Food52
When I served Fane to a group of friends for the first time, it was unanimously voted the best dessert anyone had ever tasted. In the ensuing eleven years, though I’ve served it way too many times to remember, opinion has not changed. It is utterly divine—-the whole superior to the sum of the parts. But the parts aren’t bad either: vanilla Ice cream, pieces of white nougat or nut praline, whipped cream, chunks of meringue, and abundant chocolate shavings. Food for the gods. If you want, serve a pitcher of chocolate sauce on the side. I never say “no” to lily-gilding. My good friend Countess Cristina de Vogue was generous enough to share this recipe with me. She and her husband Patrice own and occupy Vaux-le-Vicomte, constructed in the seventeenth century and the model for Versailles, unquestionably one of the most illustrious chateaux in France. I was lucky enough to spend the last few nights of 2001 as their houseguest. All the food was spectacular - a special egg pasta laden with black truffles and foie gras, a whole poached salmon smothered in a kilo of osetra caviar, more osetra served on toast points before lunch and dinner - but for me the highpoint was a huge Fane, served with ice-cold glasses of champagne on New Year’s Eve just as the clock struck midnight. Once back in New York, I could not wait to see whether a fane consumed at my kitchen table would taste as good as one eaten in one of the world’s legendary dining rooms. It did. It actually tasted even better as I used coffee ice cream - a lifetime obsession— instead of vanilla. Experiment with your favorite ice cream to create a fane this New Year’s Eve. Neither you nor your guests will be sorry. A perfect way to ring in the new.
