The name croquembouche probably doesn’t ring a bell right away. But the word ‘profiteroles’ does. A croquembouche is a cone-shaped cake made up of profiteroles. The profiteroles are filled with cream or cream. The cake is then built up by means of caramel. Finally, the cake is decorated with caramel threads or with chocolate. It is originally a French dessert, but nowadays we see it more and more. Especially for weddings, it is a good alternative to the wedding cake. In this article you will find the recipe to make a beautiful and above all delicious croquembouche yourself.
Necessities
For the profiteroles:
- 400 grams of water
- 160 grams of butter
- salt
- 280 grams of flour (self-rising and sifted)
- 5 to 8 eggs
- 4 dl full cream
- 170 grams of granulated sugar
For the caramel:
- 250 grams of sugar
- 2 tablespoons
You also need a piece of cardboard, baking paper and tape or staples.
How to make the profiteroles
Start by preheating the oven to 225 ° C. Also make sure you have covered the baking tray with baking paper. Now boil the water together with the butter and the salt until the butter is completely dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the flour. You now get a dough ball. Keep stirring until the dough ball comes off the pan. Now put it aside to cool down. Now you have to add the eggs. Use your gut to determine how many eggs you need. The dough should still be firm but just falls off a spoon. Make balls of the dough on the baking tray. How big you make the buns also determines how big the final profiteroles will be. You can do this with a spoon or with a piping bag.
Bake the profiteroles at 225 ° C. Depending on the size, between 10 and 15 minutes. Do not open the oven door! After the baking time, leave them in the oven for 5-10 minutes before opening the oven door. Let the profiteroles cool down further and beat the cream in the meantime. When the profiteroles have cooled completely, you can fill them with cream with a piping bag. You make a hole in the profiterole with the tip of the piping bag and then pipe the cream in it.
Before you continue with something, first make a cone from the cardboard. You will need these to build your croquembouche. You cannot do this after you have made the caramel, otherwise it will cool down. Secure the cone with adhesive tape or staples and then place it on baking paper on a flat surface.
How do you make the caramel?
First prepare a bowl with cold water and a bowl with warm water. Then mix the sugar with the water in a pan. Put the pan on the fire and let the sugar melt until it is 173 ° C. You measure this with a thermometer that you keep in the pan. Remove the caramel from the heat. First immerse the pan in cold water. This is to stop the cooking process. Then dip the pan in warm water so that the caramel remains liquid. Make sure the water is very warm, almost boiling.
How do you build the croquembouche?
Finally, you need to build up the croquembouche. Dip the puffs half, with the side, in the caramel. Stick another profiterole against the caramel-smeared side. You do this around the cone. Repeat this until you have filled the entire cone. Finally, you can decorate it. You can do this with chocolate or you can pull threads from the remaining caramel. Beware: the caramel is hot! you can burn yourself seriously here. So proceed with caution.