Bavaria began as one of five principle duchies of Germany during the Middle Ages, ruled by the Agilofing family from 550-788 A.D. The cuisine of each duchy was different and thanks to this culinary marriage the food of Bavaria is varied, bold – the recipes vast and in culinary terms, a visit to Bavaria both tantalising and astounding and often far removed from the fashionable eating of today. Christianity found its way to Bavaria around the seventh and eighth century, via Scottish and Irish monks and later Charlemagne absorbed the duchy into his empire, bringing in even more influences to the bold Bavarian table. Over the next four hundred years, the title of duke passed through several families. Henry the Lion, of the House of Welf, founded the city of Munich, which would become the leading city of Bavaria. In 1180, Bavaria was given as a fief to the Wittelsbach family, who would rule until the end of WWI in 1918. This dish below, was created by their chefs around the 17th and early 18th century. The famous French chef Carême (1783-1833) includes a few recipes for this dessert in the early 18th century. The suffix crème in German speaking countries refers to this gelatin mould and Schokolatencreme, Weincreme and so on are all based on this. There are many variations, flavoured with chocolate, lemon, kirsch and so on. When the chefs returned to France and continued to make it, they called it Crème Bavaroise (Bavarian Cream).