The Mighty Croquembouche!

The stuff of both legends and dentists' nightmares, the croquembouche has risen to popularity over the last couple of years and is one of those deserts you can take to a party and know you have a free pass to look smugly satisfied with yourself for the rest of the evening.

A little baby croquembouche! Definitely 'rustic'...

Traditionally served as a celebratory cake in France, this tower of pastry and custard is actually really easy to make and doesn't require any fancy skills or gadgets, all you need is a stack of filled profiteroles and some sugar!

To make a croquembouche  you first need a whole stack of crispy profiteroles. I always use this recipe for my choux pastries but you will need to multiply this recipe to make enough to form a decent tower. For a small croquembouche around 30cm tall (to serve around 10-15 people) I would recommend multiplying it by 1.5 but for larger gatherings I would triple or even quadruple it. It will all depend on how big you pipe your pasties, how many you want to serve etc.

I almost always fill my profiteroles with a creme patisserie so I will stick the recipe for that and a basic caramel at the bottom of this post!


So, once you have your pastries cooked and filled there are two ways you can go about forming your tower:

1. Using a Croquembouch Cone  

This would be the perfect time to bust out that croquembouche cone you got last Christmas but        which has spent its' days lurking in the back of the cupboard (what other time is there??). All you    need to do is dip your filled profiteroles in some warm caramel and use this as a glue to stick them around the cone until it is completely covered, starting from the base and working your way upwards.

You can find these cones at almost any kitchen supply store these days or easily on line though unless you are planning on busting out a pastry tower every other weekend it seems like a bit of a space-consuming investment.

The alternative? Make your own disposable cone! Simply get yourself some baking paper and fold it into a cone shape. Tape it in place and  place it upside down (so the opening is facing upwards) inside a wide vase or something else which will help support it. Take your caramel-dipped profiteroles use them to fill the inside of the cone. Make sure the last few that you put in sit evenly to form a nice flat base for your tower. No-one likes a wobbly croquembouche! The caramel will set very quickly and then you simply need to flip your cone over so its standing upright and peel of the baking paper. Voila!  

You could also reinforce your DIY cone with some cardboard and stick the profiteroles around the outside a la` the traditional cone process. For a visual demo of this check out this video.  

2. Freehand It!

 If your wanting that more organic or "rustic" look (a.k.a 'messy but in a sort of art deco way')  you can always go freehand. Make your bottom layer by creating a circle of profiteroles glued together with caramel and slowly add additional circular layers on top, making each new layer smaller to that you end up with just a singular profiterole on the very top. The shape won't be quite as neat and perfect as if you had used a cone but it will look glorious all the same! 

 

Sounds pretty easy right? That's because it is!

 
But what if your not the biggest caramel fan?

Are you destined to live a life devoid of croquembouche glory?

Absolutely not! 


Presenting the less golden but equally delicious second-cousin of the croquembouche, the CHOCEMBOUCHE!

The Chocembouche! (patent pending ;) )

Simply replace the caramel you would normally use with melted chocolate and use this to glue your tower together. You can even make little chocolate decorations to pretty up the whole affair rather than using spun sugar! Which brings us to...







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Since you went to all the trouble of baking, filling and stacking your profiteroles (and possibly suffering 3rd degree caramel burns in the process!) you want to add a little extra bling to bring the whole thing together right? 

Of course you do! 

The traditional and possibly most impressive way to do this is to create some spun sugar and swirl it around the outside of your bouche. 

The simplest way to do this is to have a saucepan of warm caramel on hand and use a fork or teaspoon dipped in the caramel to drizzle it over the tower from a bit of a height, flicking your wrist as you go so that you end up with fine sugar strands rather than big blobs of caramel.  

Another way is to lay out a long sheet of baking paper, dip a fork into your caramel and move it back and forward over the paper to form a whole lot of long, thin threads of caramel. Quickly, before the sugar cools and hardens, pick up the caramel (careful not to burn yourself!) and drape it around your tower like a lovely winter scarf.


Of course if your making a chocembouche you can swap a caramel scarf for a delicious drizzling of more chocolate instead!




