meringue question

[oli]

Hi:
Thanks for your help as always. Here are my new questions. I am familiar with making meringue where you just use egg whites, sugar and tant pour tant.
#1What would the procedure be for a recipe that has these ingredients?
750g egg whites,
750g tant pour tant
200g confectioners' sugar
600g granulated sugar
50g cornstarch
150ml milk

#2. I just want to make one 9" cake, how much do I need to reduce the ingredients by? Is it 50%, 75% or more?

#3. The recipe also calls for black currant pulp in the mousse. if all I can find is the jam, what do you suggest I do that will still impart the flavour of black currant

Pastry Chef, I know you're familar with The French Prof. Pastry series, and its from there that I have taken the recipe. I am attempting to make the Cardinal cassis, but I am not sure of the procedure.

Regards

[alexia]

Is there a difference between tant pour tant and almond paste.

[W.DeBord]

I don't have the book your refering to, but I'm having a hard time telling you what you have there. It looks like you've left something out or haven't seperated the ingred. properly....

Is this all supposed to be one item...Cause the best I make of it is a meringue made with the whites and tant pour tant then a thickened "pastry cream" of sorts with the sugar, milk and starch. Is the custard part of your mousse?


P.S. Tant pour tant is equal weights of xxxsugar to almond flour (finely ground almonds) it's very different from almond paste.

[oli]

Well, the recipe is composed of the Almond meringue, the Genoise, Black currant mousse, Black currant-flavoured sugar syrup, and Black currant glaze. Each of these are the headings with the ingredients and quantities listed below them. Next comes the PREPARATION, then, ASSEMBLING THE CAKE and last is the DECORATION.

The way I have them listed is exactly the way it is written in the book but I will expand to include every thing the way it is written:

ALMOND MERINGUE

750g egg whites (26.5 oz.), beaten to firm peaks
750g tant pour tant (equal parts sugar and almond powder) (26.5 oz.)
200g confectioners' sugar ( 7 oz.)
600g granulated sugar (7 oz.)
50g cornstarch (1.5 oz.)
150ml milk (5 fl. oz.)

The only thing left for me to do is copy the whole recipe in its entirety here, but really, this is exactly the way it is in the book. I have not left out anything in the ALMOND MERINGUE recipe.

I wish I could figure this out on my own but I am not a professional as many here are and so I come here with my heart on my sleeve in hopes someone can rescue me.

[angrychef]

Oli,
I've made a similar meringue and I think it's usually called dijonnaise or russe, not exactly sure.
Here's what I did:
Beat whites to firm peak with granulated sugar.
Stir TPT together with cornstarch and 10x sugar. Fold into meringue and last addition is milk.

Have fun!

P.S. Sometimes the other technique is to stir the milk into the 10x sugar and TPT, then lighten the mixture with a third of the meringue. But looking at the amounts in the recipe, I think you're better off the other way.

[thebighat]

I think the Healy/Bugat series of books have similar techniques of using milk to make a paste of some of the sugar when making a meringue. I like those books, have all of them, but they sometimes have you jumping all over the place looking for recipes. btw, scaling weight on a 9" cake ought to be something in the 1lb 6 oz to 9 or 10oz range. If you add up the weights and divide what you want by what you have, that will give you a factor to multiply all the individual ingredients by to get a scaled down weight. I just checked the dijonnaise recipe in the Art of The Cake and that's exactly what they do,,,make a paste with the tpt and the milk, make the meringue, then temper some of it into the paste and then fold all together.

[Risque Cakes]

Any Meringue that you make with nuts is called a Japonaise and they are my absolute FAVORITE.

You can use the Japonaise disc between layers of mousse or fillings to build up a torte..or just make flat discs to eat..

My most fav way !!!!!