 Puits d'amour | |
| Type | Pâtisserie |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | France |
| Region or state | Paris |
| Created by | Vincent De La Chapelle |
| Main ingredients | Puff pastry, butter, confectioners' sugar, jam or jelly |
| Variations | Pastry cream stuffing |
The Puits d'amour (pronounced [pɥi damuʁ]) is a French pâtisserie with a hollow center. The center is usually stuffed with redcurrant jelly or raspberry jam; a later variation replaced the jam with vanilla pastry cream. The surface of the cake is sprinkled with confectioners' sugar or covered with caramel.[1]
Etymology
[edit]Puits d'amour is a French expression carrying erotic connotations; it literally translates to 'well of love'.[1]
History
[edit]The first mention of the recipe appeared in Vincent De La Chapelle's 1735 recipe book Le cuisinier moderne (the modern cook).[2] La Chapelle presented two recipes for a gâteau de puits d’amour (puits d'amour cake) consisting of a large puff pastry vol-au-vent topped with a pastry handle and stuffed with cherries or redcurrant jelly, the ensemble was meant to resemble the bucket of a well. The other recipe is for the petits puits d’amour (small puits d'amour), a bouchée sized variant of the cake.[1][3] La Maison Stohrer, one of Paris' oldest patisseries, credits its founder Nicolas Stohrer, the exiled Polish king Stanislas pâtissier with creating the dessert.[4]
In the eighteenth century, the puits d'amour caused scandal because of its name and presentation which alludes to the female genitalia; nevertheless, it was very successful in the court of Louis XV's intimate dinners.[1]
Preparation
[edit]A puits d'amour is made up of layers of staggered rings of puff pastry placed on top of a pastry circle. An egg yolk can be used to help the dough rings to stick together. The finished pastry "wells" are baked until puffed and golden-brown and set to cool. They are then sprinkled with powdered sugar, raspberry jam or redcurrant jelly which is carefully spooned in the hollow center. In a later variation, the top is glazed with caramel icing and pastry cream is used as filling.[5][6][3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 "Il était une fois..." (in French). puitsdamour-biarritz.com. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ Chapelle, Vincent La (1733). The Modern Cook. p. 21.
- 1 2 Gouffé, Jules (1873). Le livre de patisserie. Paris: Hachette. p. 269.
- ↑ "About us – Stohrer" (in French). Archived from the original on 2025-11-07. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
- ↑ "Puits d'Amour". cooking.com. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
- ↑ "Puits d'amour à la confiture". Recettes. cuisine.larousse.fr. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- Briand (1750). Dictionnaire des alimens, vins et liqueurs: leurs qualite's, leurs effets, relativement aux différens âges, & aux différens tempéramens : avec la maniere de les apprêter, ancienne et moderne, suivant la méthode des plus habiles chefs-d'office & chefs de cuisine, de la cour, & de la ville. Ouvrage très-utile dans toutes les familles (in French). Gissey. p. 88.
