Daring Bakers: Savarin

LIME SAVARIN WITH COCONUT CUSTARD AND GRILLED PINEAPPLE

Every step of the process of making savarin is rather enjoyable! The dough is very sticky, and developing the gluten by hand takes a while, but I really liked it. And when the outcome is as delicious as it was, well, all that effort was worth it.

Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina challenged us to make a traditional Savarin, complete with soaking syrup and cream filling! We were to follow the Savarin recipe but were allowed to be creative with the soaking syrup and filling, allowing us to come up with some very delicious cakes!

I made mini savarins with half the recipe provided by Natalia. Almost all the liquid in the dough comes from the eggs which I thought was unusual since water is usually one of the components of bread. I didn't follow the instructions as given though and made the dough with much fewer steps.

I mixed and kneading the dough completely by hand, so I know this can be done without a machine.

Here's a video of how I kneaded the sticky dough (or view it on YouTube). This was after about 25 minutes, and the dough was already getting stronger. It was my first attempt at filming anything with my phone camera (the DSLR is being serviced) and I was holding it in my left hand so the video is a little shaky.

My kitchen is not the brightest spot in the flat so I had to take the mixing bowl to a table by the door to the balcony, and there are sounds of cars passing by outside. In between, when the dough plops against the bowl, there's a squelching sound of air bubbles popping. Also, the dough starts coming away from the sides of the bowl and takes scraps sticking there along with it. Another eight minutes of this and the dough had become nice and elastic, and was ready for the proofing stage.

Pipe savarin dough into mini bundt moulds

To get the dough into the mini bundt moulds, I used a piping bag, pressing out three blobs to fill the holes, then cutting the dough with oiled scissors. With a wet finger, I smoothed out the surface. Unfortunately, the pattern doesn't really show up on the mini savarins (the grooves are too shallow). And I probably could have got one or two extra savarins if I hadn't overfilled some of the moulds.

Mini savarin with lime syrup, coconut custard and grilled pineapple

Mini Lime Savarin

Makes 10-12. Find the original recipe here.

175g bread flour, divided

2 tsp sugar

¾ tsp instant yeast

1 tbsp water

3 medium eggs, separated

½ tsp table salt

40g butter, softened

Lime syrup (recipe follows)

To serve

Coconut custard pudding

Grilled pineapple rings

Toasted dessicated coconut

Place 2 tbsp flour, sugar, yeast and water in a small bowl. Blend into a paste and set aside for 10 minutes.

Put the remaining flour in a large mixing bowl with the egg whites. Stir together to form a batter. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Add yeast mixture to the egg white mixture along with the egg yolks and salt. Mix to blend.

Add butter in three batches and stir well to blend well after each addition.

Knead the dough until elastic (see video above). Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Set aside until tripled in size.

Lightly oil a 10-hole mini bundt pan and scoop savarin dough into a piping bag. Pipe dough into the moulds (or use two teaspoons), cutting the portions with oiled kitchen scissors. Smooth out the surface with a wet finger. Cover the pan and set aside until dough reaches near the top of the moulds.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C. Bake mini savarin until golden and cooked, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool in tin, 10 minutes, then completely on a wire rack. Dunk into warm syrup. Pipe coconut custard into the centre of the ring, sprinkle with toasted coconut and serve with grilled pineapple rings.

Lime Syrup

½ cup caster sugar

100ml water

Large pinch of salt

2 tbsp lime juice

½ tbsp rose water

Put sugar, water and salt into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Lower heat and simmer syrup for 10 minutes until slightly reduced and thickened. Take off the heat and stir in lime juice and rose water. Use while still warm.

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Traditional savarin ring

Earlier, I used the recipe from this video to make a savarin in my new 24cm classic savarin mould.

It rose very high and emerged from the tin looking like an inner tube!

Not your traditional savarin

I diverted from tradition by slicing the savarin in half  and brushing on an orange-pomegranate syrup. There were pockets of dry crumb though, because they didn't get enough syrup.

The savarin was filled with pastry cream, then the topped was glazed with salted brown sugar toffee.

Pastry cream-filled savarin with salty toffee glaze 

This savarin was all right but I definitely prefer the mini ones since they're much easier to eat.

Check out other savarins in the slideshow on The Daring Kitchen.