Cake : A mounted piece is a preparation de pastry large size, erect in a very ornamental way, made for a meal ceremonial or a Party, which usually provides the theme of the decoration.
Today, the mounted piece, which is much rarer, remains de rigueur for weddings or baptisms.
The mounted piece was very popular in past centuries, especially in the Middle Ages, thanks to the " desserts which constituted real spectacles, with gigantic architectures and reconstituted animals, such as the peacock. But it was in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries that it enjoyed its greatest glory, with allegorical subjects. However, these lavish pieces were rarely edible and their function was primarily decorative.
Today, the mounted pieces are more modest, but combine the pleasure of the eyes with that of tasting. They appeal to the lowers of biscuit or génoise in nougat, cut or blown sugar, flowers, ribbons and leaves in drawn or spun sugar, baskets and baskets in braided sugar, pastillage, aigrettes and pompoms in spun sugar, crunchy, candied fruits, to dragees, with subjects in paste ofalmond, to chips in chocolate, etc. The simplest process consists of superimposing a pyramid of lowered of decreasing size, variously filled, glazed and decorated.
Classic mounted pieces, known as "à la French », are built on a metal portico with a central pivot, which makes it possible to superimpose trays supporting the biscuits or sponge cake decorated.
The "Spanish-style" pieces are made up of separately assembled elements, each tray being supported by columns that frame the entremets of the previous tray.
Le confectioner can nevertheless give free rein to his imagination, from various subjects, some of which have become classic since the heyday of mounted pieces, at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, in particular with Antonin Lent, past master in this art: the harp, the lyre, the world map, the Chinese pavilion, the ruin or the helmet, but also the cornucopia, the ship, the chapel, the bandstand, the waterfall, the carriage Louis XV, the dolphin on the rock, the gleaner's basket, the temple, the cart, etc. Today, it's the croquembouche (See Croquembouche) which remains the most common mounted piece (in cabbage or fruits frozen or macarons).
In the Paris region, the great specialist in mounted parts is the Cayeux house à Vitry-sur-Seine (department of Val de Marne), which manufactures excellent and magnificent mounted parts which are distributed or to be ordered on their site showpieces.
See as well Cake under Mouth slang.