French units of measurement at that time in history were actually different than English units despite sharing the same name. That's why everyone thinks Napoleon was really short even though he was of average height for the time. 200 years ago, a French inch was actually longer than an English inch, so Napoleon was 5'3 in French inches but actually something like 5'7 in English inches. This is also probably why you had such a hard time with the recipe!
The recipe is correct, but eggs back then meant duck eggs and not chicken eggs, these are bigger. It's something I often come across when modern chefs cook old recipes. They don't look up what was "the usual" back then.
maybe they're supposed to be in metres rather than inches. they just wouldn't fit together unless they were in metres which is why the cake is not really that big if you used inches. that and the translation of metric to whatever measurement system was used in Napoleonic-France just did not add up when re-translated back to English.
I bet the original chef would be so heckin pleased someone's still using his recipes. Especially because Ann is so impressed, I wish he could see this video.
@@AndreinneLawrence The instructions are wrong in french also! Its because back then, the inches the french used were different than the inches the english used :P This is why it isn’t accurate. Or maybe the writer messed up the measurements on purpose! Thats the joy of history, we’ll never know ;P
It was back then, everything changed with a guy called Escoffier decades later. It was just spectacle and opulence, they even used gold, pearls, whole truffles and evem gems (basically stones!!!) in their food.
it's so amazing that someone like him, who was so ahead of his time, is still a marvel even today. It's so great that you've kept his memory alive, you did such an amazing job, really well done.
@@theblackcatgirl7013 Consider eggs at that time were much smaller compared to today. You may easily cut the number of eggs in half. Thats still a lot but not that much.
@ボイス I'm not sure. I don't know this book, but I was able to read a copy of an Austrian cook book from the 17th century, where all eggs in the recipe were supposed to be chicken eggs - as far as I remember.
I'm just imagining the decadence of this cake back then. Everyone in fancy dress, bottles upon bottles of wine filling everyone's glasses. Ladies chat and dance with their husbands/betrothed, and suddenly, this massive cake is carted out before all. Jeez that would have been a sight.
@@K_Cummins haha, silly. Duck eggs are about 2-3 times bigger than chicken eggs, I'd say the math adds up that they'd be duck eggs. Hell, might even have been goose eggs.
@@TheNickleChick people used goose eggs? did that affect the taste of the recipe in any way? Or do all the eggs taste the same and it's just the size difference?
I don't speak French, but I think I might have the answer to your measurement issues, Ann. So the standardization of measurement units was something that only happened after the French Revolution in the 1790s. It was done to prevent the widespread abuse of systems of measurement, which allowed the ruling class to extract more wealth from everyone else. It wasn't very well implemented, but it was a good idea, which is why by 1860, a group of scientists from Britain got together and established the Imperial system of measurement that we know today. But before that, a French inch (or pouce) was equivalent to about 2.71 centimetres. The Imperial inch used today is about 2.54 centimetres. Since Napoleon's chief pastry chef started out as poor and was thus likely uneducated, he was probably still operating on the old French system when he wrote this recipe! I haven't done all the math because I don't have the recipe, and generally operate on the metric system, but you could try try substituting all the numerical quantities with the pre-Revolution French values for inches, ounces and pounds, if you're curious.
Sadly, they tried to use metric measurements when this was first written in 1811. Napoleon went back to imperial units to appease the masses in about 1812, but the measurements were fairly similar to modern day imperial units (although he did base them on metric). Units were wildly different in different regions of France before any form of standardisation. Chances are, the units used here are fairly arbitrary and there's probably little hope of reconstructing them.
The pastry is similar to a very old Swiss Christmas pastry/cookie made with honey and pressed into decorative molds before baking. It is very hard and is not bitten, but rather sucked on. The enzymes in the saliva convert the starch to sugar in the mouth and it tastes sweeter so than if it were nibbled or chewed. It also lasted a long time. A true treat, especially in winter and times of hardship.
@@internetsuchtixd747 Do you mean Tirggel ? I love those! Other traditional cookies are called (Basler) Läckerli. They are a bit like Cantucci mixed with Lebkuchen /Gingerbread.
It took her two and a half days to make this with modern appliances, imagine how long it would actually take done in the original way. I would really like to see Ann make a recipe (an easier one) with the tools of the time and then tools of today and see what the difference is. Because some things can massively affect how things turn out - kneading the dough by hand and in a mixer result in massively different end results. I would be very interested in the actual history part of it too. Like when was this made, some history associated with the food stuff.
Anyone making a cake for a head of state would have multiple kitchen staff to do the slicing and beating and washing of dishes, but the multiple rounds of oven time can’t be shortened no matter how many helpers you have
Sounds like Mrs. Crocombe! That TH-cam channel takes you into a Victorian kitchen and uses the authentic Victorian instruments found in the kitchens of those recipes! It would be amazing if Ann and Mrs. Crocombe had a crossover. 😆💕
You should do "I modernize a wedding cake from 200 years ago. " I think that would be rlly cool and you would have some great ideas on how to make this wedding cake siper cool but also preserving the ideas of people a long time ago!
Her at the beginning: this is gonna be fun I can’t wait I’m so excited Her in the middle: what have I gotten myself into Her at the end: I’m dead inside and will never bake anything again
I don't know why this had me laughing for 4 solid minutes straight!!!!🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂 Must be the lack of human contact outside my family combined with this TH-cam rabbit hole fall.
Does any one else find her voice so soothing and amazing. I’ll just listen to her while I’m eating, brushing my teeth, or right before I go to bed. It’s so comforting like a sound hug
Yes it took me 2.5 DAYS to make this one for you ... if you enjoyed this episode, do me a favour & hit that LIKE button so the youtube robots know 😍 PS. watch until the end to see us EAT this insane cake with friends!!! 💕
Beautiful as always! PS, just a bit of history: the French measured things a bit differently in Napoleon's time. He was reported to be 5'2" by French measurements, but was actually closer to 5'7". Of course, you've now found out the measurement differences! :)
oh wow, that might be where my problem was with all the measurements!! I will have to look it up online & see if there's any more information. Thanks melmicsim 😀
I was in tears when the reveal happened. It was so beautiful and so much work and he started out as an orphan who became the Kings chef. I am so impressed and love how you are keeping his hard work and memory alive.
