See Also: Cooking Club · Desserts
Indianerkrapfen (Vienna legend cream puffs)
From Dorothy McNett's recipes at www.dorothymcnett.com. In Vienna in 1850 a Hindu tightrope walker, called an Indianer by the Viennese, was performing on a tightrope suspended from 2 towers, balancing himself with a long stick that had a black ball at each end. A Viennese baker named Krapf told his wife to stop watching the Indianer so much. She got mad, threw a lump of dough at her husband and it landed in a frying pan. So the story goes that she then filled the small cake with cream and dumped it into hot chocolate and called it Indianer as it reminded her of the way the balancing stick had the black balls at each end. Legend!!!
For the Filling:
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream (organic is best!)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
For the Batter:
1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
For the Chocolate Glaze:
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
Whip the cream, adding the sugar and vanilla. Refrigerate while you make the puffs. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin with olive oil, making sure the bottom and slightly up the sides of each cup have been oiled. In a small bowl, whisk the flour and cornstarch to blend well. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the vanilla. In batter bowl beat the egg whites using either an electric beater or a hand beater until soft peaks start to form and then very gradually beat in the sugar, small quantities at a time, until stiff peaks form. Switch to a silicone or rubber spatula and carefully fold the egg yolks and flour mixture. Gentle! Do not over mix, just fold gently until all the flour is mixed in. Fill each cup 2/3 full. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until cakes are lightly browned. Remove from oven, place pan on a rack. Cool 2-3 minutes. Run a knife around each cake and gently remove each from pan and place them on the rack to cool. When cool, with a serrated bread knife cut off a 1/4 inch slice from the top of each. Pull out the insides of the cakes, leaving thin shells. Fill each with the chilled whipped cream and put the top back on. Refrigerate while you make the glaze.
In heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the chocolate, 2/3 cup cream, sugar, water and corn syrup. Heat and stir over medium heat to melt the chocolate and dissolve the sugar. Now raise the heat to medium high and cook without stirring for about 5 minutes, or until it has reached the soft ball stage. Whisk the egg with the vanilla and when the chocolate glaze has reached the soft ball stage, quickly whisk about 3-4 tablespoons of the hot syrup into the egg, whisking constantly, to temper it. Now whisk the egg mixture into the hot syrup.
Place the filled cupcakes on serving plates. Allow the glaze to cool down for about 10-15 minutes or so. Pour chocolate glaze over each one. Serve right away, or refrigerate several hours for the glaze to firm up.
Recipe created 2014-03-02.
