Today, my friend Ali and I made the ever-terrifying and awe-inspiring Croquembouche… successfully!
It took nigh five hours and a lot of hard work and care, but the sense of satisfaction was worth it. I am not going to write out the recipe, as we found the one we followed slightly flawed… the recipe we used had milk in the choux pastry, and Laurent, the chef who runs our pastry course said he has never in all his years come across a recipe for choux pastry with milk in it until now! So, I’d suggest googling a recipe for choux pastry.
In theory the croquembouche is simple: make dozens of profiteroles (we made about 150), fill them with crème pâtissière, dip them in caramel toffee and stick together inside a cone!
Profiteroles as far as the eye can see…
Cone of silence… not really… You leave them in the cone until it is cool to the touch. Make sure you have greased the cone well!
Ta da! Now to decorate…
We raided a neighbour’s jasmine bush to give the croquembouche a delicate, spring vibe. Once we had finished it, we began with the photo shoots! Just as well, for a few hours later, after I had left and Ali had woken up from his nap (croquembouching, if I am to create my own verb, is rather exhausting) it had fallen over… Ha ha.
