There are so many recipes that I want to make out of Sherry Yard’s latest book, Desserts by the Yard, but the picture of the tower of torn Kaiserschmarren atop an almost unbearable riches of strawberries won me over first. It also helped that strawberries are coming into their own at the markets these days (and stone fruit — cherries, apriums, peaches, and nectarines are already popping up at the farmers markets!), and I’ve been dying to do a little dessert project. Here’s the recipe.

As Yard tells us, “Kaiserschmarren is a large souffled pancake. The name means, literally, ‘the Emperor’s little nothing.’” Yard flavors hers with creme fraiche, fromage blanc, rum, and poached raisins; creme fraiche, btw, seems to be one of her go-to ingredients, it’s all throughout the book. When I found a store that carried both creme fraiche and fromage blanc, I was shocked to find them at a combined price of $12.58. I vaguely remembered a class in the early days of culinary school when we made a variety of fresh soft cheeses using ingredients like buttermilk and lemons, so instead I bought a little of both, for about $1.49. I already had leftover cream and milk from caramel experiments at home, so I felt pretty covered.

And I have to say, as much fun as it was to make the pancake, making the creme fraiche and fromage blanc were just absolutely thrilling… Really, they’re like magic! Even the most jaded kitchen hand couldn’t help but feel the giddy pleasure of having them come together (and with such slight effort… they practically form by power of suggestion). And the timing was perfect — since it was Tuesday, I had a day for them to come together before I bought strawberries at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market.

For the creme fraiche, I turned to page 5 of Chez Panisse Desserts. It’s the third recipe in the book, and all you do is heat cream, add a touch of buttermilk, and put it in a warm place for 12-24 hrs before refrigerating. And it sets up firm, just like what you buy! It lasts for a week, and you can keep it going ad infinitum by adding some to fresh cream and repeating the process.

The fromage blanc is only slightly more labor intensive — it involves straining — and is really fun to see come together. I used this recipe (x.25), from Emeril of all people. Again, just gently heat up the ingredients, this time to 175F while following the wonderfully exact instruction to “stir only twice, making 2 strokes each time” and appreciating the casual references to curds and whey, as if you encounter them everyday. As it heats, you see it separate…

And when you strain it, it begins to firm up.

I figured that it would firm up even more in the fridge (since it’s so fatty and it was already this thick when slightly warm), so I didn’t strain it to death. I think it turned out just right.

Both were very good, with an edge of buttermilk flavor that mellows out with a little time. I especially liked the fromage blanc, just pure freshness.

I have to admit that not everyone was so taken with it was I was. When I showed them to Chad, it was all he could do to avert his eyes while chanting quickly, “that’s great, that’s great, ok, great, really, that’s great.” Something about their live cultures and my ability to harness them so easily freaked him out. Oh, well, better view for me.

So, I went to the Market this morning, and got my strawberries. I generally like Camarosas, b/c I get the best strawberry flavor from them; other varieties have been too blandly sweet, watery, or sour for me.

Capturing the flavor of strawberries can be a bit difficult; there’s something elusive about their flavor, especially when you try to work with them. So, Yard’s strawberry sauce recipe was very interesting — she infuses the strawberries into a syrup of fresh orange juice, water, sugar, star anise and grand marnier; you can actually see the color leave the strawberries as the sauce becomes more and more vibrant. You then strain it and add in quartered berries over heat. The result is a flavorful, yet nicely balanced sauce. A touch sweet (and I decreased the sugar a little), but matches well with less sweet components.

I also poached some raisins, but didn’t use her recipe b/c I didn’t have all the ingredients or desire to make a lot… so just warmed in rum, wine, and water, to plump them.

And finally, I whipped together the souffled pancake. I kind of miss using the technique of folding egg whites into a base; for some reason, I just enjoy folding. Maybe because there’s a slight challenge to it — to be quick but gentle and thorough — and because it’s more active than turning the knob of a mixer. It’s like a race you can’t lose once you know how to do it right.

Mine baked up a little differently than specified. Yard says that it should be pudding-like in the center when you take it out, but mine seemed slightly firm in the center, so I took it out… and it was drier than pudding, but moister than a finished cake for most of the center of the cake.

Anyway, it deflated after a couple seconds (like most egg-rich batters), and it tasted very nice as a finished dessert — tangy from the creme fraiche and fromage blanc, and a hint of rum, with the dreamy hit of the strawberry sauce. Yard says to finish with confectioners sugar, but I put a dollop of whipped cream on top instead, which I can’t recommend enough — the cool cream on top of the hot pancake and warm strawberry sauce makes this an idealized version of a late night breakfast dish at a diner with friends. I’m afraid that my pic isn’t as glorious as the pic in the book (darn that raggedy piece on the side and my rush to eat it warm), but this is what it looked like…

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