My hat's off to you, Ann, to tackle this wedding cake on a video without a 'practice run'. As to the recipe's inaccurate measurements, the gentleman may have had a MEAN STREAK in him, and *purposefully* gave the wrong numbers so that no one else could replicate this 'masterpiece'. He didn't know how smart, brave, and determined YOU would be when you tackled 'his' masterpiece 200 years in the future. Brava, brava, Ann!
haha, yes i was beginning to wonder the same thing Sherry! There's a lot of people saying that there's a differences in measurements between French & English, but that should only affect the overall size ... it should still be in proportion with itself. So perhaps he was a bit of a scoundrel after all 😉
When my pain levels are so high I can’t really function, I come back and watch this over and over, along with several of the other old recipe videos. It’s just so soothing when my nerves are fried. (I have very severe chronic pain-CRPS and autoimmune issues- so pain is my norm, but sometimes it reaches a point where I can’t function reasonably.)
Ah. Yes, hello. Nice to see you as I am doing the exact same frickin' thing. I'm sorry that things suck to this level for you, but it is nice to sometimes feel less alone in the suckage.
Omg I have this also! Very strange that 3 of us suffer from the same disease and watched the same video for some light relief,get it girls we don't have to let this beat us
@@Quesoquantum - CRPS is thankfully quite rare. The best way to understand that is that there’s two people with MS for every one of us. Which is good as CRPS is the most painful disease known, so I’m glad so few of us deal with it. (Though maybe if more people had it, there’d actually be research done on it and we’d have real treatments… But alas, it was first discovered and named during the American Civil War yet we’re just finally looking into the first ever treatment for it. It only works for new onset patients, though it’s a miracle for many new onset patients. It’s an IV drug that’s only approved in a few countries and it was found by accident.)
I bet there were only two people who did this cake: Napoleon's pastry chef, and you. Like, wow. #MindBlown P.S.: Just imagined Gordon Ramsay attempting this. XD XD XD
I must say, between the all the calculations and work put into making this masterpiece and the vast information from the comments, I am just gobsmacked! What a brilliant video!!! Tale a wee bow, Ann!
It's been 200 years Measurements have changed since then. So in reality, neither person is wrong. It's just the timing. Great job with the translation of measurements
No, actually, we French adopted the metric system as part of the French revolution to try and and unite the country way before 1875. You can still admire a replica a the "first" meter glued into a wall in the street across the Senate. So way early before 1875, in a period of time stretching from 1790 to 1795 (we had multiple measurements systems that were already in place, such as la toise, le pouce, etc...). Any other measurement system was banned and illegal then... This reform, along with the mathematic works of Monsieur de Prony enabled France to adopt a modern land registry under Napoleon to successfully carry on our tradition of taxation 🙂 For a link emanating from the French government on the subject : www.gouvernement.fr/partage/9103-adoption-du-systeme-metrique-decimal
But at the time cooks were also known not to disclose the actual recipes in their whole to avoid competition. And it think it also got lost in the translation. At the time, it is interesting to remember this was likely to have been a pirate edition of the cookbook as there were no international bodies to enforce copyright laws which were pretty much nonexistent. So a guy probably ripped off a book, had someone (not a cook) translate it for a meager penny and voilà, you have strange measures.
“Can you imagine doing all of this over a wood-burning stove?” No! I can’t imagine doing any of this 😂 you’re amazing Ann 🧡 you work so hard on all your desserts.
Ariana Omnomnom the reason it may be off is due to at the time French inches and other measurements were different at the time, fun fact nopoleon was 5’7 which was above the average height when translated.
Ariana Omnomnom but that's the FUN of cooking from antique recipes! Lol Its like knitting from those terribke vauge antique patterns! HHHAAAARRRDD but SO fun!
I know this post is old and you probably wont see my comment but i just discovered your channel. This made my heart so happy, watching you prepare this wedding cake step by step with such care. I had such a smile on my face the whole time. Thank you for putting me in such a good frame of mind
I believe the weirdness with the length measurements has to do with the French measurement system 200 years ago actually being different from the standard English measuring system. It's where the disparity in Napoleon's height comes from. French inches were longer, which is why Napoleon's height is reported as 5'3" - when in actuality (using standard inches), he was more like 5'7" or 5'8". The actual ingredients being wrong just has to be poor measuring on the part of whoever wrote the recipe out.
Hi Ann, I woud love if you coud see this comment but I had a look at the original french version of this recipe and the measurments were exactly the same as the ones in the english version. The possibility for there being so much error in the calculations is because at that time france was going through a change in units from the old used in that area of france only unit to a universaly acceped unit, so maybe he was still using the old unit that had the same name. Or the second possibily as you said is that Carême coud not do maths. I hope this helped a little bit with understanding more about this recipe. Also I am a really big fan and love all of your creations.
Notice units were called the same way but weren't long identically, so they might have been mistakes at translation or something so.. That's actually why the English used to say Napoléon was small (just measurement's length mistake).
Carême, savvy pastry chef who's lived by his wits his whole life: "Pfft, as if I would simply put out my pastry secrets in a WRITTEN RECIPE like an IDIOT. No, I will write out a recipe with completely inaccurate proportions so no one can bake these things but me! Muahaha!" Ann Reardon, a woman from some random prison colony: "Hmh, let me just tweak this recipe a bit since it seems a bit off..." *Makes a functional and beautiful rendition of his signature wedding cake, in all likelihood improving on the original* Carême: "Sacré bleu!"
Ann,this is another spectacular job well done,you do cakes and creation so well,I love the result of this because this took time and look beautiful,I really enjoy watching your videos,love you♥♥
One of my coworkers mentioned this video (we're both historians) and because I'm obsessed with HTCT's debunking videos, I was SO excited to watch this! It's easily one of the best videos, and I'm so happy to see it! Thank you so much, Ann!
I like how you legitimately appreciate the work put into this even when the recipe went a little wrong. You never insulted the original cook but in fact praised him. You did a really good job!
These 200-year-old recipies are so cool. It is like a view to the past! After all, this kind of stuff was served in a palace😍 I wonder if in the French version the cook had used metric system, and if they have been changed to cups in translation, which may have messed up the measurements?
narapo actually the metric system did not exist yet by then. They all used local measurements which were strange random numbers so messing up up the measurements was very likely to happen.
