Croquembush is a profiterole cake. You will create it from round cream eclairs that are held together with caramel. If you want, then make unsweetened butter cream with salmon, and lay out the profiteroles not in the form of a tower, but give them the shape of a classic cake.
Profiteroles are small custard cakes with various fillings. From them you can create amazing cakes - snack bars and with sweet creams. Then the cakes are fastened together to form a dish of the desired shape.
"Croquembush" cake - history of origin
On the eve of the New Year, the theme of holiday dishes created in the form of a Christmas tree is very relevant. After all, it is this tree that we associate with our favorite holiday. The classic "Croquembush" has such a form - in the form of a high tower. The history of the appearance of this dish is interesting. According to legend, during the reign of the Prince of Wales in England, a French pastry chef prepared dishes for the wedding of a noble gentleman. Since he was an esthete, the specialist was jarred by how ugly they put the filled pies on the dish - in the form of a shapeless slide.
Then the pastry chef prepared caramel and glued the pastry with it so that it acquired a beautiful conical shape. This is how “Croquembush” appeared - a profiterole cake. Now in France, it is often served during a wedding, prepared for other significant events.
How to make choux pastry, bake cakes
Depending on for which celebration you are preparing a profiterole cake, there may be a lot or a moderate amount. To make custard cakes, from which a dessert is then formed, you need to take:
- 300 g flour;
- 6 or 7 eggs (depending on their size);
- 130 g of high-quality butter;
- 370 ml of water;
- 0.5 tsp salt.
- If you've ever made homemade eclairs, then you have an idea of the proportions for choux pastry. It's easy to cook, just pour water into a container, add salt and butter, cut into large pieces.
- This mass, stirring occasionally, is brought to a boil. Then you need to gradually add flour here and mix the dough intensively, keeping it on low heat. If the mass is brewed too quickly, you can temporarily move the container to another place, stir well so that there are no lumps, and then put it on a low heat, Here the dough will dry for a minute.
- Adding eggs will make the baked goods more fluffy. But you need to know one trick, they need to be put only in the cooled dough and one at a time. First, beat in the first egg, mix well with a wooden spatula or using kitchen appliances. When the custard flour mixture is smooth, add the second. This will continue to cook the choux pastry until all the eggs are gradually added.
- Brush a baking sheet with margarine or butter. Place the dough in a pastry bag and squeeze out balls that are slightly smaller than a walnut but larger than a quail egg. If you do not have such a device, then shape the cakes using a tablespoon dipped in water.
- Place the profiteroles at a distance of at least 5 cm from each other, as such choux pastry grows well during baking.
- Place the baking sheet in an oven preheated to 190 ° C and bake until the brownies have swollen and a delicious golden blush.
- Take out the baked goods, leave them on the baking sheet until they cool, or transfer them to a tray.
How to make cake cream - 2 recipes to choose from
If you used a classic recipe, then you need to make the cream. After all, it is from them that a delicious cream is created, which is called chantilly. Take:
- 500 ml of cream, 33% fat;
- 6 tbsp. l. icing sugar;
- cold water or ice.
Pour water into a large container or fill it halfway with ice. Pre-chill the cream and put it here in another container. Whisk this dairy product until crisp peaks. At the end of the cream preparation process, pour in the icing sugar in a thin stream and beat a little more.
An important condition for creating a Chantilly cream is to observe the golden mean. On the one hand, it should be thick enough so that it does not drip from the rim, and on the other hand, you cannot overdo it, otherwise the substance may turn into oil.
The second filling recipe is also interesting, but simpler. Plain custard will also be an excellent component of profiteroles. Take:
- 1 liter of milk;
- 4 eggs;
- 4 tbsp. l. flour;
- 110 g sugar;
- 180 g butter;
- some vanillin.
Put milk on fire. Beat eggs and sugar lightly, add flour and stir until smooth. Pour the boiled milk into this mass in a thin stream, stir vigorously. The cream should thicken. Put it to cool. Stir this substance periodically so that a foam does not form.
The step-by-step custard recipe is pretty simple. You will take the oil out of the refrigerator beforehand. Whisk it up. Now begin to put milk cream here in small portions, without ceasing to beat.
How to collect a cake from profiteroles
The most interesting and exciting moment is coming. After all, very soon you will have an amazing dessert.
Place the cream in a piping bag or syringe and fill the custard cakes with it. Now they need to be placed so that they create a cone shape. To do this, you can use such a foam shape, having previously wrapped it with parchment paper. If there is no such blank, then take a sheet of cardboard and form a cone out of it. In this case, the profiteroles will be added not outside, but inside this tower.
Combine them with caramel. To do it, take:
- 300 g granulated sugar;
- 100 g hot water;
- on the tip of a knife - citric acid;
- a small pinch of baking soda.
To prevent the caramel from sticking to the walls of the dishes, you need to cook in an aluminum pan or take a stainless steel container. Pour sugar here, fill it with hot water, cook until boiling over low heat. Then add citric acid. Boil the mixture until the caramel turns yellow. Then remove it from heat, add baking soda and stir.
Cool this mass slightly. Holding the top of the cake, dip it in the caramel. Gradually do with all the profiteroles in the same way and glue the blanks together to give them a silhouette of the tower using the shape. In the classic variation, the profiterole cake is decorated with caramel threads. Make them by dipping a slotted spoon or fork into the hot sugar syrup. When you pull any of these tools upwards, threads are formed. Decorate with them a profiterole cake.
If you are making a dessert for the New Year, then decorate Croquembush with white chocolate and small colored sweets. To do this, melt the chocolate in a water bath, pour it onto the surface of the cake tower. It will seem that the tree is covered with snow. Then create toys for this tree from small candies, beads, attaching them to still warm chocolate.
Other dessert options
If you need to make a profiterole cake in order to serve it not as a dessert, but as a snack dish, then you can make unsweetened cream. Guests will surely be delighted with the creamy salmon made with whipped cream, chopped fish and white flour sauce. From above, you will cover such a tower with dill branches so that it looks like a Christmas tree.
You can also make a cake out of profiteroles not in the form of a tower, but more modest. In this case, the prepared eclairs are fastened together with melted chocolate, hot caramel or butter cream.
Then they can be put in the usual round cake mold. But in any case, such a dish looks great, and its taste is simply irresistible!
