Croquembouche - Pièce Montée

Sorry for the lack of post, the month of may was crazy. I just got back to London and now have all the free time in the world to update this. This morning, I was so jetlagged that I woke up at 6am and decided to make this beautiful croquembouche. By the time everyone woke up I had made two!!! We just had both for lunch and they were a huge hit with the family. Even my brother who hates caramel ate his fair share of little choux'. It is not as hard as people would expect but definitely is a tedious process, and sometimes quite dangerous with the hot caramel (i now have blisters everywhere!).

Ingredients Puffs (Choux):

• 150g flour
• 250ml of water
• 100g butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tsp of sugar

1. In a pan, bring to a boil the water, salt and the butter in pieces. 
2. Once you reach boiling point, take the mix off the heat and add the flour all at once. Mix quickly. 
3. Once you get a nice dough, add the sugar and mix well. 
4. Bring back to the heat until you get a ball of dough. The dough has to be a bit harder than previously. 
5. Put in the bowl of a mixer add the eggs one by one. Mix thoroughly. 
6. Preheat oven to 210 degrees Celsius. 
7. With a piping bag, pipe out your puffs on a silpat or a buttered sheet. 
8. Bake for 5 minutes at 210 degrees, then continue baking for 20 minutes at 180 degrees. 
9. Once this done, leave in the oven with the door open for the next 5 minutes. 
10. Take out and set aside to cool. 

Ingredients Pastry Cream:

• 6 egg yolks
• 125g of sugar
• 40g flour
• 500ml milk
• 2 tbsp of rum

1. In a bowl, mix the eggs and a third of the sugar thoroughly. Add the flour and continue mixing. 
2. In a pan, bring to a boil the rest of the sugar with the milk and the rum. 
3. Add the milk mixture to the egg mix and combine thoroughly. 
4. Bring back the mix to the heat and continue doing so until you get a thick cream. 
5. Set aside the cream to cool down. 
6. Once cooled, pipe the cream into the puffs by piping it through the bottom. 
7. Set aside and cool.

Ingredients Caramel:

• 225g sugar
• Half a lemon's juice

1. In a pan, mix the sugar and the lemon juice. 
2. Continue mixing until the sugar melts and turns to an amber colour. 
3. As soon as you get your caramel, take off heat and put the pan in cold water to stop the cooking process. 

Assembling the Croquembouche:

1. Dip the top of your puffs (previously filled with the pastry cream) in caramel (watch out it is REALLY hot). 
2. Assemble your croquembouche in a nice motif. 
3. Use the caramel as the glue to hold all of the puffs together. 
4. Once done, add any decorations (sugar ribbons, candy, fruits...etc).
5. Enjoy!