GATEAU ST HONORÉ RECIPES

Steps:

• Puff Pastry

  Pulse flour and salt together in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces. 

  Add water and pulse until mixture begins to come together. Turn dough out onto the work surface and knead gently to bring together. Form into a ½-inch-thick square and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. 

  Turn dough onto a floured surface and roll into a 6x12-inch rectangle. Fold the top third down towards the bottom, then fold the bottom third up to cover. Quarter-turn the dough; roll out and fold as before. Rewrap and chill for 20 minutes. Repeat rolling and turns. Chill 10 minutes.

  Craquelin

  Cream sugar and butter together until light. Stir in flour and salt. 

  Roll between 2 sheets of parchment paper to ?-inch thick. Freeze until firm.

  Cut into 1 ¼-inch rounds and return to the freezer until needed.

  Choux Pastry

  Preheat the oven to 425 F.

  Bring butter, milk, water, sugar and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; ensure butter is completely melted. 

  Remove from heat, add flour and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until combined. 

  Return to medium heat and stir until the dough begins to look dry and a film appears on the bottom of the pan, about 1 minute.

  Transfer dough to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low until the steam has subsided and the dough is lukewarm, about 3 minutes. Continue to mix the dough while adding eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each. 

  Transfer dough to a piping bag fitted with 805 piping tip. Pipe 20 choux balls, approximately 1 ¼-inch wide, onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches in between each. Top each with a craquelin round. 

  Transfer to the oven. Bake until puffed, about 8 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 F. Bake until deep golden, another 22 to 25 minutes.

  Set aside to cool completely. 

  Once cooled, use a small star tip to create a hole in the flat bottom of each.

  Return oven to 425 F.

  Roll puff pastry into a generous 10-inch square. Dock (poke with a fork) the dough all over. With a 10-inch round of parchment as a guide, cut a round using a paring knife. Transfer to a parchment-lined sheet. 

  Whisk the remaining egg with a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Brush round lightly with egg wash, avoiding the cut edge. Pipe a border of choux paste to within ¼-inch of the edge of the puff pastry. Pipe another 4-inch-wide circle in the centre of the pastry round. Egg wash the choux and bake for 20 minutes at 425 F. Reduce the heat to 375 F and bake until golden and puffed, another 12 to 15 minutes.

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  Chiboust Cream

  Make pastry cream: Place one sheet of gelatin in a bowl of cold water and set aside for 5 minutes. 

  Add milk to a medium saucepan. Add ½ vanilla bean and seeds to milk. Heat mixture over medium heat until just steaming. Remove vanilla bean and discard.

  Meanwhile, whisk together sugar and cornstarch in a large heatproof bowl. Whisk in egg yolks and whole egg. Slowly stream in hot milk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until mixture thickens and just comes to a boil. 

  Place ? of mixture into a small bowl; squeeze the excess water from gelatin and stir into the pastry cream until melted. 

  Cover the surface of each portion with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the pastry cream with the gelatin. Set the other aside, keeping warm.

  Make meringue: Place four sheets of gelatin in a bowl of cold water and set aside for 5 minutes. 

  Place sugar and water into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and boil until mixture is 250 F (120 C), brushing the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush if sugar appears on sides of the pan (to prevent crystallization.)

  Meanwhile, squeeze excess water from gelatin. Add gelatin to a small saucepan and heat over medium-low until melted. 

  Meanwhile, place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk over medium-high until soft peaks form. Gradually stream both sugar syrup and gelatin into egg whites with the mixer running on medium-high. Continue to beat until glossy, stiff and cooled to room temperature, about 6 to 8 minutes. 

  Stir ? into warm pastry cream until combined, then gently fold in remaining meringue. 

  Transfer the ½ of the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large St. Honore tip. 

  Transfer ¼ of the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Reserve the remaining chiboust.

  Using the small tip, fill the cream puffs with chiboust cream.

  Assembly

  Spread refrigerated pastry cream into the centre of the cake to within the borders of the choux pastry rings. Top with the reserved ¼ of the chiboust, spreading evenly. Pipe the centre of the cake with chiboust cream using the St. Honoré tip. 

  Decorate the edge of the cake with cream puffs, lightly pressing them against the cream to adhere them to the cake. Place one in the centre of the cake. Decorate with gold leaf/dust as desired.

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Steps:

• Make the pastry for the base: whizz the flour, almonds, butter and sugar in a food processor to fine crumbs. Add the egg yolk (reserve the white for later) and a few drops of water if necessary, then pulse until the dough comes together. Wrap in cling film, then chill for 1 hr.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll out pastry on a large square of baking parchment, then trim to a 26cm round using a cake tin or plate as a guide. Carefully transfer the pastry still on the paper to a large baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 mins until golden. Cool on the paper, then transfer to a large, flat serving plate. Can be made 2 days ahead.
• To make the choux pastry, line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Heat the butter in a pan with 125ml water until melted, then increase heat until boiling. Remove from the heat, then add the flour in one go, quickly stirring until everything comes together as a thick paste. Leave to cool for 10 mins. Beat the eggs in to the paste, using a wooden spoon, a little at a time, until you have a thick, glossy mixture. Spoon 12 equal-size blobs of choux, a little apart, over the baking sheet. Lightly whisk the reserved egg white, then brush over each blob of pastry. Sprinkle with flaked almonds.
• Bake the buns for 25-30 mins until crisp and golden. Remove from the oven, carefully split each bun, then return to the oven for 5 mins more to dry out the insides. Cool on a rack, then scoop out any soft insides. Can be made 2 days ahead – if they go soft, briefly crisp them up in the oven.
• To make the filling, mix the custard powder and sugar in a pan, then blend in a little milk to a smooth paste. Add the rest of the milk, then gently bring to the boil, stirring, until you have a thick custard. Remove from the heat, then stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl, then cover the surface with cling film. Cool. Can be made 2 days ahead.
• Now assemble the gâteau: stir the custard to loosen a little. Whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold into the custard. Slice a third of the strawberries. Spread a thin layer of custard over the pastry base. Add the sliced strawberries to the remaining custard, then use to fill the choux buns. Arrange buns around edge of the pastry base. Spoon any remaining custard into the centre, then top with the remaining strawberries.
• To make the caramel, tip the caster sugar into a heavy based pan with 2 tbsp cold water. Heat, without stirring, to dissolve the sugar, tipping the pan if necessary, then boil hard until it becomes a light caramel. Remove from the heat and, when the bubbles subside, drizzle carefully over the choux buns. Dust with icing sugar and serve. The gâteau can be chilled for up to 2 hrs before serving.