Aside from a draping of caramel or a drizzle of chocolate, there are a huge number of other ways to decorate your croquembouche!

Why not stick on some sugar almonds, chocolate shapes, fondant butterflies or stars or even some edible flowers grown right in your own backyard (my personal favourite!).  
    

 

 So, there you have it! Making a croquembouche really is incredibly simple and there are a hundred and one different ways you can put your own spin on it to make a truly unique desert! 

Below I have listed the recipes I used for my caramel and also my profiterole filling, but you could really fill them with whatever you like! 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic  Caramel

3 cups caster sugar 
1 cup water 
1/4 cup liquid glucose 


Put all ingredients into a saucepan over med-high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and continue cooking until it turns a darm amber colour. 

Immediately remove from heat and use before it cools (if it cools to much simply reheat on the stove until soft again)
 

 

Creme Patissiere

4 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
25 plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
350ml milk (whole fat)



Whisk the yolks and sugar until light in colour and thick then add the flour, whisking to incorporate.

Bring the milk to the boil in a saucepan (or microwave) and then slowly pour into the egg/sugar mix, whisking continually to make sure the eggs don't scramble. 

Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook over med-low heat, whisking constantly to prevent the mixture sticking to the bottom until the mixture starts to boil. Continue cooking and whisking for a further two minutes until the mixture is thick and remove from the heat.

Stir in the vanilla and pour the mixture into a heatproof bowl and cover with clingfilm (so it is actually in contact with the custard) to prevent a skin forming. Refrigerate until completely cool. 


To fill profiteroles: Put the creme patisserie into a piping bag was 1/2 cm wide tip and use a knife to poke a hole in the base of each profiterole. Pipe the custard into the profiterole.  
 

What Choux Lookin' At?

 

 

"The fine arts are five in number, namely: painting, sculpture, poetry, music, and architecture, the principal branch of the latter being pastry." Antonin Carême (Marie-Antoine Carême) (1783-1833)

 

 

 

 

Corny titles aside, there is something rather magnificent about a perfectly crafted choux pastry. 

Crisp yet soft.

Buttery yet not oily. 

But most importantly, it can be used to create a delicious vessel for any number of creams, custards and assorted other fillings!

Probably most famous for the eclairs and profiteroles seen bursting from patisseries and bakeries around the western world, this pastry is actually quite simple to make and can be whipped up in a jiffy for a spur of the moment afternoon tea or used to create a head-turning croqumbouche centrepiece! All you need are some kitchen essentials such as eggs and flour and whatever you decide to fill them - most recently I just used some jam and cream I had on hand with finger-lickingly good results!

With a basic raspberry jam and cream filling these little pasties are fit for the fanciest high tea or a simple accompanage to a cup of tea!

As with most pastries, everyone has their preferred recipes and tricks when it comes to its making and baking choux, this being my old reliable I always have on standby. It hasn't failed me yet and with any luck will give you the perfect pastry as well! 

Basic Choux Pastry

 

Makes around 10 large profiteroles or 10 small eclairs

 

1/3 cup Water

40g Butter

50g Plain Flour

2 Eggs

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper
2. Melt the butter  in a medium sized saucepan and then add the water, heating until it just comes to the boil *
3. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together into a ball. Cook over a low heat for a further 2 minutes  and then remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly
4. In a small bowl lightly whisk one of the eggs and add to the cooked flour mixture, beating with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and shiny **
5. Fit a large piping bag with a large round tip and use it to pipe the pastry mixture onto the prepared baking tray in whatever shape you choose.
6. Whisk the remaining egg and brush onto the piped pastry, then bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is a light golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap on their bottoms
7. Turn the oven off and pierce each pastry with a skewer, returning to the off oven for a further 15 minutes and then remove and set aside to cool completely 

** Notes **

 * As the water heats it loses some of its volume through evaporation. To counter this I use water I have just boiled in the kettle so it takes less time to come to the boil once added to the pan and therefore loses less volume to evaporation

** At first the mixture may look like it has split and isn't coming together but don't lose hope! Keep beating it with your spoon and eventually it will come together, I promise!

Enjoy! xo