Cabinet Pudding

Pouding Cabinet teaches the quietest custard lesson in the canon: fill the mould little by little. The Crème à la Vanille, Moulée (No. 2639) must thread its way between liqueur-soaked biscuits, a salpicon (small, even dice) of candied fruit, and currants. Pour it all at once and you trap dry pockets; pour patiently and the cut face becomes a tender mosaic held in one smooth set.

The original formula assumed an entremets station with both vanilla preparations waiting, a tall lidded cylinder mould, and a cook free to guard the bain-marie (hot-water bath). At home, a 1¼ litre straight-sided charlotte mould or deep cake tin, a roasting pan, and an instant-read thermometer do the work. Here, the brigade quantity becomes six generous servings, and parchment with foil replaces the fitted lid. Those things were scaffolding. The kirsch-soaked layers, incremental filling, and nonboiling poach are the dish, and they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Unmoulded at the last moment, the pudding stands pale gold beneath a glossy coat of crème anglaise (English custard), with ruby fruit and dark currants showing through each slice. The decisive act comes before the oven: pour the custard in stages until it has found every gap.