@@MegaCatGirl13 Actually, the metric system was adopted by law in France in April 5th 1795 - so yes, it was certainly invented, though that does not mean everyone used it.
@@ThiccOgreBoi69 I... just can't with this. Why do I still sometimes reply to comments of this sort even though I know I don't want to do all the writing needed to unpack everything that doesn't make sense in conversations like this? Just never mind.
I just LOVE these 200 year old recipies, its like going back to how people used to make things and the history incorperated in it is amazing! Its amazing how you were able to do this Ann!
In Master Chef Spain one of the tests they repeat every year is the croquembouche (the pyramidal structure of cream filled puff pastries held together with caramel). It's become one of the traditional tests season after season. 🙂
Man, you deserve some kind of award or trophy for not only recalculating this recipe, but having the tenacity to follow through with it and execute it so perfectly!
That is just amazing, Ann. I'm floored that you would try this, but of course you would try this because you're just awesome. Thank you for posting. This was just as educational as it was amazing to watch!
Croquembouches, eclair or choux were more often filled with marmelade (apricot or red currant) than custard cream (crème pâtissière) even on late 19th century.
Omg that looks so freaking cool!!! Haha whoever designed that cake was just having a darn good time 😂 but for real what a QUEEN who else in the world would do this for their subscribers?? Love love loved how this turned out, can't believe how much TLC goes into your vids and this channel, and especially for this recipe!! Like holy moly, love your channel 💕💕💕
Pastry Chef in the 1800’s following this recipe. Finally I’m done beating these 4 eggs. *Reads more* Okay... 6 more eggs to beat stiff might as well I’m already this far. Finally done!!! *Reads more* “Beat 6 eggs till stiff” 1800’s pastry chef *flips table, starts a chicken farm/arm muscle training business*
Hi Ann. I am here after watching so many of your debunking videos and 200 year old recipes. I must say that I really admire your patience in everything you do. Your level of patience is so inspiring for a person like me who loses patience quite often. I really wish to meet you someday.
you should make a normal cake, preferably a berry sponge, 2-layer, maybe 3, and decorate it with the cakes a la duchesse, almond wafers, meringues and a small dome holding the cream on top. There. You have a cake that captures the extravagance of this recipe, but does not take so long to make.
Dear Ann, All I can say is WOW! That looks amazing! The way you know how to adjust the bad recipe is very impressive and I wish I knew how to cook like you! Thank you for spending so much time on this one!
Napoleon had the Foodstagram game on lock back in his day. Damn! Half of it may not be edible but it sure looked pretty! Amazing job as always Ann! 😍😍😍
Now I know what Jimmy Webb meant in the lyrics to _MacArthur Park_ : "I don't think that I can take it, 'cause it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that recipe again, oh no..."
I may steal the idea of making a sphere by baking two hemispheres of pastry (although I'd probably use puff paste, since it's surprisingly sturdy and not very heavy) and filling the sphere with a light whipped mousse. Hey, decorate the outside and you've got an Earth Day cake! (Go ahead and do that - I don't have nearly as much kitchen equipment as you do, and I also don't have a decent camera.)
The reason the measurements are wrong is because the French inch was longer than the one we know today. This also explains the confusion in Napoleon's height.
When you opened the cake at 19:00 the candle on the background makes it looks like the inside of the cake was lit on fire XD Now that woulda been a surprise.
I wonder if the incorrect translation was in the thickness. It seems weird that you wouldn't be able to eat this because it's so hard, yet you have to basically double the recipe to get what you need. If you roll it thinner, it looks like it would make a wafer layer similar in texture to a fortune cookie, or the inside of Ferrero Roche.
This is actually quite likely. Given the french are known for their pastries and food sculpture at the time was becoming again part of the pomp and circumstance of state affairs as with Marie Antoinette and other Aristocrats of the era before him... it's either meant to be an edible wafer-thin creation; difficult to make and therefore to be prized; OR... it's not about edibility and purely about the structural elegance of the dessert. Much like how roasted swan wasn't so much about the bird, but about the right to kill them. (In England, they belong to the crown.)
Seems like a few drops of water rather than extra eggs would have yielded a slightly softer, more edible pastry. And this is common with pastry, I wonder if certain details were left out or taken as a given at the time? It would be so cool to watch as the original was made back then. I agree about the thickness though.
This is AMAZING! I love this video and the idea that recipes like that are still preserved somehow. Thank you for doing this Ann, it's just a delight to see you baking and teaching us so much in one single video! THANK YOU
This was an emotional roller coaster for me to watch. I laughed.. I got surprised.. I got hungry.. I got tired (even only by watching).. I got excited and many more variety of emotions! I truly appreciate all the effort! Bravo!!👏👏
Even if he couldn't do math, from his perspective almost everything in here would have been counting, which he must have been able to do in order to learn to cook. Considering that he likely had to scale recipes all the time, either someone did the math for him or he learned enough to get by. The problem is probably that it's written in an archaic measure; it appears that the weights were smaller and the lengths longer, and there is no way to know how large the eggs were. The component parts of it may also not have been scaled. You will need A, B, C, D - here are the recipes for those. They may even have been preexisting recipes that were only published at this point and not particular to this centerpiece. Making enough batches to complete the picture, or any other shape you wished, may have been considered so obvious that it's inclusion was a waste of print.
swedish baking words 101:kaka/kakor=cake/cookie,tsk=tsp,msk=tbs,sked=spoon,tesked=teaspoon,plåt=bakingtray,hur man lagar det =how to cook that(also means how to fix that in swedish the word "laga" means both to cook and to and repair somthing),love youre video
Hi! I have heard that in measurements as inches and feets, in other years, it was longer or shorter than now, that throughout the years with the different kings and leaders. Maybe it applied in the measurements for pounds and onces. And maybe the recipe is correct for its time
You said you couldn't imagine those puff pastries with jam filling, but now that is all I can imagine. I'm going to make that, thanks for sharing the recipe.
I have a cookbook that is probably from 1945-1950, for the Dutch housewife. The recipe for puff pastry is the one I always use, because it is excelent. It suggests cream, custard or jam filling. How did yours turn out?
