Croquembouche
Ingredients
Colourful craquelin
- 100g soft butter
- 140g sugar
- 130g plain flour
- Gel colour of your choice
Choux Pastry Puffs
- 250g milk
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 200g unsalted butter
- 130g flour
- 100g of eggs
Vanilla Custard
- 500ml milk
- 1tsp vanilla bean paste / 1 vanilla pod
- 6 egg yolks
- 74g sugar
- 25g plain flour
- 20g cornflour
Caramel
Method
- Craquelin - Mix the butter, sugar and colour together in a bowl until smooth.
- Add the flour and mix well.
- Roll the mixture between two pieces of baking paper until it's the same thickness as a pound coin.
- Place in the fridge until it's firm.
- Choux Pastry - Heat the oven to 180C.
- Put the milk, sugar, salt and butter in a saucepan over a low heat.
- Once it starts to boil, mix in the flour.
- Continue to cook on a low heat. The lower layer should be loose if it's cooked for long enough.
- Place the mixture in a mixing bowl and leave to cool for 2 minutes.
- With the paddle attachment, turn the mixer on for 1 minute, then add 1 egg at a time.
- The mixture should be smooth and loose but not too loose that you can't pipe it.
- Place the mixture in a piping bag.
- Pipe rounds on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Cut rounds from the craquelin to cover the top of the pastry rounds.
- Place in the oven at 180C for 20-25 minutes.
- When they're ready they should have doubled in size. Open the oven door and let them cool in the oven to make sure they've dried.
- Custard - Heat the milk in a saucepan over a low heat with the vanilla.
- Place the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.
- Pour some of the hot milk over the egg mixture slowly and whisk.
- Place the custard back in the saucepan and cook slowly until it's thick.
- Place in a bowl and cover with cling film until it has cooled. Make sure the cling film sits right on top of the custard to stop skin from forming.
- When you're ready to use the custard, whisk and place in a piping bag.
- Make a hole in each pastry puff and fill with custard.
- Caramel - Bring the sugar to the boil over a medium heat until it starts to change to a caramel colour. Don't leave it too long as it can burn easily.
- Assembly - To assemble the croquembouche, place a cone on a plate or board.
- Dip one of the puffs in the caramel and attach to the bottom of the cone.
- Do the same thing all the way around the cone.
- Et voila - a croquembouche that shouldn't collapse!