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Merveilleux (cake)
The merveilleux (marvelous) is a small cake that originated in Belgium and is now found in France and some U.S. cities. It consists of a sandwich of two light meringues welded with whipped cream which has been covered with whipped cream and dusted with chocolate shavings. A candied cherry sometimes decorates the cake. The confectioner and chocolatier Pierre Marcolini developed his own version, as did the French confectioner Frédéric Vaucamps, and Etty Benhamou of Le Mervetty. Vaucamp named each of his variations using comparable adjectives: ''impensable'' (''unthinkable'') for coffee, ''excentrique'' (''eccentric'') for cherry, and ''magnifique'' (''magnificent'') for praline. He also used names derived from the association of the word ''merveilleux'' with French fashion of the late 18th century: sans-culotte for caramel. His ''incroyable'', which uses speculoos cream and white chocolate shavings, translates as ''unbelievable'' but is also a term paired with ''merveilleux' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merveilleux
The Incroyables (, "incredibles") and their female counterparts, the Merveilleuses (, "marvelous women"), were members of a fashionable aristocratic subculture in Paris during the French Directory (1795–1799). Whether as catharsis or in a need to reconnect with other survivors of the Reign of Terror, they greeted the new regime with an outbreak of luxury, decadence, and even silliness. They held hundreds of balls and started fashion trends in clothing and mannerisms that today seem exaggerated, affected, or even effete. They were also mockingly called "incoyable" or "meveilleuse", without the letter R, reflecting their upper class accent in which that letter was lightly pronounced, almost inaudibly. When this period ended, society took a more sober and modest turn. Members of the ruling classes were also among the movement's leading figures, and the group heavily influenced the politics, clothing, and arts of the period. They emerged from the ''muscadins'', a term for dandyish a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