French units of measurement at that time in history were actually different than English units despite sharing the same name. That's why everyone thinks Napoleon was really short even though he was of average height for the time. 200 years ago, a French inch was actually longer than an English inch, so Napoleon was 5'3 in French inches but actually something like 5'7 in English inches. This is also probably why you had such a hard time with the recipe!
missmouse35 +
Ohh I didn't know that! That's interesting
Was thinking that, too. Made for an interesting episode tho 😂
Also ingredients like wheat changed immensly over the last few decades which probably influenced the dough as well.
Thank you! This is very interesting!
This is a :
History
Math
And baking lesson in one
Food is amazing at holding such cultural and historical significance.
well, baking is a science :)
I’ll be attempting to hide from the math part
and a french lesson too
@@LJinx3 chemistry
My grandma is French she made this cake once for Easter and she said the book's measurements weren't correct in French either.
Weird
Its possible he just didn't want anyone to make it so he purposefully fudged the measurements.
The recipe is correct, but eggs back then meant duck eggs and not chicken eggs, these are bigger. It's something I often come across when modern chefs cook old recipes. They don't look up what was "the usual" back then.
@@RoseDeNoire interesting, goes to show how much ingredients have changed over the years
maybe they're supposed to be in metres rather than inches. they just wouldn't fit together unless they were in metres which is why the cake is not really that big if you used inches. that and the translation of metric to whatever measurement system was used in Napoleonic-France just did not add up when re-translated back to English.
I bet the original chef would be so heckin pleased someone's still using his recipes. Especially because Ann is so impressed, I wish he could see this video.
Me, too. I wish he could see this! I wonder what his reaction would be.
he’d probably spend an hour insulting the english for the awful translation with terrible measurements.
@@andresvillanueva5421 What is this witchcraft?!?!?
@@AndreinneLawrence The instructions are wrong in french also! Its because back then, the inches the french used were different than the inches the english used :P
This is why it isn’t accurate. Or maybe the writer messed up the measurements on purpose! Thats the joy of history, we’ll never know ;P
AndreinneLawrence i imagine gordon ramsay reaction lmao
Me: I don’t need maths, I’m going to be a baker
Math teacher: *throws this video in my face*
Advanced baking is basically chemistry. I suggest watch Good Eats it explains a lot of the science and why measuring by weight is important.
@@MtnNerd Baking is a science, cooking is an art.
Give up on your dreams of becoming a baker
They say alchemy started in the kitchen. I would say the same goes for all modern sciences as well. Lord, this recipe looked exhausting.
@@JamieRobles1 hold up, are you saying that I'm an modern alchemist!?
This I wasn’t a cake recipe, it was a blueprint for cake construction 😂
More like Biscuit/Cookie Hybrid
Correct. Hahah 🤣🤣
Truee thoooo
I was your 1000th like
Yeah 😂😂
This reconfirmed my suspicion of pastry arts as not only chemistry but edible carpentry.
😂😂😂👏👏
edible architecture
Yeah, and it's EMPTY inside. What a waste.
It was back then, everything changed with a guy called Escoffier decades later. It was just spectacle and opulence, they even used gold, pearls, whole truffles and evem gems (basically stones!!!) in their food.
@@francescoanastasio2021 Knew about the stuffed peacocks (although I might be thinking of the 1600s). But pearls and gold in the food... ouch!
it's so amazing that someone like him, who was so ahead of his time, is still a marvel even today. It's so great that you've kept his memory alive, you did such an amazing job, really well done.
😊
gogoboot gogoboot yeah like srsly tho she put in soooo much effort two whole days worth just for a 19:42 minute long vid she did do a good job
@@HowToCookThat Long live the queen!! 👑 👑 💟💞
@@HowToCookThat You need to put ads on your channel! Your time isn't free!
@@HowToCookThat when is the next video
How many eggs should there be in this recipe?
Napoleon's Pastry Chef: *Yes*
I know this meme is overused but goodness gracious is there a lot of eggs in this.
@@theblackcatgirl7013 Consider eggs at that time were much smaller compared to today. You may easily cut the number of eggs in half. Thats still a lot but not that much.
@@simkoarl Those were my exact thoughts too
@ボイス I'm not sure. I don't know this book, but I was able to read a copy of an Austrian cook book from the 17th century, where all eggs in the recipe were supposed to be chicken eggs - as far as I remember.
Neuf oeufs
How amazing. These cakes was more like centerpieces to show how wealthy you where, sugar was very very expensive and this has A LOT of sugar
I'm just imagining the decadence of this cake back then. Everyone in fancy dress, bottles upon bottles of wine filling everyone's glasses. Ladies chat and dance with their husbands/betrothed, and suddenly, this massive cake is carted out before all. Jeez that would have been a sight.
Sounds like a painting, I bet it was beautiful.
I completely agree! I've never seen anything like it before!
And everyone trying to find faults with it. High society diesnt change.
Hey militant horse 🐎 and then Napoleon and his wife appear to marry as the bride 👰♀️ and groom 🤵 come to the ballroom
The Egg amount problems Is most likely because they were using duck eggs instead of chicken eggs. People used a wider variety of eggs in the past.
With them calling for two eggs and three yolks and her using something like 8 eggs, I'm thinking this cake probably used ostrich eggs originally. :D
@@K_Cummins haha, silly.
Duck eggs are about 2-3 times bigger than chicken eggs, I'd say the math adds up that they'd be duck eggs.
Hell, might even have been goose eggs.
@@TheNickleChick Chicken Eggs where bigger and more..rich too.
not to mention egg sizes vary quite a lot and I bet the imperial court had access to the biggest eggs
@@TheNickleChick people used goose eggs? did that affect the taste of the recipe in any way? Or do all the eggs taste the same and it's just the size difference?
I don't speak French, but I think I might have the answer to your measurement issues, Ann. So the standardization of measurement units was something that only happened after the French Revolution in the 1790s. It was done to prevent the widespread abuse of systems of measurement, which allowed the ruling class to extract more wealth from everyone else. It wasn't very well implemented, but it was a good idea, which is why by 1860, a group of scientists from Britain got together and established the Imperial system of measurement that we know today.
