Oil the outside of a dome-shaped mold. Beginning at the bottom, cover it with macaroons, sticking the edges of the macaroons together with sugar boiled to the crack, or with royal icing (see page [483]). Just before serving turn it off the mold, and place it over a form of plain or fruit Bavarian cream, which has been hardened in a smaller mold of the same shape. There should be an inch or more of space between the two, the outer one covering the other like a cage.
A croquenbouche can also be made of little cakes cut from a layer cake with a small biscuit-cutter, and iced in two colors with royal icing, or with glacé oranges, or with chestnuts. The latter are difficult to make, but are very good with ice-creams.
WHIPPED CREAM
General directions. One half pint of double or very rich cream costs ten cents, and may be diluted one half, giving a pint of cream as called for in the receipts. Cream should be placed on the ice for several hours before it is whipped. Temperature. It is essential to have it very cold, otherwise it will not whip well; and also, if rich cream, it will form particles of butter. If not lower than 60° it will all go to butter. Place the bowl containing the cream in a larger bowl containing cracked ice, and with a cream churn, Dover beater, or wire whip, whichever is convenient, whip it to a stiff froth; continue to whip until it all becomes inflated. If the cream is cold it will take but a few minutes. Texture. This gives a firm, fine-grained cream, which is used for Bavarians, mousses, ice-creams, etc. When a lighter and more frothy cream, called syllabub, is wanted for whips and sauces, dilute the cream more, and remove the froth from the top of the cream as it rises while being whipped, and place it on a fine sieve over a bowl to drain. That which drips through the sieve replace in the whipping-bowl to be again beaten. Time for adding. The flavoring and sweetening are added after it is whipped for the first method; but it is better to add it before for the latter, as mixing breaks down the froth. Whipped cream, like beaten whites of eggs, added to gelatine or custard mixtures, gives them a sponge-like texture. Draining. It should be drained, and added only when the mixtures are cold and ready to be molded or frozen. It is then cut in lightly, not stirred. Some judgment must be used about diluting the cream, and it must stand several hours on ice to insure success.
Cream whipped by the first method is the one recommended for all purposes. When it is added to other things, any liquid cream that may have dripped to the bottom of the bowl should not be put in.
DESSERTS OF WHIPPED CREAM
Preserves and jams served with whipped cream make an excellent dessert.
WHIPS
Flavor a pint of cream with a dessertspoonful of maraschino, kirsch, or rum, or with a teaspoonful of essence of vanilla, rose, or almonds, or flavor it with black coffee. Color it pink, or green, or leave it white. Sweeten with three scant tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Whip it to a stiff froth and drain. Let it stand on ice until ready to use; then with a spoon pile it high on a glass dish. If the cream is white sprinkle it with colored pink and green sugar mixed (see page [393]). Or, skim off the foam which first rises, placing several spoonfuls of it on a sieve to drain. Color the rest a delicate pink, and whip it until it all becomes firm and of fine grain. Turn this into a glass dish, and with a spoon place the white froth upon it.