the other day i got a leaflet from patterson's (the newly reopened branch in the most beautiful mall in the world)... corquembouche... what a great "cake idea"! they charge $1.70 per profiterole... which is not too bad (if you compared to a novelty iced cake - several hundred bucks)
... hmmm, may be i can DIY...
before attempting a full croquembouche, i started off today by making profiteroles... choux pastry + creme patisserie... it was time consuming, but more managable than mud cake + fondant
here is what happened this morning...
i followed the gordan ramsay F word recipe for choux pastry:
low heat in pan with 125mL milk, 200mL water, 1 tsp castor sugar, 1/2 tsp salt until dissolved. then add 100g unsalted butter and brought to boil.
turned off heat and beat into pan 150g sifted plain flour until mixture was coming off on the side of the pan. let cooled.
when cooled, was beating in 4 (already lightly beaten) eggs.
was lumpy at first. kept beating, never detered.
kept beating, became smooth.
i got some ready made piping bags / nozzle.
very handy indeed.
folded the piping bag in half to allow spooning of choux mixture into bag.
4 dots on baking tray to "stick" the baking sheet.
the nozzle was too little... puny little mound.
got a knife to wack off tip of nozzle. much better!
didn't look v attractive with the peaks. dabbed my finger in water and softened those "peaks" b4 baking.
18-20 min at 200 celcius oven... mine was fan-forced
when they went in - pretty flat.
3/4 way through, able to see some height.
allowed to cool on wire rack
while the puffs were cooling down, i got onto the creme patisserie - a recipe on the cook and the chef with my own modifications: whisked 3 egg yolks and 80g castor sugar until pale yellow. then added 40G cornflour into it and kept beating.
in a saucepan there was 200mL milk + 300mL double cream (gotta use it cos i bought 2 big bottles) + a splash of vanilla extract brought to a boil. hot milk mixture was slowly poured into egg mixture while beating. all these were poured back into the saucepan and brought to "boiling" point while whisking madly (probably less arm pain if done with an electric mixer)
the result was a smooth, thick, creamy, jelly like custard.
the cooled puffs were waiting.
time for some piping - pretty messy and difficult actually. tip: to poke hole on each puff first, don't just use tip of nozzle to poke hole.
the piped puffs.
with white chocolate ganache on top.
i also made this Al foil board to present the puffs (to brign to friend's house).
a sprinkiling of icing sugar did hide all the flaws.
a plate for visiting friends.
another plate for friends coming over.
YUM!
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