The Chocolate Kiss Gâteau Lion d'Or

Laura Florand is one of those exceedingly reliable authors who always manages to write a book that I know I will adore. I've only read three of hers thus far (I'm rationing them), but each one has been utterly charming and full of amazing culinary inspiration.

The Chocolate Kiss is no exception. It takes place in the Paris of The Chocolate Thief and we get a few glimpses of the happy couple, Sylvain and Cade, in this book. However, The Chocolate Kiss brings us out to the Île Saint-Louis, a small neighborhood of Paris. Magalie Chaudron (aka my book BFF) lives and works there in her aunts' tea-shop: La Maison des Sorcières. After a childhood spent being shipped between her mother in Provence and her father in upstate New York, Magalie has never felt at home anywhere. But she thinks that she just might learn to belong here, until the entire existence of La Maison des Sorcières is threatened by the prospect of the hottest pastry chef in Paris opening a new shop on the Île Saint-Louis.

Philippe Lyonnais is Paris royalty. Not only does he come from a generations-long line of exceptional pastry chefs, he is charming, gorgeous and in every way larger than life. He is so far above mere mortals that when Magalie demands that he steer clear of the Île Saint-Louis for his new shop, he tells her that he doesn't consider La Maison des Sorcières competition. This enrages Magalie and kicks off a battle of business, wit and temptation-by-treat that slowly ratchets up the tension in this story, both sexual and otherwise.

Every time Magalie and Philippe appear on page together, I found myself holding my breath. Their banter is top-notch as they trade insults designed to wound. This is particularly tough on Philippe, who realizes much earlier than Magalie that the friction in their relationship isn't just one of business rivals. But his pride and her defensiveness keep getting in the way. And the way they treat each other's baked goods! I swear, I was more relieved when Magalie tried one of Philippe's macarons than I was when they finally tumbled into bed.

The secondary characters of Aunt Geneviève and Aunt Aja, as well as Philippe's employees and the customers of the tea-shop are also exceedingly well-drawn. They form the basis for the little community surrounding the two lovers, providing outlets for their talents, encouragement when they're acting particularly pig-headed or despondent and giving this magical book its sense of place.

I adored The Chocolate Kiss. Magalie is my favorite heroine ever and Philippe is beyond dreamy. The heat the two of them generate together and the cast of colorful supporting characters will keep me returning to this book year after year. If you haven't read it, or anything else by Florand for that matter, run off to wherever you get your books and rectify that immediately.

Let's start with the important stuff. I totally made up the name of this cake so don't bother Googling it. It doesn't exist. Yet. Except when I'm a world-famous Parisian pastry chef I will *make* it famous.


That's a joke. I'm not that ambitious.

Actually, what happened is that I went to type "Lemon Almond Cake with Lavender Pastry Cream Filling and Honey Swiss Meringue Buttercream" into the title line and it looked a little long. So I made up the name and asked Kay (aka Miss Bates) of Miss Bates Reads Romance to help me translate it into French. When you read the book, you'll get the reference. Any errors in French are, of course, mine.

I wouldn't exactly call this cake a beginner project, mainly as a result of the Swiss Meringue Buttercream (henceforth SMB) frosting. Maybe an intermediate project? It took me two or three tries to get SMB right back in the day (I'm a self-taught baker). Finally I stumbled upon this tutorial, which shows the two main things that can go wrong with SMB, namely the "curdled" stage and the "too liquidy" stage. My problem had always been the curdled stage, which resembles cottage cheese. I assumed I had done something wrong when it hit that point. As it turns out, it's totally normal. Just keep whipping.

Then you have to frost a three-layer cake. My biggest tip? Lots of refrigerator time. Refrigerate the cake layers before you cut the domes off, refrigerate the layers once they get their custard dam (you'll see), refrigerate after the crumb coat and refrigerate after the final frosting layer. It's time-consuming but worth it because the layers won't slide all over in the refrigerator and the pastry cream won't squeeze out the sides when you cut it.

Oh, and you'll notice the absence of chocolate in this cake. The macaron that Philippe makes for Magalie has lavender, honey and chocolate. I'm not the genius baker Philippe is and I couldn't figure out a way to keep the chocolate from overpowering the subtle lavender and honey flavors in a cake so I gave up and used lemon. Call it artistic license.

