A Harte Appetite: A saintly celebration with St. Honore-style cake

You know you're too old for Halloween when people compliment you on your John McCain mask and you're not wearing one. But with surveys indicating that two-thirds of adults will celebrate the holiday, the truth is you're never too old for Halloween.

Though many grown-ups this year will be wearing McCain masks -- and Barack Obama and Sarah Palin masks for that matter -- Halloween costumes have not always been political or even secular. Centuries ago they depicted patron saints. That's because Halloween is the eve of All Saints' Day.

Consequently, I go out for Halloween not as myself, though that's frightening enough, but as a saint -- a real disguise. Moreover, as befits a food writer, I always go as one of the patron saints of cooking, which include the following.

St. Macarius

St. Macarius started out as a candy merchant, sugarplums being one of his specialties. After converting to Christianity, he became a monk, gave up confections and went on a rather restricted diet. Indeed, his regimen would be enough to make even Jenny Craig flinch. For seven years he subsisted on nothing more than raw vegetables, water and an occasional crumb of bread. Nonetheless, his candy-making days are remembered fondly by confectioners, and he is their patron saint. A culinary society in Washington, D.C., now bears his name.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.comThe St. Honore cake is an assemblage of puff pastry, pate a choux, pastry cream and caramel. It was created to honor the patron saint of bakers.

St. Honore

St. Honore was the bishop of Amiens, France. After hearing he had been elevated to such a lofty position, his former nursemaid reportedly could not believe it. A baker, she announced she would not accept the news unless her peel, the shovel-like tool used to slide breads into the oven, put down roots and turned into a tree. Miraculously, when she placed it on the ground it did just that. No wonder the bakers of Paris established their guild in the church of St. Honore or that Louis XIV ordered them to annually observe his feast day. He is now their patron saint. The St. Honore cake, an assemblage of puff pastry, pate a choux, pastry cream and caramel, was created in his honor.

St. Lawrence

Some saints have only a tenuous relationship to the group for whom they are a patron. For example, St. Fiacre is the patron saint of taxi drivers merely because the first hansom cabs in Paris were hired outside the Hotel Saint-Fiacre. But St. Lawrence came by his patronage honestly. The patron saint of Chef de Rotisseurs, cooks responsible for roasting meats, he was himself grilled to death, telling his captors at one point, "Turn me over for I am cooked on this side." The Vatican displays his burnt head every year on his feast day.

Les Choux St. Honore

Gateau St. Honore is a triumphant preparation not to be attempted by timid pastry chefs. However, this St. Honore-style adaptation of the ubiquitous cream puff cake recipe found in Junior League cookbooks is a lot easier.

1 cup water

1 stick butter

1 cup flour

4 eggs

6 ounces cream cheese

2 2/3 cups milk

2 (3.5-ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1/4 cup caramel sundae syrup

Bring water and butter to a boil. Add flour. Reduce heat to low. Stir until dough forms a ball and leaves sides of pan. Beat in eggs one at a time. Form one cup of dough into small blobs and place on lightly greased baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Spread remaining dough on bottom and sides of an ungreased 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown and crisp -- the puffs for 20 to 25 minutes and the cake base for 35 to 40 minutes. Pierce puffs and cake to let out steam while cooling. Beat together cream cheese and milk until smooth. Add pudding mix. Beat until thickened. Fill each puff with mixture and spread remainder over cake shell. Beat cream and powdered sugar to soft peaks. Spread over cake. Arrange cream puffs around perimeter and drizzle with syrup.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699.