Friday Baking Project
Croquembouche

Croquembouche

Yield: 1 14-inch Croquembouche

# of Servings: 20 to 25

Ingredients:

3 recipes P¢te à Choux

2 recipes Pastry Cream

1 cup (8 fl oz) heavy cream

2 cups (14 oz / 397 g) sugar 
½ cup (4 fl oz) water
½ tsp cream of tartar

Special tools and equipment needed:

• One 14-inch high by 7-inch diameter Styrofoam cone, or heavy cardstock sheet rolled into the same size cone
• One 3-qt heavy bottom sauce pan 
• 21†disposable pastry bag
• Latex gloves

Pre-recipe preparations:

• You will need about 100 small puffs to assemble this size Croquembouche. 

Directions:

Making the puffs:  

1. Make the P¢te à Choux. 
2. Using a #6 Ateco tube, pipe out small cream puffs.
3. Bake at 425 °F for 15 minutes. Lower temp to 375 °F and bake until golden brown and firm, about 10 to 12 additional minutes.  
4. Let cool. They may be placed in Ziplock bags and frozen for up to 3 weeks ahead.

Make the Pastry Cream:

1. Make a double batch of the pastry cream. Let thoroughly cool in the refrigerator.
2. Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold into the pastry cream. Set aside in the refrigerator.

Assembling the Croquembouche:

1. If the puffs have been frozen, defrost and crisp in a 350 °F oven for 5 minutes, or until crisp. 
2. Poke a hole in the bottom of each puff with a chopstick.  
3. Prepare pastry bag with a small round pastry tube and fill with the cream mixture.’
4. Fill each puff with cream.
5. Wrap cone in foil and place on serving platter.
6. Make an amber colored caramel from the sugar, water and cream of tartar. Dip the pan in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking.
7. Using latex gloves on your hands to prevent sugar burns, dip the flat side of a puff in caramel and place it, caramel side down on the serving platter, against the cone. The cone is used as support. Do not attach the puffs to the cone.
8. Continue with additional puffs to form the bottom layer.
9. For the next layer, place the flat caramel side of each puff on top of a puff on the bottom layer. Continue in this manner for the 2^nd layer, and additional layers to fill the Croquembouche.
10. Place on buffet table and serve within 3 hours.

Optional spun caramel:

1. Prepare a spot on your countertop with foil or a silpat. 
2. Rewarm the remaining caramel until it is thin enough to drizzle and using two forks, form caramel threads on the foil or silpat. When cool enough to handle drape over the Croquembouche.