But before that, a French inch (or pouce) was equivalent to about 2.71 centimetres. The Imperial inch used today is about 2.54 centimetres. Since Napoleon's chief pastry chef started out as poor and was thus likely uneducated, he was probably still operating on the old French system when he wrote this recipe!
I haven't done all the math because I don't have the recipe, and generally operate on the metric system, but you could try try substituting all the numerical quantities with the pre-Revolution French values for inches, ounces and pounds, if you're curious.
Sadly, they tried to use metric measurements when this was first written in 1811. Napoleon went back to imperial units to appease the masses in about 1812, but the measurements were fairly similar to modern day imperial units (although he did base them on metric). Units were wildly different in different regions of France before any form of standardisation. Chances are, the units used here are fairly arbitrary and there's probably little hope of reconstructing them.
The pastry is similar to a very old Swiss Christmas pastry/cookie made with honey and pressed into decorative molds before baking. It is very hard and is not bitten, but rather sucked on. The enzymes in the saliva convert the starch to sugar in the mouth and it tastes sweeter so than if it were nibbled or chewed. It also lasted a long time. A true treat, especially in winter and times of hardship.
How are these cookies called? I'd love to find a recipe!
Astarte Translations they are called „Triggel“.
@@internetsuchtixd747 Do you mean Tirggel ? I love those! Other traditional cookies are called (Basler) Läckerli. They are a bit like Cantucci mixed with Lebkuchen /Gingerbread.
So it is like a rusk! 🤔
Nadia yeah... I always thought they were called Triggel oops 😬😂
It took her two and a half days to make this with modern appliances, imagine how long it would actually take done in the original way. I would really like to see Ann make a recipe (an easier one) with the tools of the time and then tools of today and see what the difference is. Because some things can massively affect how things turn out - kneading the dough by hand and in a mixer result in massively different end results. I would be very interested in the actual history part of it too. Like when was this made, some history associated with the food stuff.
Anyone making a cake for a head of state would have multiple kitchen staff to do the slicing and beating and washing of dishes, but the multiple rounds of oven time can’t be shortened no matter how many helpers you have
Sounds like Mrs. Crocombe! That TH-cam channel takes you into a Victorian kitchen and uses the authentic Victorian instruments found in the kitchens of those recipes! It would be amazing if Ann and Mrs. Crocombe had a crossover. 😆💕
They would be giant wood burning and using a dog for your rotisserie is illegal now.
@@alisaurus4224 They had multiple ovens too, and even special-purpose kitchens.
You would like the TH-cam channel Townsends. They use period ovens and tools to cook old recipes.
You should do "I modernize a wedding cake from 200 years ago. " I think that would be rlly cool and you would have some great ideas on how to make this wedding cake
siper cool but also preserving the ideas of people a long time ago!
Like making the death star top a crispy wafer like those hazelnut trifle, drizzled in a lovely modern glaze
Her at the beginning: this is gonna be fun I can’t wait I’m so excited
Her in the middle: what have I gotten myself into
Her at the end: I’m dead inside and will never bake anything again
I don't know why this had me laughing for 4 solid minutes straight!!!!🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
Must be the lack of human contact outside my family combined with this TH-cam rabbit hole fall.
Well no her at the end was the cream, strawberries and custard were the best parts of the cake
Thats me every time i bake something 🤣
Ur username is incredible
👉😎👉
💜💙💖
I feel like in the beginning she was more like
I'm a bit unsure and nervous but I can't wait!
Does any one else find her voice so soothing and amazing. I’ll just listen to her while I’m eating, brushing my teeth, or right before I go to bed. It’s so comforting like a sound hug
Yes it took me 2.5 DAYS to make this one for you ... if you enjoyed this episode, do me a favour & hit that LIKE button so the youtube robots know 😍 PS. watch until the end to see us EAT this insane cake with friends!!! 💕
wonderful work Ann, I liked it & shared it too!
How To Cook That It is AMAZING! love your channel
Beautiful as always! PS, just a bit of history: the French measured things a bit differently in Napoleon's time. He was reported to be 5'2" by French measurements, but was actually closer to 5'7". Of course, you've now found out the measurement differences! :)
THIS CAKE IS INSANE!!
oh wow, that might be where my problem was with all the measurements!! I will have to look it up online & see if there's any more information. Thanks melmicsim 😀
CAN SOMEONE JUST APPRECIATE THE EFFORT
I was in tears when the reveal happened. It was so beautiful and so much work and he started out as an orphan who became the Kings chef. I am so impressed and love how you are keeping his hard work and memory alive.
My hat's off to you, Ann, to tackle this wedding cake on a video without a 'practice run'.
As to the recipe's inaccurate measurements, the gentleman may have had a MEAN STREAK in him, and *purposefully* gave the wrong numbers so that no one else could replicate this 'masterpiece'. He didn't know how smart, brave, and determined YOU would be when you tackled 'his' masterpiece 200 years in the future.
Brava, brava, Ann!
haha, yes i was beginning to wonder the same thing Sherry! There's a lot of people saying that there's a differences in measurements between French & English, but that should only affect the overall size ... it should still be in proportion with itself. So perhaps he was a bit of a scoundrel after all 😉
ok ... so can I just say that this is REMARKABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks boys 💕
Thanks cute!😍
sacreblue!!
Agree!
Yes it is
When my pain levels are so high I can’t really function, I come back and watch this over and over, along with several of the other old recipe videos. It’s just so soothing when my nerves are fried. (I have very severe chronic pain-CRPS and autoimmune issues- so pain is my norm, but sometimes it reaches a point where I can’t function reasonably.)
Ah. Yes, hello. Nice to see you as I am doing the exact same frickin' thing.
I'm sorry that things suck to this level for you, but it is nice to sometimes feel less alone in the suckage.
I hope you both are having an easier time 💖
@@DeeMetria the fact that you two can relate when I've never heard of this baffles me. Hope you're doing ok
Omg I have this also! Very strange that 3 of us suffer from the same disease and watched the same video for some light relief,get it girls we don't have to let this beat us
@@Quesoquantum - CRPS is thankfully quite rare. The best way to understand that is that there’s two people with MS for every one of us. Which is good as CRPS is the most painful disease known, so I’m glad so few of us deal with it. (Though maybe if more people had it, there’d actually be research done on it and we’d have real treatments… But alas, it was first discovered and named during the American Civil War yet we’re just finally looking into the first ever treatment for it. It only works for new onset patients, though it’s a miracle for many new onset patients. It’s an IV drug that’s only approved in a few countries and it was found by accident.)
