Carl Marletti’s Le Fraisier (recipe incl.)

Miss Pirisi’s second attempt at a Carl Marletti Fraisier recipe with Pate d’amande blanche.

Carl Marletti is a highly celebrated Chef Patissier who today is at the heartbeat of innovative contemporary patisserie in Paris. His boutique alone speaks contemporary: studio lights, sandstone walls, cabinets trimmed with modern lines even his name is written in rounded sans serif, all complimenting the signature work that is Carl Marletti patisserie.

Strawberries in general are expensive. French strawberries are even more expensive, even in France!  And a Fraisier is expensive to make, it’s why a lot of patissiers will stick to making the Fraisier only during the berry season and not all year round. A Fraisier is a wonderful way for patissiers to showcase quality ingredients with their creativity. Clientele demande le Fraisier. Nothing says more than summer has arrived when you see the first Fraisiers in window displays.

The magazine SAVEUR where you’ll find his recipe comes only in a French edition and is available in France only or you can subscribe to SAVEUR. I’ve asked permission to translate and post the recipe in English, waiting on answer.

Miss Pirisi’s first attempt at a Carl Marletti Fraisier recipe with Pate d’amande fraise.

Le FRAISIER MARLETTI published by SAVEURS magazine No.204 September 2013 edition (French) This recipe is translated by me. Individual recipe titles are in English and (French). Anything written in (brackets + italic) are my notes.

Preparation: 2h30 + 2 hrs of refrigeration. For 6 – 8 people.

500 grams of strawberries
200 grams of white (natural) almond paste
Some red fruits (for decoration)

For the biscuit sponge Joconde (Pour le biscuit Joconde) :
75 grams of almond powder
75 grams of icing sugar
20 grams of flour
100 grams of eggs (around 2 eggs of medium size)
70 grams of egg whites (the whites of 2 medium size eggs)
20 grams of granulated white sugar
15 grams of melted butter
Almond shavings (quantity of your choosing)

For the Pastry Cream (Pour la creme patissiere) :
330 grams of milk
70 grams of egg yolks (the yolks of just less than 4 medium size eggs)
85 grams of granulated white sugar
1 vanilla pod
20 grams of Maizena
20 grams of flour (sift together the Maizena and flour)

For the Butter Cream (Pour la creme au beurre) :
75 grams of egg yolks (the egg yolks of around 4 medium size eggs)
180 grams of sugar (not specified)
45 grams of water
360 grams of butter (unsalted we can assume)

For the Kirsch Sirop (Pour le sirop au kirsch) :
125 grams of water
170 grams of granulated white sugar
9 grams of kirsch (cherry liqueur)

The utensils (Les ustensiles) :
– Mixer, handheld or a KitchenAid type
– Cake ring of 12 cm in diameter (to cut the 2 bottoms (or bases) of the Joconde sponge biscuit.
– Cake ring of 16 cm in diameter (to assemble and to cut the almond paste)
– 1 flat plate or thick round cardboard
– 1 thermometre (for cooked sugar)
– 1 gas torch (for caramalising the almond paste)

The Joconde sponge (Le biscuit Joconde) :
In a mixer mix the almond powder, the icing sugar and the flour, then add the eggs little by little and bring it up to a ribbon texture. Leave to the side. Whisk the egg whites and the granulated white sugar to firm white peaks.  Mix delicately the two preparations, add the cooled melted butter. Spread the mixture 1 cm thick on a grill covered with baking paper, now powder it with almond shavings. Place in oven at 180 degrees celcius for around 14 minutes, then reserve at room temperature. Once the Joconde sponge is cooled, cut 2 rounds of 12 cm in diameter with the cake ring. Reserve for the assembling later.

Pastry Cream (Creme Patissiere) :
Boil the milk with half of the sugar and with one whole vanilla pod split and scraped. During this time, in a bowl, whiten the egg yolks with the other half of the sugar. Then, add the Maizena and the sifted flour. Pour a little bit of the hot milk on the egg mixture whisking at all times, then reverse back into the casserole (just after removing the vanilla pod). Cook altogether whisking for around 3 to 4 minutes after boiling. Remove from the stove, put into a dish and film in contact (“en contact”) and leave in the refrigerator.

The butter cream (La creme au beurre) :
Cook the sugar and water to 121 degrees celcius. During this time, whisk the egg yolks then pour the cooked sugar on the eggs, mixing for around 1 minute. Add the butter piece by piece to obtain a cream that’s smooth and homogene. Whisk until the egg mixture cools down and reserve at room temperature.

The Mousseline cream : (La creme mousselin): Mix with a spatula 500 grams of pastry cream and 450 grams of butter cream together checking that you don’t have any chunks, lumps or grains. Reserve.

The Kirsch syrup (Le sirop au kirsch) : Heat the water and the sugar. Leave to cool and add the Kirsch.

The strawberries (Les fraises) : Remove the tale (green part) of the strawberries and cut in two in the longer direction, then decor the stawberries.

THE ASSEMBLING OF LE FRAISIER (Le montage ) –

Thin out the almond paste with a rolling pin (about 3 mm thickness), then cut a disk of 16cm in diameter with the help of the cake ring. Now put the cake ring on your chosen support which is your plate or round cardboard for the service – once installed the fraisiar can not be moved to another support, then place the cutted strawberries up against the inner ring. Put one 12 cm diamater biscuit on the bottom, then soak it with the Kirsch syrup using a brush. A the help of a spatula, cover or hide the straweberries  with the cream mousseline to the top of the circle. Place strawberries in the centre. Spread another layer of cream mousseline for cover the strawberries, then place the second biscuit of 12 cm of diametre, soak in sirip of kirsh. Finish by a layer of mousselin cream unitl the top of the circle. Smooth with the help of a spatula. Reserve to cold for 1 hr. During this time, lightly colour (caramelize) the almond paste by torching.Take out the strawberries from cold, remove the circle with the help of a hot knife, then put the disk of almond paste on top. Decorate with red fruits and reserve in cold for 1 hour before serving.

Carl Marletti’s advice
1. Once the ingredients are selected, the secret of succes is the precise weighing of ingredients
2. The joconde biscuit must be spread regularly then powdered with almonds
3. The pastry cream and butter cream mixed only with a spatula using soft calm movements.

Carl Marletti’s wine recommendation: Cabernet-d’anjou

CARL MARLETTI
51 rue Censier
75005 Paris
Tel: 01.43.31.68.12
Metro: Censier-Daubenton (pink, line 7)

Miss Pirisi