Lavender Pastry Cream
adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
2 cups half & half
1 tablespoon culinary lavender + extra for top of cake (optional)
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
6 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons white sugar, divided
pinch salt
5 egg yolks
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled

1. In a medium saucepan, over low heat, heat the half & half, 6 tablespoons of the sugar, lavender, vanilla scrapings, vanilla pod, and salt and allow the lavender to infuse for 30 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

2. As the half & half mixture begins to simmer, in a separate bowl, whisk the eggs yolks, cornstarch and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar together until smooth.

3. Strain the half & half mixture through a fine sieve into a heat-proof measuring cup, removing the lavender and vanilla pod. Slowly whisk about 1 cup of the simmering half & half mixture into the the yolks to temper. Then slowly whisk the tempered yolks back into the simmering half & half mixture and reduce heat to medium. Whisking constantly, return the mixture to a simmer and cook until thickened and a few bubbles burst on the surface, about 30 seconds. Off the heat, whisk in the butter. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap flush to the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours.

Cake
adapted from Taste of Home
3 cups sugar, divided
3/4 cup slivered almonds or 3 ounces almond flour
3/4 cup lemon olive oil
1 stick unsalted butter, softened + more for pans
6 eggs
zest of 2 Meyer lemons
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces sour cream
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons half & half
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour 3 8" cake pans lined with parchment rounds. Place 3/4 cup sugar and almonds or almond flour in a food processor and process until finely ground.

2. In a stand mixer, cream olive oil, butter and remaining 2 1/4 cups sugar; beat in almond mixture until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

3. In a small bowl, combine sour cream and half & half. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Alternately add sour cream mixture and flour mixture to butter mixture, beating well after each addition.

4. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

The "curdled stage". Don't worry. Just keep whipping

See? All better.

Honey Swiss Meringue Buttercream
adapted from Sweet Hearth Bakery Blog
8 egg whites
1 1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoon white sugar
6 1/2 unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 1/2" slices
7/8 cup honey (I used a 1/2 cup and a 1/3 cup of alfalfa honey)

1. In a saucepan or double boiler, heat 1" of water over medium heat. In a metal mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine egg white and sugar with a whisk. Make sure the top of the water doesn't touch the bottom of your pan. Whisking constantly, heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and eggs are quite hot. With experience, you'll be able to smell when it's ready, but if this is your first time, use a candy thermometer and remove from heat when it hits 160 degrees.

2. Using the whisk attachment on your stand mixer, whip egg white mixture on high for 10-15 until firm peaks form. By this time, the eggs whites should have returned to room temperature. If not, keep whipping on medium until they are at room temperature.

3. Add butter slices one at a time, whipping at medium speed until fully incorporated. There may be a stage midway through adding the butter when the entire mess looks curdled and inedible. If that happens, just keep whipping. It really will come back together. When all butter slices have been added, add the honey, turn up speed to high and whip for 3-5 minutes. If the mixture is liquidy at this point, refrigerate until it firms up and rewhip before using.

Cake Assembly

1. Once cooled, refrigerate tightly wrapped cake layers for 30 minutes. Remove from fridge and slice off the domes, reserving for cake pops, rum balls or hungry husbands who just got off airplanes.

2. On your decorating stand or cake plate, place a small dollop of frosting on the plate to keep the first layer  from sliding around while you decorate. Place the first layer on the plate. On another plate without frosting, place the second layer.

3. Using a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2" piping tip, pipe around the cake, getting as close to the edge as you can. Repeat with the second layer. Refrigerate both layers for 15-20 minutes or until frosting is firm to the touch.

4. Place a generous 1/2 cup of pastry cream on the first layer (the one on your cake plate). Using a spoon or the bottom of your measuring cup, even it out over the surface of the cake. Place the second layer on top of the first layer and repeat with another generous 1/2 cup of pastry cream. You may have a tiny bit left over, but resist the urge to overfill the cake--definitely don't exceed the capacity of your custard dam. Place the third layer on top of the second layer.

5. Using approximately 1 cup of frosting, coat the cake with a very thin layer of frosting, filling in the sides where there are gaps and creating an overall smooth base for the final frosting layer. If you wipe off excess frosting, do not return it to the original frosting bowl to avoid getting crumbs in your final coat. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

6. Using most of the remaining frosting and a 10" offset metal spatula, complete your final frosting layer. You may not use all the frosting. Keep remainder in an airtight container for up to one week and use to fill macarons.