"They would have, of course, been doing this by hand. I, however, will use my stand mixer"
YEAH, SUCK IT HISTORY!
Welcome to how to burn that I'm Ann Read-
I bet there were only two people who did this cake: Napoleon's pastry chef, and you. Like, wow. #MindBlown
P.S.: Just imagined Gordon Ramsay attempting this. XD XD XD
RAAAWWWWWW
Well since this recipe is written in Ann's great great grandmother's recipe book, I _think_ some people around 200 years ago also made this
The there // Oh yeah, forgot about that. You're right.
Gordon Ramsay would probably agree that some of the units may have been incorrectly converted.
Origami Lover I was thinking the same thing. Maybe that's why the numbers were off... he never thought someone would attempt it!
I must say, between the all the calculations and work put into making this masterpiece and the vast information from the comments, I am just gobsmacked! What a brilliant video!!! Tale a wee bow, Ann!
It's been 200 years
Measurements have changed since then.
So in reality, neither person is wrong. It's just the timing.
Great job with the translation of measurements
Napoleon died (1820s) before the meter convention (1875) so that's probably why the units don't match
No, actually, we French adopted the metric system as part of the French revolution to try and and unite the country way before 1875. You can still admire a replica a the "first" meter glued into a wall in the street across the Senate. So way early before 1875, in a period of time stretching from 1790 to 1795 (we had multiple measurements systems that were already in place, such as la toise, le pouce, etc...). Any other measurement system was banned and illegal then...
This reform, along with the mathematic works of Monsieur de Prony enabled France to adopt a modern land registry under Napoleon to successfully carry on our tradition of taxation 🙂
For a link emanating from the French government on the subject : www.gouvernement.fr/partage/9103-adoption-du-systeme-metrique-decimal
But at the time cooks were also known not to disclose the actual recipes in their whole to avoid competition.
And it think it also got lost in the translation. At the time, it is interesting to remember this was likely to have been a pirate edition of the cookbook as there were no international bodies to enforce copyright laws which were pretty much nonexistent. So a guy probably ripped off a book, had someone (not a cook) translate it for a meager penny and voilà, you have strange measures.
“Can you imagine doing all of this over a wood-burning stove?”
No! I can’t imagine doing any of this 😂 you’re amazing Ann 🧡 you work so hard on all your desserts.
This recipe sounds like an absolute nightmare to do lol with the off measurements and everything
oh it was pretty hard! Harder than i thought when i started 😱😱😱
How To Cook That I would probably give up after the first or second blunder, your perseverance payed off!!
Ariana Omnomnom the reason it may be off is due to at the time French inches and other measurements were different at the time, fun fact nopoleon was 5’7 which was above the average height when translated.
Ariana Omnomnom but that's the FUN of cooking from antique recipes! Lol
Its like knitting from those terribke vauge antique patterns! HHHAAAARRRDD but SO fun!
I know this post is old and you probably wont see my comment but i just discovered your channel. This made my heart so happy, watching you prepare this wedding cake step by step with such care. I had such a smile on my face the whole time. Thank you for putting me in such a good frame of mind
Ann is a LEGEND! She can somehow bake this well, along with being able to do all of that complicated math that I do NOT understand any of.
I believe the weirdness with the length measurements has to do with the French measurement system 200 years ago actually being different from the standard English measuring system. It's where the disparity in Napoleon's height comes from. French inches were longer, which is why Napoleon's height is reported as 5'3" - when in actuality (using standard inches), he was more like 5'7" or 5'8".
The actual ingredients being wrong just has to be poor measuring on the part of whoever wrote the recipe out.
Hi Ann, I woud love if you coud see this comment but I had a look at the original french version of this recipe and the measurments were exactly the same as the ones in the english version. The possibility for there being so much error in the calculations is because at that time france was going through a change in units from the old used in that area of france only unit to a universaly acceped unit, so maybe he was still using the old unit that had the same name. Or the second possibily as you said is that Carême coud not do maths. I hope this helped a little bit with understanding more about this recipe. Also I am a really big fan and love all of your creations.
cristian cov
Possibly he eyeballed the measurements while making it and then guessed it out while writing the recipe.
@@Shazianne *hangs head* I do that all the time
Notice units were called the same way but weren't long identically, so they might have been mistakes at translation or something so..
That's actually why the English used to say Napoléon was small (just measurement's length mistake).
Maybe French use duck eggs which are much bigger than chicken eggs.
Carême, savvy pastry chef who's lived by his wits his whole life: "Pfft, as if I would simply put out my pastry secrets in a WRITTEN RECIPE like an IDIOT. No, I will write out a recipe with completely inaccurate proportions so no one can bake these things but me! Muahaha!"
Ann Reardon, a woman from some random prison colony: "Hmh, let me just tweak this recipe a bit since it seems a bit off..." *Makes a functional and beautiful rendition of his signature wedding cake, in all likelihood improving on the original*
Carême: "Sacré bleu!"
Ann,this is another spectacular job well done,you do cakes and creation so well,I love the result of this because this took time and look beautiful,I really enjoy watching your videos,love you♥♥
thank you
habibi786 live_love_laugh you spelt anne wrong.
It's anne not ann
leigh louise gardner everyone spelt it wrong too
It's actually Ann for my name 😀
How To Cook That than you,that's what I wanted to know because I always spelt your name as Ann,thx for replying to me
If anyone can make this wedding cake it's Ann
Even if it takes 2.5 days to make!
💕
One of my coworkers mentioned this video (we're both historians) and because I'm obsessed with HTCT's debunking videos, I was SO excited to watch this! It's easily one of the best videos, and I'm so happy to see it! Thank you so much, Ann!
See? cooking is science and science is math!
and math is evil
YEA!!!!!
I love when I get to the point where I can just eyeball things and know it’s enough
Cooking is math😍
And math is reading, ohno all the subjects are working with math WHY DO U HATE ME SO MUCH SCHOOL
WOW! This is truly remarkable Ann!! What a huge effort, thank you so much!
