Raspberry Bavarian Cream

Bavarois aux Framboise

Continuing with my Julia Child obsession, she has several Bavarian cream recipes In her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I decided to go with the raspberry Bavarian cream. 

As the book says, "Bavarian cream is a mold of crème anglaise (custard sauce) with gelatin, beaten egg whites and flavoring. It is un-molded after it has been chilled, and makes a dessert as beautiful to see as it is to eat."
I did not end up un-molding the cream as I wanted to keep them in individual serving glasses rather than on a serving plate, but I will have to try that one day.
This dessert is so perfect in every way. It's almost like a mousse but the texture is more velvety; it's very creamy and light.

Even though there are some really nice variations of Bavarian cream in the book, I thought raspberry would be a great treat before the summer ends.

Raspberry Bavarian Cream:
(This recipe makes enough for 8-10 people, I made half of this.)

• 1/2 cup orange juice (or raspberry juice)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons gelatin powder
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups boiling milk
• 5 egg whites
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
• a tray of ice cubes
• 1/2 cup chilled whipping cream
• 1 pint fresh raspberries (and extra for decoration)

In a bowl add the orange or raspberry juice and the gelatin powder and mix together and set aside to soften.

In a large bowl beat the egg yolks, cornstarch and sugar together until pale yellow.

Beat the boiling milk into the bowl pouring very slowly.

Pour this mixture into a sauce pan over a medium heat, stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spoon.

Immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and add the orange/gelatin mixture and beat all together until dissolved completely.

Rinse out the previous mixing bowl and pour the custard cream in.

In another bowl beat the egg whites, salt and tablespoon of sugar until it forms stiff peaks.

Fold the egg whites into the custard cream mixture gently and set the bowl over another bowl filled with the ice and water. Allow this mixture too cool down without setting, mix a few times.

In another bowl whip the whipping cream until it doubles in volume. Fold the whipped cream into the cooled custard mixture.

Push the raspberries through a sieve into a bowl to make 3/4 to 1 cup of puree.

Fold the raspberry puree into the custard cream mixture.

Add the cream to individual serving glasses, top the cream with fresh raspberries and place in the refrigerator to set for approximately 3 hours or until they are ready to be served.