Gâteau Saint-Honoré

This is a challenging pastry and I hesitated a lot before diving into it. Challenging not because it’s very complicated but because it is composed of multiple smaller pastry challenges. It consists of a base of pâte feuilletée (puff pastry) topped with a ring of choux a la creme (cream puffs) that are dipped in a caramel coating prior to being placed on the base. The caramel is also used at the bottom of the puffs to glue them to the base. The center of the ring is then filled with crème pâtissière (pastry cream) lightened with beaten egg whites or whipped cream (I chose the whipped cream version).

It all started when I was deciding on a cake to make for my daughter’s birthday. I pre-selected 4 sophisticated cakes and I asked my husband which one he thought I should make. He looked at all of them and said « I am so ashamed, how can you make a simple cake when she made you an exquisite Black Forest and a Mille Feuilles using home made puff pastry! »

So I needed a bigger challenge, not that I wanted to compete with my daughter, but I suspect my husband had a secret agenda behind his comment (I mean, who else would benefit from a baking challenge between me and my daughter!)… So why is this cake challenging? It’s made of multiple elements each requiring a certain level of mastering in its own way :1) puff pastry for the cake base, 2) choux pastry, 3) pastry cream, 4) caramel, 5) wipped cream.

Above all, it requires a lot of time and, therefore, a flawless plan. I think I spent more time than I should have during the assembly and decoration. I am planning to make it again soon to improve on the steps that I haven’t done well. By the way, I bought a frozen pastry one day before and kept it in the fridge to slowly thaw. 

So here is how I planned and made this recipe:

In the morning: 2 hours

1. Make the choux pastry 
2. Bake the puff pastry and the choux 
3. Make the pastry cream 
4. Let everything cool

In the afternoon : 2 hours

1. Make the whipped cream 
2. Fill the choux 
3. Make the caramel 
4. Assemble and decorate

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (1/2 Lb), thawed
1 whole egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water (for the egg wash)

Choux pastry

1 cup water

1 cup sifted flour

½ cup unsalted butter cut into pieces

1 tablespoon sugar

1 pinch of salt

4 eggs

Crème pâtissière (pastry cream)

2 cups whole milk

¼ cup sugar

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 vanilla pod

2 tablespoons rum

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Crème Chantilly (Chantilly cream)

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  

Caramel 

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Tools :

A piping bag, stand mixer or hand mixer.

Directions

Making and baking the Cake base and Choux pastry

1. Puff Pastry base- Roll out the puff pastry to a ¼ in thick and cut a 9-10 in diameter circle using a pan or tart pan bottom. Prick the dough with a fork. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This will prevent the dough from shrinking too much during cooking.
2. Choux pastry- bring to a boil the milk, water, salt and butter in a saucepan.
3. Remove from heat and add 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously until a thin film forms on bottom and the dough leaves the sides of pan, about 2-3 minutes. It should form a ball.
4. Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and turn it on to cool down the dough. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well before each addition. The pastry should be smooth, shiny and firm, so before adding the last egg check it out, you may need to add only ½ egg. Note: this step can be done by hand. Just transfer the dough from the saucepan to a clean cold bowl and follow the same instructions.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
6. Remove the puff pastry from the fridge.
7. Scoop the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle 1/2" tip or a plastic bag with 1/2" cut diagonally from 1 corner. I used Ziploc bags, it worked well for me and I didn’t have any cleaning to do.
8. Pipe a string of choux pastry on the edge of the puff pastry circle, about 1/8 in from the edge (the choux ring will puff and expand).
9. With remaining choux pastry, pipe 1 1/2" diameter buns onto the parchment-lined sheet.
10. Lightly brush the pastry base and each choux bun with egg wash and bake in the middle shelf until puffy and golden for about 30-35 minutes. Turn the oven off and let them dry in the oven for another 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

Making the crème pâtissière (pastry cream)

1. Bring to a boil the milk and the vanilla pod cut lengthwise. I did it in the microwave but you can do it on the stove in a saucepan.
2. In a bowl whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. Add the flour and cornstarch and stir until well blended.
3. Gradually pour in the hot milk. Return to the saucepan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly until thick, about 2-3 minutes. Do not let the cream stick to the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from heat. Add the rum and whisk.
4. Stir in the coffee mixture in one bowl.
5. Cover both bowl with plastic wrap and press against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Transfer to the fridge to chill.

Filling the choux buns

1. Freeze the heavy cream 15 minutes.
2. Cut a small hole at the bottom of the choux buns with a small knife. Set aside.
3. Make Chantilly cream : whisk the cream with sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer to stiff peaks.
4. Fold in 1/4 of the Chantilly cream to the coffee pastry cream and 1/4 to the vanilla and rum pastry cream. Refrigerate the remaining cream.
5. Scoop the vanilla and rum cream in to a piping bag with a small diameter nozzle and fill half the choux buns and place on the baking sheet line with parchment paper. Fill the remaining choux buns with the coffee cream.
6. Make the caramel: Heat the water and sugar in a heavy-based pan until slightly golden (the temperature reaches 340°F). Dip base of pan into iced water for a couple of seconds to stop caramel from cooking.
7. Quickly and carefully, dip top of each choux into the caramel, and place coated side down on the parchement paper to flatten the surface. Note: if the caramel starts to set, place the pan over a bain-marie (hot water bath) to soften it.
8. Use remaining caramel to make decoration (heat it a little to soften if you need to)- put a pan line with parchment paper next to the caramel saucepan. Scoop up some caramel with a spoon or fork and drizzle on the pan in whatever shape you like and can do. I tried to make spirals, but ended up having lots of puddles glued to each others.

Assembling the cake

1. Dip the base of one bun into the hot caramel and place it on the choux paste ring. The caramel is used as glue.
2. Repeat the step above alternating between vanilla and rum cream choux and coffee choux.
3. Fill the centre of the cake with the remaining pastry cream.
4. Add more choux buns in the middle of the cake.
5. Pipe whipped cream rosettes between choux buns, and decorate with strawberries (or any colorful fruits) and the caramel decorations.

Quick and Easy Almond Cookies

These lemon flavoured cookies are to die for. Quick, easy and sooo delicious! And did I forget to say they're gluten-free and dairy-free? 

My mother used to be well known for her exquisite baking. In her time there were very few caterers, so family and friends would ask her to bake for them for various occasions,  particularly for weddings. She would always do it gladly and for free of course. I am talking about making hundreds of pieces, which would take hours to make, something I will never be able to do!
I combined 2 of her recipes to create this simple and quick one. It took me literally 1/2 hour to come up with 24 pieces.

They are just perfect for that late night cookie craving!

Makes 22-24 cookies.

Ingredients
2 cups almond meal
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 egg whites
Zest of 1 lemon

Decoration
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup almond slivers

Tools: food processor or hand mixer

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Mix the almond meal, sugar, egg whites and lemon zest in a food processor or using a hand mixer. The dough should be sticky.
3. Using 2 teaspoons, form small balls.
4. Roll them in the almond slivers then in the icing sugar.
5. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake around 15 minutes until slightly golden on the edges.
7. Try not to eat all of them at once!