7. If desired, sprinkle extra lavender in a circle on the top of the cake for decoration.

* For the record, I had to make two batches of frosting, which is why my cake is a little discolored-looking. I fixed this in the final recipe so your frostings will be the same color throughout. Just an interesting lesson in how different butter colorings can be.

Now that I've done it successfully a bunch of times, it's pretty easy, but I was so frustrated with Swiss Meringue Buttercream at first. Like Magalie trying to make macarons. You'll also notice here that I didn't attempt macarons. So have you made Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting? Or perfect macarons?

Book BFFs

 Are you familiar with the concept of "book boyfriends"? Picking out a particular hero and referring to him as your book boyfriend seems like pretty common practice among romance lovers. My first was probably the Phantom of the Opera. Even in high school I loved me a tortured hero. The reality of tortured boyfriends is much less fun though so I love the book boyfriend concept. Let my fiction-loving self deal with the drama.

But it wasn't until recently that I ran across a heroine I loved so much that I wished she were my BFF: Magalie Chaudron from Laura Florand's The Chocolate Kiss. The hero of that book, Philippe Lyonnais, seems to be the hero among heroes for Florand's fans. And while of course I found him compelling, it was Magalie that kept me enraptured by this particular book. Not only is she possibly literally magical (so fun), she cooks in a teensy kitchen and loves boots.

Perhaps I was primed for this by my recent brush with another heroine I loved: Emily Bartwell from Jeffe Kennedy's new erotic romance Going Under. But unlike with Emily, Magalie and I actually have things in common. We could go running together, hang out in her tiny, chocolate-filled kitchen, go shopping for killer boots for ourselves and sweaters for our guys. She could tutor me in idiomatic French while my dog and I hang out in the Maison des Sorcieres. And I could fill in at the counter while she visits Philippe down the street...

Um...sorry. I kinda wandered off there.

In reading through reviews trying to decide what books to buy, one of the things I've noticed is that many reviewers are harder on heroines than they are on heroes. For example, Laura Kinsale's The Prince of Midnight features quite an arrogant hero, but it's the prickly heroine who seems to bear the brunt of the character criticism. And frankly, I think that's unfair. She's just lost her entire family. He lost his balance and self-confidence. Leigh needs a cup of hot chocolate, a soft blanket and an Anna Kendrick movie marathon. Instead, she gets called a heart-hearted bitch? Come on, we don't really talk about other women that way, do we?


So let's hear about some book BFFs. What heroines have you particularly loved? Why? Do you fantasize about hanging out with your favorite romance heroine? Please tell me I'm not the only one.

The Chocolate Thief Raspberry Tarts

 
When I started Cooking Up Romance a couple of months ago, there were a few books that people kept pointing me toward and saying I absolutely had to read, largely for their sheer volume of food. Laura Florand's Chocolate Series was at the top of that list. And they were totally right. The Chocolate Thief is a tasty romp through the chocolatiers, restaurants and streets of Paris.

Heroine Cade Corey is the successful, capable scion of an old Maryland chocolate-making family. With Hershey just over the border in Pennsylvania, I couldn't help but draw parallels as the beloved American Hershey bar receives very little respect in Europe. But Cade has an idea for bringing Parisian artisan chocolate to the masses--if only she can find a French chocolatier who will cooperate by lending a name and a recipe.

Hero Sylvain Marquis is the best chocolatier in Paris, creating chocolates so exquisite that though she has been around copious amounts of chocolate her whole life, Cade can't stop eating his when she first tastes them. Unfortunately, Sylvain also has a terrible temper and a complete abhorrence for her idea. He makes her cry when she first approaches him, then makes fun of her when they meet again, finally driving her to break into his shop to see if she can find what she wants. Plus, he's nerdy and sexy, which is pretty much my favorite combination of hero traits.

Though at first Cade and Sylvain get along like chocolate and water, he is eventually captivated by her love for chocolate and she is seduced by his knowledge and skill. With chocolate, people. Heads out of the gutter please. Though, it should be said that his skills in other areas aren't at all tepid. In fact, he has mastered the art of seduction by chocolate, a particularly neat twist by Florand.

For any lover of chocolate, or of Paris, this book is an absolute must-read. Even if the characters weren't utterly charming and the plot didn't provide a number of unique twists, they would be worth it for the food alone. I've just gotten the second one and I can't wait to devour it. Also, I'm not sure how long this sale is going on, but right now you can get the Kindle edition of the 4th book in the series, The Chocolate Rose, for free on Amazon!

