Saint-Honore Cake with Caramelized Cream Puffs

What you need

• 1 sheet (about 9 oz) all-butter puff pastry, chilled, about 25 cm / 10 in square
• 4 large eggs, 3 for the choux, 1 for egg wash
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) water, for the choux
• 60 g (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, diced
• 75 g (2/3 cup) plain flour, sifted
• 1 tsp sugar, for the choux
• 1 pinch salt
• 400 ml (1 2/3 cups) whole milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 80 g (scant 1/2 cup) caster sugar, for the pastry cream
• 35 g (1/4 cup) cornstarch
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream, cold
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 200 g (1 cup) caster sugar, for the caramel
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) water, for the caramel

Method

Restated from the original video

1. 1

   Heat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F). Line two baking sheets with parchment.

2. 2

   Cut a disc about 22 cm (9 in) wide from the puff pastry and lay it on one sheet. Prick it all over with a fork, leaving a 1 cm (1/2 in) rim unpricked.

3. 3

   For the choux, bring the water, butter, sugar and salt to a boil in a saucepan, stirring until the butter melts.

4. 4

   Tip in all the flour at once. Beat hard over medium heat until the dough pulls into a smooth ball and leaves a film on the pan base, 1-2 min.

5. 5

   Cool the dough for 5 min, then beat in 3 of the eggs one at a time, until it is glossy and drops slowly from the spoon in a thick ribbon.

6. 6

   Spoon the dough into a piping bag with a 1 cm (1/2 in) round tip. Pipe a ring along the rim of the pastry disc, then pipe about 16 mounds 3 cm (1 1/4 in) wide onto the second sheet.

7. 7

   Beat the last egg and brush it over the ring and the mounds, pressing down any peaks.

8. 8

   Bake at 200 °C (400 °F) for 15 min. Lower to 180 °C (350 °F) and bake 15-20 min more, until the choux is deep golden and feels light. Cool completely on a rack.

9. 9

   For the pastry cream, heat the milk to just under a boil. Whisk the yolks, 80 g sugar and cornstarch in a bowl until pale.

10. 10

    Pour the hot milk over the yolks in a thin stream, whisking. Return everything to the pan and cook over medium heat, whisking, until it thickens and bubbles, 2-3 min. Cook 1 min more.

11. 11

    Stir in the vanilla. Press plastic wrap onto the surface and chill until cold, at least 1 hour.

12. 12

    Poke a hole in the base of each puff and pipe in about a third of the pastry cream.

13. 13

    Whip the cream with the icing sugar to soft peaks. Beat the rest of the pastry cream until smooth, then fold in the whipped cream.

14. 14

    Boil the caramel sugar with the water, without stirring, until it turns amber, 8-10 min. Dip the puff tops in the caramel and set them glazed side up on parchment. Take care, hot caramel burns.

15. 15

    Dip the base of each puff in the caramel and stick them around the choux ring, touching.

16. 16

    Pipe or spoon the cream into the center in a high swirl. Chill at least 1 hour and serve within a day.

Imported from incucinaconmegghy.com. Recipe Grab pulled out what you need to cook it; the video stays where its author put it.