“Taste is important”
Several years ago, French pâtissier Eric Lanlard and a baker called Paul Hollywood thought a series about baking could be a hit. The producers laughed at the idea, but in 2010, Channel 4 made Baking Mad with Lanlard. The same year, Hollywood got the chance to share his skills on television, too.
Stardust had already come Lanlard’s way. He baked Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s wedding croquembouche and birthday cakes for Brooklyn Beckham and the Queen Mother. Since then, his Cake Boy empire has risen like a soufflé.
Raised, surrounded by cakes
When Lanlard was growing up, every village had a pâtisserie. On a Sunday, in his home town of Quimper in Brittany, Eric went with his dad to buy the dessert. “It was the presentation, the packaging, the ritual around it.”
Lanlard chose the pâtissier he wanted to apprentice with when he was 10. “Trust you to pick the most expensive,” said his mother. After National Service, he wanted to improve his English, so decided to spend a year in the UK. That was more than two decades ago.
At the time only two chefs in London were ever mentioned in connection with French pastry work: Michel and Albert Roux. Lanlard was soon working with then.
He left the Roux brothers in 1995 to set up his own business: “I’d been used to shops [in France] that looked like jewellery showrooms, but a top-class pâtisserie didn’t exist in the UK.” No wonder his creations were celebrated.
Lanlard recognises that we can’t all achieve his amazing pastries. His advice is simple: invest in good ingredients, not expensive kit. “Taste is most important.”
For all the success of The Great British Bake Off there is still nothing more natural than a handsome Frenchman showing us how to make exquisite pastries. It worked for Mary Berry: “She said she’d like to come to one of my classes.”
Pistachio and dark chocolate fondant souffles
There is something spectacular about serving a soufflé at a dinner party and this Middle Eastern flavour packed recipe definitely has the wow factor!
500g unsalted butter
135g golden caster sugar
210g Green & Black’s Dark 70%
2 tsp kirsch
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
5 eggs, separated
2 tsp of ground cardamom
2 tbsp peeled pistachios
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
2 Melt half the butter and use to brush the inside of the 8 ramekins.
3 Tip the sugar into each ramekin and move around so that the sugar coats the sides. Pour away any excess sugar.
4 Melt the chocolate together with the kirsch, cardamom, vanilla and remaining butter in a large bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth.
5 Remove from the heat and mix in the yolks.
6 In a large clean bowl, whisk the eggs to a stiff peak gradually adding the rest of the sugar.
7 Mix in a little of the chocolate mixture then gently fold in the rest with a metal spoon. Lastly, fold in the cardamon and pistachios.
8 Spoon the soufflé mixture into the ramekins – distribute evenly and bake for exactly 11 minutes.
9 Serve with vanilla custard.
