Piece Montée or Croquembouche

Seems like it was just yesterday when I was scratching my head at the Suet Steamed Puddings that Daring Bakers had us cooking up for the April challenge.  Time has passed so quickly!  I’m glad to say that this month’s challenge was a no-brainer for me. I love working with caramelized sugar.  Plus, I get really excited over French pastries; making them, eating them, looking at them- I love it all.  I can see why the French use this as a traditional wedding cake.  It’s delicious and so elegant!

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of   Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a Piece Montée, or Croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I decided to assemble my Piece Montée in a favorite milk glass goblet.  I love milk glass and I’m always scouring vintage shops and antique stores to find pieces for my collection.  I keep them on a shelf and it’s a shame I don’t use them more often.

(See that little blob of pastry cream?  It’s trying to escape!)

I really like the recipe that was provided by the host of this challenge.  I thought I’d be up to my elbows in profiteroles, but the recipe made about 30 which was very manageable. Our small household can consume that amount without being too wasteful.  The pastry cream (I made vanilla) is delicious and it fills all the puffs perfectly, with none left over.  I love when that happens!

Important note:  The finished croquembouche should be consumed the same day it is assembled. Especially if you live in a humid climate. The caramelized sugar will begin to break down quickly! 

Croquembouche                  [click for printable version] 

(copied directly from the DB forum)     

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)

3/4 cup (175 ml.) water

6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter

1/4 Tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.

As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.  Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.  Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)

1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar

1 large egg

2 large egg yolks

2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter

1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.  Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.  Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.  Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.  To fill pastry puffs, make a small slit in the sides of the choux and pipe in pastry creme.  Gently press back together and set aside.

Hard Caramel Glaze

1 cup (225 g.) sugar

½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:

You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up.

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate.

Note: Candy curls were made with left-over hard caramel glaze that I wrapped around the handle of a spoon.  

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Jessica
Jessica
13 years ago

Stunning photos! Beautiful caramel glaze!

LittleRed
LittleRed
13 years ago

What a simply beautiful job! Love your photos:)

Unknown
Unknown
13 years ago

wow, the sugar curl is awesome.

Finla
Finla
13 years ago

Love that pictures and yeah i know what you mean, but i thing this challenge was so good especially the effect it had when you brought to the table.

Suz
Suz
13 years ago

Absolutely beautiful! I adore your caramel curls.

Sue
Sue
13 years ago

Love your presentation in the goblet, and your caramelized sugar is perfection! Love the curls especially! Beautifully done!

Unknown
Unknown
13 years ago

Your croquembouche looks so elegant in that lovely milk glass! Love the sugar curls, too.

Holly
Holly
13 years ago

Love the curls!! Yours looks awesome in the milk glass:)

Anonymous
Anonymous
13 years ago

SO beautiful. I love how you can take something relatively simple or common (cream puffs) and make them into something like magic. So pretty!

Gala
Gala
13 years ago

Love that milk glass goblet! I would never turn down a glass full of puffs!

FOODESSA
FOODESSA
13 years ago

Excellent execution of a slightly complex masterpiece. Love the candy curls ;o)
Flavourful wishes, Claudia

Anonymous
Anonymous
13 years ago

this looks like heaven! seriously.

tobias cooks!
tobias cooks!
13 years ago

a work of art. great job.

Ingrid_3Bs
Ingrid_3Bs
13 years ago

Beautiful job! As usual Miss Heather you nailed this challenge.

Hope you have a safe and happy holiday weekend!
~ingrid

Lindsey @ Hot Polka Dot
Lindsey @ Hot Polka Dot
13 years ago

That looks amazing! You really are a food artist. I love that white dish by the way. Is it Fenton?

Kimber
Kimber
13 years ago

Heather,

This looks gorgeous!!! Of all the other daring baker's post, those pics are truly my fave! Work of art…and you've inspired me to join the daring bakers! EEP!

Swee San
Swee San
13 years ago

the caramel curls are absolutely gorgeous.. lovely pictures 🙂

Anonymous
Anonymous
13 years ago

I like the shape of your choux. How did you pipe them? Just in one dollop?

Sara
Sara
13 years ago

So dramatic! I love it!! 🙂

Tadeja
Tadeja
13 years ago

Excellent work and extraordinary beautiful pictures!

oneordinaryday
oneordinaryday
13 years ago

What a gorgeous presentation! Great job!

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
13 years ago

Hi all!

To Lindsey, the goblet is not Fenton. It's an old piece and it has an impression on the bottom that I can't read clearly. I do love Fenton glass though! I have two pieces of the hobnail that I just adore!

To heatknivesandchemicals – As I was piping my choux, I found myself using the same technique I use while piping macarons. I piped in one dollop but instead of pulling up to form peaks I was dragging my pastry tip to the side of the rounds. It was unintentional. A habit!

cookies and cups
cookies and cups
13 years ago

I would never even attempt this…you are an ar-teest 🙂

Linda Vandermeer McCubbin
Linda Vandermeer McCubbin
13 years ago

I love how you have stacked them up in that milk glass stand and your corkscrews look perfect.

Trees
Trees
13 years ago

OH YUM!

Paris Pâtisseries
Paris Pâtisseries
13 years ago

Lovely work with the choux and the sugar. I can think of a lot of these I've seen in Paris that would look amateurish compared to yours. The only problem with it is that I don't have it in front of me to eat right now 😉

Blvck
Blvck
13 years ago

Hi, I tried your recipe but I have a problem with the choux. I followed your recipe EXACTLY but somehow after adding the eggs, my choux batter is just like pancake batter, thick and liquid. I was unable to pipe them out because the batter would just flow right out. Any advice on how to make the choux batter less liquid like? I've tried this twice and both times the batter turns liquid-like after adding the 3rd egg.

p/s: the cream turned out beautifully though. 🙂

Unknown
Unknown
10 years ago

I had the same challenge as Mishx… would love to hear your opinion on it.

Thanks!!!