarin is full of syrup, I turn it on a rack and let all the excess syrup drip out, then transfer it to a nice plate. Warm up your nappage and glaze your Savarin and let it cool off... Then the last step, I put chocolate whipped cream into a pastry bag with a star tip and fill the hole, pipe some on the top, decorate it with some Valrhona milk & dark chocolate crunchy pearls and some fresh raspberry. Finally my Savarin is done but I better wait till next day to let it gain more flavor... okay wait a bit longer then. Take a closer look... just amazing!

After a day's rest, not me but my Savarin... I can finally taste my Savarin and all I can can say its amazing, unlike my previous ones.This Savarin is rich with a good texture, a tiny bit of that yeast dough makes this cake exceptional. And this Savarin doesn't feel dry nor bland like my previous ones. I will certainly make this again or smaller baba au rhum. My first Bakers' challenge is really a fun, although it takes about 5 hours or so but my time is well spent!

Enjoy!

Notes and recipe within recipe.....

Darjeeling and rum syrup

• two tablespoons of Darjeeling tea by Mariage Frères
• 725 ml water
• 250 g sugar
• one cinnamon stick
• three tablespoons of Rum

directions

• heat up 475 ml of water (not but not boiling) and steep your tea leaves for about 10 minutes
• heat 250 ml of water with sugar and cinnamon until sugar dissolves and let it rest for 20 minutes
• strain your tea and sugar syrup into a container
• stir in rum, let cool and you are done
• you can use your syrup now ore keep in your fridge for a couple days

nappage (glaze)

• 45 g apricot jam
• 40 g water
• 5 g Rum

directions

• heat your jam with water until it melts
• add in your rum, keep cooking gently a  bit
• strain your nappage and you're done

chocolate whipped cream

• 25 g Valrhona Caraibe 66% dark chocolate
• 25 g sugar
• 120 g heavy cream

directions

• place your chocolate in a heatproof bowl
• heat up heavy cream with sugar, once it starts boiling, pour it right into your bowl with chocolate
• whisk your chocolate cream until very smooth
• cover and chill until its completely cool
• whip it right before you are going to use it