In 1998, baking guru Dorie Greenspan was working with famed French pastry chef Pierre Hermé on his first cookbook to be published in English, Desserts by Pierre Hermé. Among the oh-so-French lemony crepes and pear-chocolate tarts, Hermé penned a recipe for a chewy, streusel-topped almond cake with cherries and mousse featuring a tangy, decidedly American ingredient: cream cheese. He called it “Philadelphia almond cake,” because—for most French people to this day—cream cheese is synonymous with the well-known Kraft brand name.
“He knew about American cream cheese having traveled here, so he wanted to make something with it for the book,” Greenspan recalls to me in a recent interview.
Social Plugin