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Croquembouche
Invented by French pastry chef, Antoine Careme, the word croquembouche means “crunch in the mouth” and is traditionally served as a celebration cake for weddings or Christmas.
(serves 6)
80g butter, in blocks
1 cup water
1 cup cake flour
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Filling
½ cup cream, whipped
½ cup Christmas cake crumbles (optional)
1T brandy
100g marscapone, softened
To assemble
125g white chocolate, melted
2 cups sugar
Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Bring butter and water to the boil, add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously.
Cook until it forms a ball. When cool, beat in the eggs one at a time. Pipe 1T size mounds on a greased baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes Using a piping bag, pipe 1T size mounds on a greased baking tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until puffed up and golden. Turn off oven, remove the puffs, pierce each with a skewer to allow steam to escape and immediately return to the oven to dry out for 15 minutes. Once cooled, dip the tops into the melted white chocolate.
Prepare the filling by folding the cream, cake (if using) and brandy into marscapone. Cut puffs in half and fill. Prepare a caramel by melting the sugar boiling until brown. Dip the bases of the puffs in the caramel and arrange in a tower. Decorate with spun sugar and icing sugar.
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