Gateau St. Honoré was named after a Bishop, Saint Honoré, that people thought was the Bishop of Pastry. In an article written by Meryle Evans, for the Culinary Historians of New York, she wrote that Saint Honoré was a “6th century Bishop of Amiens in Northern France.” History says, when one of his housemaids was making bread, some weird oil was poured onto his head. The people of the town thought it was good and was “a sure sign from the heavens that he should be anointed” (Evans). People were confused whether he was a baker or a Bishop. “When he was named Bishop, a baker’s peel…was said to have put down roots and transformed into a fruiting tree, much to the surprise of the incredulous women holding it” (Prichep). On May 16, 600 A.D., Saint Honoré died. He is celebrated because of the “processions in his honor reputedly stopped both droughts and deluges, enduring good wheat harvests and, consequently, winning him the hearts of bakers (Prichep).
Saint Honoré, was “created in 1846 by pâtisser Chiboust.” (Anita). He created it to honor the Bishop and named it after his shop “on Rue St. Honoré in Paris” (Anita). He also created Chiboust cream, that fills the St. Honoré (Anita). St. Honoré grew in popularity throughout the centuries. When the cake was first created, it was made with “ring-shaped brioche filled with a pastry cream, which Chiboust lightened with an airy Italian meringue to create a new kind of filling. That fussy filling became known as crème Chiboust” (Prichep). Apparently, “one of Chiboust’s Bakers, August Jillian, came up with his own version, replacing the ring of dough with a ring of little cream puffs” (Prichep). Around this time, the cream puffs that were around the ring were decorated with “cooked sugar of glazed fruits, attached to the base, and sprinkled with pink or green tinted sugar. Pieces of glazed fruits were placed between the puffs and the center filled with pastry cream lightened with whipped cream” (Evans). Now a day the St. Honoré is traditionally a circle of puff pastry, a pâté á choux ring with cream puffs on top of the ring of pâté á choux with pastry cream and Chantilly cream in the inside of the circle. The cream puffs are decorated with caramelized sugar. There are many variations to St. Honoré some of them include: “coffee or chocolate with pastry cream; Bavarian cream with apricot, pineapple, strawberry or raspberry; and for an orange filling, glazed orange quarters replaced the cream puffs” (Evans). There is also a Chiboust that was created with passion fruit by Jill Rose. She created a St. Honoré that was with “passion fruit pastry cream topped with a white chocolate meringue, garnished with white chocolate shavings and papaya, served with a pink cactus pear reduction” (Evans). There was a tip that was invented that has a “V” shape to it. The tip was invented by Eric Bedoucha (Evans).
You can make a Gateau St. Honoré with any combination. There are many different variations of Gateau St. Honoré, any combination will work if you combine the ingredients the right way.
Work Cited:
Anita. “happy st. honore day!” Dessert First Girl, 16 May 2006, http://dessertfirstgirl.com/2006/05/happy_st_honor_.html. Accessed 10 October 2017.
Evans, Meryle. “Saint Honore- Patron Saint of Bakers & Pastry Chefs And the Evolution of the Cake Created In His Honore.” Culinary Historians of New York, Spring 2004, https://www.culinaryhistoriansny.org/chny2/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Newsletter_2004_S.pdf. Accessed 10 October 2017.
Laduree Bakery. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/453385887464851465/. Accessed 15 October 2017.
La Patisserie des Reves. Have You Heard Of It? 24 July 2014. http://hyhoi.com/2014/07/la-patisserie-des-reves-parisian-cake-ice-cream/. Accessed 15 October 2017.
Pautet, Jonathan. Instagram. 12 October 2017. https://www.instagram.com/p/BaH0_5DjXBx/. Accessed 15 October 2017.
Prichep, Deena. “Thank The Patron Saint Of Bakers For This Cake Today.” NPR (the salt), 12 May 2012, http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/05/16/152818748/thank-the-patron-saint-of-bakers-for-this-cake-today. Accessed 10 October 2017.
The Earl Grey. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/548946642057109972/. Accessed 15 October 2017.
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