I like how you legitimately appreciate the work put into this even when the recipe went a little wrong. You never insulted the original cook but in fact praised him. You did a really good job!
These 200-year-old recipies are so cool. It is like a view to the past! After all, this kind of stuff was served in a palace😍 I wonder if in the French version the cook had used metric system, and if they have been changed to cups in translation, which may have messed up the measurements?
narapo actually the metric system did not exist yet by then. They all used local measurements which were strange random numbers so messing up up the measurements was very likely to happen.
MegaCatGirl13 ooh cool!
@@MegaCatGirl13 Actually, the metric system was adopted by law in France in April 5th 1795 - so yes, it was certainly invented, though that does not mean everyone used it.
This should be retitled, HOW TO DO MATH!!
True, lol
practical maths/ applied maths
“Napoleon’s bakers couldn’t math (absolute proof!)”
Brett Shearer ikr
@@Noblebird02 Not to forget, chemists.
Title correction-
"I spent two days correcting a 200 year old recipe cause their measurements were wack"
No cause it was in old French measurements
@@dagoosetm3299 bruh it was a joke
@@ThiccOgreBoi69 We get that it was a joke, but you can still make that joke without being aware of what the problem with the measurements was.
@@grmpf i think everyone knew it was old french measurements considering she was making a very old recipe
@@ThiccOgreBoi69 I... just can't with this. Why do I still sometimes reply to comments of this sort even though I know I don't want to do all the writing needed to unpack everything that doesn't make sense in conversations like this? Just never mind.
LOL I WASN’T EXPECTING THIS WOW! BEAUTIFUL!!!
How did you not expect it? It was in the thumbnail
I just LOVE these 200 year old recipies, its like going back to how people used to make things and the history incorperated in it is amazing! Its amazing how you were able to do this Ann!
Imagine this as the dish for a Master Chef Pressure Test
In Master Chef Spain one of the tests they repeat every year is the croquembouche (the pyramidal structure of cream filled puff pastries held together with caramel). It's become one of the traditional tests season after season. 🙂
Given how inaccurate and vague the recipe is, it would be perfect for the great British baking show technical challenge dish.
why is it called a wedding cake
*WhEn It HaS nO cAkE*
Because it’s French.
I don't know what they're supposed to call it other than a "cake"
@@lorraineadormonicus Terrifying
this was around 200 years ago, stuff wasn't the same back then, so that is probably why.
Lol
And here I am failing at making cupcakes... This looks amazing ❤❤
😋
Man, you deserve some kind of award or trophy for not only recalculating this recipe, but having the tenacity to follow through with it and execute it so perfectly!
If you remember, why don't you remake YOUR wedding cake? Did you make your wedding cake?
That is just amazing, Ann. I'm floored that you would try this, but of course you would try this because you're just awesome. Thank you for posting. This was just as educational as it was amazing to watch!
Snow Leopard what you're actually going to try make this?
The pandemic broke me. Saw this in 2020 and thought it was a corona cake 🤦🏻♀️
August 2021 and same
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 oh boy
July 2022 and the covid virus was the first thing that came to mind for me, too…
That's too bad. I think it's a cool design. I wouldn't let anything get in the way of that for me.
@@user-gu9yq5sj7cbro shut up 🤫
Those hemispheres look like Daleks. "EXTERMINATE....this recipe" 😂
So I wasn't the only one O_O
I new I wasn't alone in the world
Huzzah!! A woman of culture!!
YESS!!!! Another 200 year old recipe!
😋
Me: interested in baking
*sees all the math*
Me: aiight imma head out
Croquembouches, eclair or choux were more often filled with marmelade (apricot or red currant) than custard cream (crème pâtissière) even on late 19th century.
she mentions that, i think she just preferred custard
Omg that looks so freaking cool!!! Haha whoever designed that cake was just having a darn good time 😂 but for real what a QUEEN who else in the world would do this for their subscribers?? Love love loved how this turned out, can't believe how much TLC goes into your vids and this channel, and especially for this recipe!! Like holy moly, love your channel 💕💕💕
"French wedding cake"
(Chapter 3 out of _The Architect's Manual_ )
Pastry Chef in the 1800’s following this recipe. Finally I’m done beating these 4 eggs.
*Reads more*
Okay... 6 more eggs to beat stiff might as well I’m already this far.
Finally done!!!
*Reads more*
“Beat 6 eggs till stiff”
1800’s pastry chef *flips table, starts a chicken farm/arm muscle training business*
Weird much?
Haahha
And to make it worse, someone on anither comment was translating it from French, and apparently the original called for many, many, many more eggs.
Lol
I remember seeing in a very old recipe book;
"Beat egg whites to the exhaustion of 2 servants"
Always think of it when I make meringues!😂
This is beautiful plz do more out of the 200 year old cookbook
thanks Jo
Hi Ann. I am here after watching so many of your debunking videos and 200 year old recipes. I must say that I really admire your patience in everything you do. Your level of patience is so inspiring for a person like me who loses patience quite often. I really wish to meet you someday.
You should make an easier more updated version of this recipe to make at home that doesn't take two days and is nicer and or easier to eat
you should make a normal cake, preferably a berry sponge, 2-layer, maybe 3, and decorate it with the cakes a la duchesse, almond wafers, meringues and a small dome holding the cream on top. There. You have a cake that captures the extravagance of this recipe, but does not take so long to make.
Yes please!
Theres not even any cake in that wedding cake, it just looks like a bunch of granola bars😂
I think your voice fits these old timey recipes so perfect!
I love it! I really dislike Napoleon but I am history nerd... I love it!
Pink bunny omg same
As one nerd to another... can you explain why you hate him?:)
Lol! Why do you hate Napoleon??
Napoleon was the greatest person ever.
Pink bunny if you dislike him so much it just proves that you’re not a nerd at all...
This is some Napoleonic Era version of Zumbo! I would love to see some more 200 year old recipes!
Dear Ann,
All I can say is WOW! That looks amazing!
The way you know how to adjust the bad recipe is very impressive and I wish I knew how to cook like you!
Thank you for spending so much time on this one!
