Honoré de Balzac, the famous French writer, did not have much success in writing in his youth. First he wrote poems, then plays, tragedies,
historical novels and stories full of creepy and mysterious events for which it is believed that it would attract readers, but – in vain. Nobody wanted them, so the young writer lived in misery and often thought of suicide. It started to get a little better when he met Mrs. Berni, beautiful, educated and rich woman. He was 23 and she was 45, but that didn’t bother them. They became lovers and the relationship lasted for 10 years, until he fell in love with the Duchess of Abrontes, also older than him. Mrs. Berni helped Balzac pay back his debts, but she also encouraged him, gave useful advice, and inspired him with her preserved charms. She brightened his life. For the first time, Balzac was truly happy and with all his strength he threw himself into literary work. He sat and wrote for hours, and in one letter to his sister he claims that he sleeps only two or three hours a day. While writing, he does not see anything around him, he doesn’t hear, he just constantly pours himself countless coffees and cups of tea.
This leads Mrs. Berni to be worried, she insists that he eat something along with coffee and tea.
Most of the time, Balzak refuses, but when she offers him a cup of coffee and piece of a new cake, the young writer is delighted and asks for that “Bernie cake” he regularly requests it while working,and his wish is granted. Of course, over time, he got bored of the cake, as did Mrs. Berni, after all. Nevertheless when the love disappeared, the two remained good friends until her death, which deeply saddened Balzac.
Berni cake original recipe:
Beat 4 large eggs and 150 grams of sugar well with a mixer. Then
mix two spoons of warm water, salt on the tip of a knife, grated lemon peel,
a bag of vanilla sugar, 100 grams each of flour and starch and half a bag of powder
for pastry. Mix everything lightly, then pour this mass into a well-greased
cake mold sprinkled with flour, with the diameter about 26 cm. Bake in the oven
heated at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes. Cool the baked cake, take it out
from the mold, cut in half and cover with filling. Put yes for the filling
boil half a liter of milk, then while stirring, pour in 3 egg yolks beaten with
120 grams of flour and a bag of vanilla. Steam, with constant stirring, cook
until the cream thickens, then cool it and mix it with 125 g of butter.
Cover the filled cake with a glaze made from 125 g of sugar
powder, 50 grams of butter and a spoonful of rum or vinaigrette, which should be good
whisk Sprinkle the sides of the cake with toasted and ground or chopped.
