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Wednesday 12 September 2012

Croquembuche (30 before 30)

Croquembuche- from the french meaning 'Crunch in the mouth' is a desert that consist of Choux pastry balls filled with flavoured cream, piled in a cone shape and held together by caramel.

Before embarking on this challenge I had never even tried making choux pastry and had never made a successful caramel.

Thankfully my friend Alison came to stay for the weekend, Friday we went for a wine tasting, Saturday we ran a sponsored Dog walk in the beautiful sunshine then Jamie and I went to a wedding reception in the evening and on Sunday after church we made the croquembuche. 

A pretty epic weekend! 

Thankfully I own the great British bake off recipe book from last year which has brilliant step by step instructions on how to make a croquembuche.
 
First we combined the pastry ingredients on the hob, Alison is good at stirring 


After leaving the mixture to cool and adding eggs, I piped little balls on to baking sheets. 
 The cooking instructions for Choux pastry is really complicated We had to wave the door of the oven to let steam out and then had to pierce each ball during cooking. (I sometimes wonder how people come up with this stuff).
It worked.
 We then made the white chocolate and lemon cream whilst the balls cooled.
 It was yummy!
 Piping the cream into the balls was surprisingly difficult, but we managed.

 The first attempt at making caramel didn't go well.
 Neither did the second, but Alison had the right touch with the third batch. 
I can see why they worry so much about it on the Great British bake Off!
Once we had managed to make the Caramel we assembled.

 We both took many photos! We were proud.

 Very proud...
I can happily cross off another one of my 30 Before 30 aims.
I have now completed 5 only 25 left to go!

4 comments:

  1. Hey Em!

    That's awesome! :) Can't believe you've only got 5 left!

    Maddy
    XX

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, 5 completed leaves another 25 left!!
      Marion

      Delete
    2. Thanks Maddy! Yeah I have 25 left. I'm really enjoying the challenge. How are you? X

      Delete
  2. Hey - can it be done without chocolate? Is so then I'm coming for a visit soon.
    Marion

    ReplyDelete