Thanks. I've actually got a new French one coming very soon. I'm just putting the finishing touches on it this week :)
Napoleon had the Foodstagram game on lock back in his day. Damn! Half of it may not be edible but it sure looked pretty! Amazing job as always Ann! 😍😍😍
I LOVE this 200 year old recipe series!!! It's sooooo interesting and fun at the same time! This cake looks beyond amazing Ann! Très bien! 😍💖👍🏻
thanks so much 😊💕
I actually sent this video to my math teacher because this is the first thing to inspire me to think positively about math in months!
Now I know what Jimmy Webb meant in the lyrics to _MacArthur Park_ : "I don't think that I can take it, 'cause it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that recipe again, oh no..."
ABSOLUTELY! I liked the end result but never again!
I may steal the idea of making a sphere by baking two hemispheres of pastry (although I'd probably use puff paste, since it's surprisingly sturdy and not very heavy) and filling the sphere with a light whipped mousse. Hey, decorate the outside and you've got an Earth Day cake! (Go ahead and do that - I don't have nearly as much kitchen equipment as you do, and I also don't have a decent camera.)
whenever she says “clear” she means “light” because of how the recipe was translated
Ah, oui! claire = light (by my memory of French class, not to mention "Au claire de la lune" = "by the light of the moon")
Ann is a litteral QUEEN
You're so amazing you're a mum, you can cook, bake, do science, maths, drawing and history WHAT CANT YOU DO
The reason the measurements are wrong is because the French inch was longer than the one we know today. This also explains the confusion in Napoleon's height.
Thanks for all the work you put into your channel, Ann! Your dedication is evident and that you care about your audience. Glad I found you!
When you opened the cake at 19:00 the candle on the background makes it looks like the inside of the cake was lit on fire XD Now that woulda been a surprise.
haha fireball cake
I wonder if the incorrect translation was in the thickness. It seems weird that you wouldn't be able to eat this because it's so hard, yet you have to basically double the recipe to get what you need. If you roll it thinner, it looks like it would make a wafer layer similar in texture to a fortune cookie, or the inside of Ferrero Roche.
This is actually quite likely. Given the french are known for their pastries and food sculpture at the time was becoming again part of the pomp and circumstance of state affairs as with Marie Antoinette and other Aristocrats of the era before him... it's either meant to be an edible wafer-thin creation; difficult to make and therefore to be prized; OR... it's not about edibility and purely about the structural elegance of the dessert. Much like how roasted swan wasn't so much about the bird, but about the right to kill them. (In England, they belong to the crown.)
Seems like a few drops of water rather than extra eggs would have yielded a slightly softer, more edible pastry.
And this is common with pastry, I wonder if certain details were left out or taken as a given at the time?
It would be so cool to watch as the original was made back then.
I agree about the thickness though.
@@bezantler23 The pastry isn't supposed to be eaten though, it's more just there for the other stuff to go on top.
@@superiorduck2105 The recipe states it is to be eaten. So most likely the original was much different in texture and thickness.
Thank you for this time travel baking video. I love how you presented your work at the end, sharing with your loved ones. You touched my heart.
I love all your baking creations, I love baking!!💕💕
Holy cow, that's a lot of sugar. I had to take extra insulin just to watch the video. hehheh
This is AMAZING!
I love this video and the idea that recipes like that are still preserved somehow.
Thank you for doing this Ann, it's just a delight to see you baking and teaching us so much in one single video! THANK YOU
When she started doing the math I think my brain fried
Those kids just ate the cake meant for one of the greatest kings we've seen. Long live technology!
I dont think Napoleon was King of France
@@thisisahumanlol8255 bruh ann legit said in the video he was. Also google exists
@@EthanMeatan he was the EMPEROR, pretty big difference if you ask me.
This was an emotional roller coaster for me to watch. I laughed.. I got surprised.. I got hungry.. I got tired (even only by watching).. I got excited and many more variety of emotions!
I truly appreciate all the effort! Bravo!!👏👏
Amazing! This is truly sensational Ann.
The cake looks like the energy-producing enzyme, ATP synthase ;)
You are and always will be my favourite TH-camr ! Great fresh content and you are so hardworking ! 👏👏👏
The end product is so cool looking! It's amazing how people could do that even without any of our modern stuff
Even if he couldn't do math, from his perspective almost everything in here would have been counting, which he must have been able to do in order to learn to cook. Considering that he likely had to scale recipes all the time, either someone did the math for him or he learned enough to get by. The problem is probably that it's written in an archaic measure; it appears that the weights were smaller and the lengths longer, and there is no way to know how large the eggs were. The component parts of it may also not have been scaled. You will need A, B, C, D - here are the recipes for those. They may even have been preexisting recipes that were only published at this point and not particular to this centerpiece. Making enough batches to complete the picture, or any other shape you wished, may have been considered so obvious that it's inclusion was a waste of print.
Ann Reardon, the Queen of baking! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Done!!! Ilysm I made so many homemade desserts for my family and they loved it. Thanks so much for teaching me
❤️
swedish baking words 101:kaka/kakor=cake/cookie,tsk=tsp,msk=tbs,sked=spoon,tesked=teaspoon,plåt=bakingtray,hur man lagar det =how to cook that(also means how to fix that in swedish the word "laga" means both to cook and to and repair somthing),love youre video
Everyone’s reaction was so satisfying. Especially nice to have that response after all that work!
Hi! I have heard that in measurements as inches and feets, in other years, it was longer or shorter than now, that throughout the years with the different kings and leaders. Maybe it applied in the measurements for pounds and onces. And maybe the recipe is correct for its time
You said you couldn't imagine those puff pastries with jam filling, but now that is all I can imagine. I'm going to make that, thanks for sharing the recipe.
I have a cookbook that is probably from 1945-1950, for the Dutch housewife. The recipe for puff pastry is the one I always use, because it is excelent. It suggests cream, custard or jam filling. How did yours turn out?
I know me too. I was thinking it would almost be like a jelly donut.
Six years later and this content is still completely amazing and relevant! Amazing job as always Ann!
I can't believe I got a heart from Ann! Excuse while I fan girl for a moment!!! 🥰💖
Still one of my favourite of Anne’s 200 year bakes.