Croquembouche

Kaylee Connelly
Four Elements
1.) Pâte à Choux 2.) Craquelin 3.) Pastry Cream 4.) Caramel
The Pastry Puffs Cookie meant Can be any flavor The glue that
Foundation of the to be put on Fills the hollow holds the
Croquembouche top of the interior of the tower together
Not too sweet, puffs puffs Adds
hollow on the Helps create a Adds sweetness decoration and
inside round, uniform visual
puff intrigue
Brief History
In the Middle Ages, wheat cakes were brought
in for weddings
This evolved into bringing sweet buns later
The sweet buns were stacked in a pyuramid
between the groom and the bride. The idea was
that the couple had to kiss eachother without
disrupting the cake mound. If they succeed,
this symbolizes prosperity are them.
In the late 1700s, French
pastry chef Antoine Careme stacked puffs and
coated it with frosting so it wouldn't fall
This became a prominent wedding cake in France
The Croquembouche is often served at weddings,
baptisms, and other special events
Recipe + Steps

Recipe created by Munchies

Croquembouche Recipe
(vice.com)
Took over 9 hours of prep and
baking
Created 70 puffs
 Pastry Cream
Ingredients Steps
Combine the milk, vanilla seeds of the
2 Cups Whole Milk bean, and salt in a saucepan with a sturdy
bottom. Let it sit on medium-low heat until
Vanilla Bean the mixture comes to a simmer.
Kosher Salt In a separate bowl, combine the sugar,
cornstarch, and yolks. Whisk vigorously
½ Sugar until the mixture is pale and thick.
¼ Cup Cornstarch Stream only half of the milk mixture into
the bowl and whisk. (This step is vital so
5 Large Egg Yolks the eggs will slowly raise in temperature)
6 Tbs. Butter Stream the mixture back into the saucepan
and continue whisking until mixture
4 Ounces Semisweet thickens like pudding.
Chocolate Strain the mixture into a heatproof bowl and
add the butter in tablespoons, whisking
constanly.
After butter is melted, add the chocolate
and combine. The heat from the cream will
melt the chocolate. Cover the cream
directly and chill for a minimum of 4 hours.
Craquelin Steps
Combine the butter and light brown sugar
until you have a smooth and evenly creamed
texture
Add the flour and salt and stir until the
dough is stiff
Fold the dough in a kneading motion until it
is evenly mixed. Divide the dough in half
Roll out the dough with the thickness of 1/8
of an inch and, with an inch round
cutter, cut until you have 70 rounds of
craquelin dough
If dough becomes greasy while cutting,
refrigerate for 15 minutes
Chill until ready to place

Ingredients
½ Cup/ 1 Stick Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
¾ Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
Pinch of Kosher Salt
Pâte à Choux (1)
Steps
Combine the milk, sugar, salt,
butter, and ½ cup water in a small
saucepan. Stir the mixture on
medium-low heat to create a lively
simmer and melt the butter. Ingredients
Once butter is melted, you want
½ Cup Whole
to add all the flour at once and
Milk
stir vigorously until all the
ingredients come together in a soft 1 Tbs.
dough (see picture). Granulated
Continue to cook on medium heat Sugar
while smacking the dough around. A ½ Tsp. Kosher
small film will form on the bottom Salt
of the saucepan. However, keep 7 Tbs. Unsalted
mixing until that film has been Butter
reasorbed.
The goal is to cook the dough until 1 Cup All-
Purpose Flour
the flour loses its raw taste,
creating a savory and stable puff. 5 Large Eggs
Pâte à Choux (2)
Steps
Scrape the dough from the saucepan to a
bowl mixer and let it rest and cool for a
minute or two.
Turn the mixer on, and one at a time, add
an egg into the dough. The dough will, at
first, come apart, but it will
eventually pull itself together.
Keep adding eggs (4-5) until the mix is
glossy and resembles the texture
of pancake batter.
Pipe the mixture on 2 trays, creating 35
puffs on each. You want to get a yield of
70 puffs. Make sure the craquelin is
ready.
If there are any small puffs, pipe more
batter. Make sure all puffs are as uniform
as possible.
Lightly place the craquelin on
each unbaked puff. Make sure to be gentle
and to not press down.
Puffs are
ready to
bake.
 Preheat the oven to 425°F. When you first insert the batter, you want
them to be introduced to high heat.

Baking After the puffs go in, immediately drop the temperature to 375°F.
After baking for 20 minutes, switch the racks and rotate the pans in
order for the puffs to bake evenly. Continue baking for another 15
minutes.

the Puffs Turn off the oven and prop open the door for the puffs to cool
completely. After 15 minutes, take the puffs out and poke holes on the
bottom of each puff in order to free steam trapped in the puffs.
Puffs are finished.
Last Pastry Cream
Ingredient
Add 1 cup of Crème
fraîche to the
chocolate pastry
cream and mix until
well combined. Add
cream to a piping
bag.
Piping the Puffs
Using an available
piping bag or ziplock,
you pipe the pastry
cream into every single
puff.
You do not want to
overfill; you
pipe until the puff
feels solid.
Puffs are very
hollow; they usually feel
like feathers.
Prep for
the
caramel.
 Caramel
Steps
Combine 2 cups of sugar and ½ cup of water in a
small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring
the mixture slowly until the sugar has fully
melted and bubbled.
While the mixture is bubbling, take a pastry
brush, and, with water, brush the sides of the
saucepan to eliminate any sugars that start to
crystalize. When the mixture starts to turn
light golden, stop brushing the sides and swirl
so the caramel will brown. When the caramel
takes on a rich amber color, take off the heat
and immediately pour it into a measuring cup.

the same steps but with 1 ¼ cup sugar and 1/3

cup water.

Ingredients
3 ¼ Cup Granulated Sugar
½ + 1/3 Cup Water
Dipping
Steps
The goal of making this process
as painless as possible is
equipping gloves and working as
fast as you can before the
caramel hardens.
To dip, you take a puff and,
craquelin down, you dip it into
the caramel. You want to only
coat the craquelin side of the
puff, not the entire puff.
When you are done dipping, put
the coated puff back and
continue dipping until every
puff is dipped.
Steps
Create the new batch of caramel (see Caramel slide.)
Dipping the ends of the puffs with caramel, align the puffs in a circle with the craquelin
side facing up.
Hold each ring together until the caramel fully solidifies. This should take a few seconds.
With every puff, take great care in making sure the puff is slightly pointed inward to ensure

Assembling the Croquembouche

And
Without
Decoration
With
Decoration