Early in the story, when Sylvain is still utterly contemptuous of Cade's American-ness, she encounters him in a bakery early one morning. Flustered and determined to try something utterly French, she picks out a raspberry tart for her breakfast, earning the scorn and derision of both Sylvain and the baker. Though, upon reflection, Sylvain decides that she looks pretty cute with her raspberry tart, even if it is a ridiculous breakfast.

The raspberry tart in the book is described as having a golden crust, pale custard and sweet, fresh berries. Sadly for me, I find pastry cream a little bit boring and even though it's peak raspberry season, I didn't find the tart flavorful enough on its own. That said, the book is called The Chocolate Thief. And it's in a series all about chocolate. So I didn't have a hard time giving these a non-traditional twist with a little bit of chocolate.

As for the tart dough, you're going to need a kitchen scale. You've got one, right? If not, they're about $25. Don't be intimidated. I actually find it easier to bake by weight than by volume. It's just much more accurate! This tart dough is the best one I've used: super forgiving, doesn't require refrigeration and no need to use foil, parchment or any kind of pie weights. It's kind of miraculous and therefore worth the purchase of a scale if you don't have one.

Also, I've included a full-scale recipe for the chocolate sauce I used. You'll have TONS left over. Just store it in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap touching the surface. You can microwave it for just a couple seconds a spoonful at a time and drizzle it on crepes, ice cream, waffles, pound cake or just someone you like a lot. Or they can drizzle it on you. I mean, you just made them a freaking raspberry tart.

And as long as we're being decadent, go ahead and have one of these tarts for breakfast. I won't tell if you don't.

Raspberry Tarts with Pastry Cream and Chocolate
adapted from Brave Tart and America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Makes: 6 four-inch tarts
Time: 3 1/2 hours (1 hour hands on time)

Pastry Cream
2 cups half and half
1/2 cup sugar, separated
pinch salt
5 large egg yolks, room temperature
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Tart Dough
3 ounces white sugar
6 ounces unsalted butter (NOT tablespoons--don't mess that up), plus extra for pans
9 ounces flour, sifted
1 generous pinch salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
powdered sugar for rolling

Chocolate Sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
pinch salt
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

18 ounces fresh raspberries

1. For the pasty cream, bring the half and half, 6 tablespoons of sugar and the salt to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar together until smooth. Sift in the cornstarch to prevent lumps and whisk until smooth.

3. Reduce heat to medium. Slowly whisk about 1 cup of the simmering half and half mixture into the yolks to temper (for more on tempering, see my creme brulee recipe). The slowly whisk the tempered yolks back into the simmering half and half mixture and return pot to heat. Whisking constantly, return the mixture to a simmer and cook until thickened and a few bubbles burst the surface, about 30 seconds. Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla. Transfer to heat proof bowl and cover with a layer of plastic wrap flush to the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours.

4. For the tart crust, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease six 4" tart pans.

5. Cream together the butter, salt and sugar either in a stand mixer or with a pastry blender until combined. Add sifted flour with mixer on lowest speed or mix by hand for two minutes. The mixer will still be pretty crumbly, but don't worry.

6. Knead lightly by hand against the side of the bowl until a smooth dough forms. Scatter powdered sugar over rolling surface. Turn out dough onto surface and roll to 1/8" thickness. Cut into four sections and press into tart pans, pinching off excess and pressing the sides up a little over the top to compensate for any shrinkage during baking. Re-roll scraps and cut into two more sections and press into tart pans. Don't worry if the dough tears. Just piece it back together. It will still be fine. Prick dough all over the surface with a fork (bottom and sides both).

7. Bake until lightly browned, about 14 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes on a rack before removing from pans. Allow to cool completely.

8. For the chocolate sauce, bring the cream, corn syrup, butter and salt to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Off the heat, stir in the chocolate, cover and let stand until the chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes. Uncover and whisk gently until smooth.

9. Add 1 tablespoon of warm chocolate sauce to the bottom of each tart shell. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the chocolate to set.

10. Add 4 tablespoons of pastry cream to each tart shell.

11. Starting in the middle and working your way out, add three rings of raspberries to each tart shell. Drizzle each tart with warm chocolate. Tarts keep in the refrigerator for up to three days.