Croquembouche (French Caramel-Glazed Cream Puff Tower Centerpiece)

Name: Croquembouche (French Caramel-Glazed Cream Puff Tower Centerpiece)
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 105 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: Water 130 ml; Unsalted Butter 85 g; Cake Flour 100 g; Eggs 4 ea; Milk 300 ml; Sugar 220 g; Cornstarch 25 g; Vanilla Extract 1 tsp

Quick answer

Total time: 105 min
Level: Hard
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients: 8

About this dish

Small custard-filled puffs, each dipped in hot caramel and stacked around a cone, make a tower served in France at weddings and baptisms in place of a wedding cake.

The name means crunch in the mouth: hardened caramel cracks first, then the soft choux shell gives way to cold cream. Caramel pulled thin with a fork and wrapped around the finished tower adds fine golden threads. Guests pull the puffs off one at a time, starting from the top.

Ingredients

servings

IngredientAmount

Eggs4 ea

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Instructions

6 steps

1

Bring 130 ml water and 85 g unsalted butter to a boil over medium heat.

Add 100 g cake flour all at once, then stir until the dough pulls from the pan sides and leaves a thin film.
2

Cool the dough until just warm, then beat in the 4 eggs gradually.

Stop when the batter falls from the spatula in a thick ribbon, because too much egg will make the puffs spread.
3

Pipe the dough into small puffs and bake at 190C until they rise and start to color.

Lower the heat and continue baking until the centers dry, so they stay hollow and do not collapse.
4

Whisk 300 ml milk, part of the sugar, and 25 g cornstarch over low heat until thick pastry cream forms.

Add 1 tsp vanilla, cool it completely, then fill each puff without overfilling.
5

Melt the remaining sugar over medium heat until it turns amber.

Remove it from the heat before it darkens too much, dip only the puff bottoms, and attach them quickly around the cone mold.
6

Once the tower feels firm, pull the remaining caramel into thin threads with a fork and wrap them around the puffs.

Let the sugar set completely, then serve so guests can detach puffs from the top.