On October 12th, CNIEL, the French Dairy Interbranch Organization and the European Union invited two pastry chefs to present their versions of Saint-Honoré and explain the importance dairy cream plays in their desserts during an Afternoon-Tea at the residence of the Consul General of France in Saudi Arabia. The Saint-Honoré is a traditional French cake topped with choux pastry and cream. It was created in the mid – 18th century and named in homage to the patron of French bakers. Originally, it was conceived as an oversized brioche stuffed with pastry cream, in time a shortcrust pastry replaced the brioch and choux pastry balls topped it all off. As no recipe was recorded, each chef had his own way of preparing this cake. The Saint-Honoré is a pastry masterpiece as it is a challenging cake to make and contains all the fundamental elements of the French Pâtisserie: puff pastry, pâte à choux, pastry or Chantilly cream and caramelized sugar! Nowadays, it is considered as a reference in the pastry world and pastry Chefs love reinventing it and express their creativity thanks to this dessert. Ask a pastry chef today what is his favourite cake with cream is and two out of three will answer the St Honoré. Chef Abdullah Al Kabbani, from Fauchon Riyadh demonstrated the assembling of the traditional Saint Honoré, with its rich vanilla whipped cream. Chef Mayada Badr, Owner and pastry Chef at Pink Camel Jeddah created an Arabian styled version: cardamom and rosewater perfumed cream on a white chocolate base. A hands-on session followed the Chef presentations, offering the possibility to guests to learn the choux filling technique using piping bags. The event ended on a sweet note with the tastings of the two Saint-Honoré realized by the Chefs. This gourmet event was part of the Cream of Europe program, a campaign for European dairy cream in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and will be followed in January by professional trainings dedicated to young Chefs. CNIEL is the French Dairy Interbranch Organization (the umbrella organization for the dairy industry) and was created in 1973 by milk producers and processors. CNIEL meets two key objectives: to facilitate relations between dairy producers and processors and to promote a positive image of milk and dairy products.
