Bombe Fanchon

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •1.5-litre metal bombe mould or deep stainless-steel bowl
• •Ice cream machine
• •Electric stand mixer or hand mixer
• •Instant-read or sugar thermometer
• •Small heavy saucepan
• •Flexible spatula
• •Fine-mesh strainer

Instructions

1. 1

   Chill the working parts

   Put a clean 1.5-litre metal bombe mould or deep stainless-steel bowl in the freezer. Chill the coffee drops in a covered container, along with the bowl and beaters you will use for the cream. Cold equipment buys you working time, and this dessert rewards every minute of it.

2. 2

   Cook the praline base

   Heat the milk and cream until small bubbles gather at the edge. Whisk the four yolks with the sugar and salt until smooth, then pour in the hot dairy gradually while whisking. Return everything to the saucepan and stir over gentle heat until the crème anglaise coats the spoon and reaches 82 to 84°C (180 to 183°F). Do not boil it. If tiny grains appear, pull the pan from the heat, strain immediately into a cold bowl, and whisk hard until smooth. Ça se rattrape. Whisk in the pralin paste, set the bowl over ice, and stir until thoroughly cold.

   The custard is ready when a finger drawn through the coating on the spoon leaves a clean path. Thickening it further risks scrambled yolks and gains you nothing.
3. 3

   Churn and clothe

   Churn the cold praline custard until it has the dense, spreadable body of soft ice cream. Working quickly, press it over the bottom and sides of the frozen mould in an even layer about 1.5 cm (5/8 inch) thick. This is chemiser, to clothe the mould, the same coating motion the source directs through Another Method of Preparing Aspics de Filets de Soles (No. 916); the home freezer now does the work once performed over broken ice. Check for thin patches against the light, repair them with more ice, and freeze the shell until solid, 45 to 60 minutes. If any section slumps, refreeze it for 10 minutes and patch it. Nothing is lost.

   Keep a little glace pralinée in the freezer until the shell is firm. It is your patching plaster if the rim thins or a bare spot appears.
4. 4

   Build the pâte à bombe

   Put the five yolks in the mixer bowl and begin beating at medium speed. Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan, stirring only until the sugar dissolves, then boil without stirring to 118°C (244°F). If the syrup crystallizes before reaching temperature, add 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) water and melt it again gently. Ça se rattrape. With the mixer running, pour the syrup in a fine stream between the whisk and the side of the bowl. Beat until the mixture is thick, pale, and cool enough that the bowl no longer feels warm, then beat in the Kirsch. Leave any hard sugar threads stuck to the bowl behind rather than scraping them into the filling.

   Pour against the moving yolks, not directly onto the whisk, which flings syrup onto the bowl before it can cook and aerate the eggs.
5. 5

   Fold the filling

   Whip the cold cream to soft peaks that fold over rather than stand upright. If the pâte à bombe still feels warm, whisk it over an ice bath until cool before proceeding, or it will melt the cream. Fold in one-third of the cream firmly to loosen the yolk base, then fold in the remainder with broad turns. Add the chilled coffee drops on the final turn only. Stop as soon as they are distributed; repeated folding crushes them and gives moisture time to soften their crisp surface.

6. 6

   Fill and freeze

   Make certain the praline shell is completely firm. Spoon the Kirsch filling into its centre, pressing gently enough to close large air pockets without disturbing the shell, and level the surface at the rim. Cover directly with baking parchment, then wrap the mould well. Freeze for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. Kirsch keeps the filling supple, which is welcome at the table but means the freezing time cannot be hurried.

7. 7

   Unmould and slice

   Remove the wrapping and invert a chilled serving plate over the mould. Turn both together, then press a warm, well-wrung cloth against the metal for 5 seconds at a time until the bombe releases. If it holds, warm the cloth and repeat; do not flood the mould with hot water or the praline shell will run before the centre lets go. Rest the bombe for 8 minutes, then cut with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped dry between slices. The shell should yield cleanly around the pale Kirsch centre, with coffee drops still whole inside. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Pralined means treated with pralin, a paste of caramelized nuts ground until smooth. Choose a French-style almond-hazelnut pralin made with roughly equal parts nuts and caramelized sugar, not a chocolate-hazelnut spread.
• •Coffee drops are small, hard coffee sweets. They are not roasted coffee beans, which are punishing to bite when frozen, and not soft coffee creams, which disappear into the filling. Keep the drops cold and fold them in whole at the last possible moment.
• •Use dry Kirsch eau-de-vie, clear and sharply scented with cherry, not sweet cherry liqueur or syrup. More is not better here; excess alcohol prevents the pâte à bombe from setting firmly enough to slice.
• •The source assumes finished pralined ice waiting in the pastry kitchen. Without an ice cream machine, 600 g (about 3 cups / 710 ml) of excellent real-cream praline ice cream may supply the shell. That removes only the brigade scaffolding; keep the Kirsch pâte à bombe and the coffee drops exactly as written.
• •Serve the bombe within a day of filling for the clearest contrast of textures. It remains delicious longer, but the coffee drops slowly surrender some crispness to the surrounding cream.

Advance Preparation

• •The praline custard base can be cooked and chilled up to 2 days before churning. Keep it covered in the cold and whisk it smooth before it goes into the machine.
• •Assemble the bombe the day before serving and freeze it overnight. This gives the Kirsch filling time to set evenly while preserving the coffee drops better than several days of storage.
• •Unmould immediately before serving. Once released, the bombe may wait on its chilled platter in the freezer for up to 30 minutes before its brief tempering and slicing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 185g)