Christmas day dessert idea - anyone made a croquembouche?

Hi, Chef here of 25 years or so.

Excellent dish to make. believe it is also known as a chinese wedding cake, maybe wrong on that.

You can do these free hand no problem, use praline/caramel etc as glue.

At the end, literally the end. you can decorate it in a ribbon of spun sugar. That looks really nice. Dont do the spun sugar too early as it goes soft with moisture from the air though.
 
Acetate arrived, it's 540microns thick stuff a1 size. It's actually really stiff and I think it's going to work great. So an idea if people are still thinking what to do.

Plus I can use it for choclate and sugar work. Think I've decided to do both.

magic have you got any tips for spun sugar. I've tried before and it never works, either to liquid or to firm. Is it just about getting temp absolutely spot on?
 
Glaucus said:
Acetate arrived, it's 540microns thick stuff a1 size. It's actually really stiff and I think it's going to work great. So an idea if people are still thinking what to do.

Plus I can use it for choclate and sugar work. Think I've decided to do both.

magic have you got any tips for spun sugar. I've tried before and it never works, either to liquid or to firm. Is it just about getting temp absolutely spot on?
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I'd be really interested to hear tips on this too.
 
Yeah, spun sugar tips would be most welcome!

Planning on practicising sugar work this afternoon, Pieplough is taking me out drinking tonight so doubt I'll be in any state to bake tomorrow!
 
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Ahleckz said:
Yeah, spun sugar tips would be most welcome!

Planning on practicising sugar work this afternoon, Pieplough is taking me out drinking tonight so doubt I'll be in any state to bake tomorrow!
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Shame you guys are all the way up north. Though I guess being drunk on mumble in BC2 was kind of like being at the pub...
 
FrenchTart said:
I'd be really interested to hear tips on this too.
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A damn good heavy bottom pan. Copper pans of course are the best.

Do not rush.

Do not stir too much

Use a Sugar Thermometer, or you can use a glass of water and drop sugar in to check what level it is at etc, ie: soft/hard crack

Cover your working area well. Spun sugar/aka angel hair goes everywhere.

Do not touch the boiling sugar with your hands. you want it around 310*f / 155*c no more. ( Be careful as once it hits 100*c, it does not take long at all to increase in temperature

A old whisk with bottom cut of works great for spinning sugar, or use a fork, dripping it over a pan handle or rolling paper.

Do not make up too soon as moisture in the air will soon soften it.



when you have finished with the pan. Stick some water in it and bring back to boil. it will soften and remove any remaining sugar in the pan.
 
Bought my ingredients today. Got a few nice decorations as well, as well as some chopped nuts. Will be able to cover up my predictable awful sugar work a bit.
I went with Cointreau to flavour my cream. I was going to go with Amaretto, but my Father can't stand almonds it turns out! So just as well.
Was going to attempt some 'shoe' pastry tonight but ran out of time so it better work first time.
Invested in a piping bag as well, only £1.50 with 3 attachments from ASDA. I imagine it'll be far better than a sandwich bag with a hole cut in it.

Thanks for the tips Magic. I'm not going to be using a thermometer but sure it'll be fine!
 
Bought my ingredients today too. I have never even attempted choux pastry before so had a go at that today, worked very well. I've decided to do it freehand rather than using a mould so it'll probably look like a sack of **** but hey ho, as long as it tastes nice! Got some nice chocolate, some nuts, and some edible gold glitter today - see which one I fancy using on the day!
 
You do not need to use a piping bag if you dont have one. blobs (for want of a better word) are fine from a teaspoon (keep putting the teaspoons in water as helps the choux mix fall off), spooning the mixture onto your trays.


I will look forward to seeing photos of your results.
 
Just prepared everything to make my 'shoe' pastry, and realised I forgot to buy butter yesterday. I wonder if any of the corner shops around me sell unsalted butter...
 
I'm having quite a lot of problems with my pastry, I think it's far too wet.

I've just piped out (how hard is it to fill a piping bag?!?!) about 15 and put them in the oven. Will see how they turn out.
 
I think I can always stir in some more flour if these don't work and that should solve anything. I just watched a few videos of Michel Roux and Raymond Blanc making theirs and their pastry batter is a lot more solid than mine.

I guess you don't know until you try eh? Need to go to work in 2 hours, so hoping to get all the buns done by then!
 
Yea, I was worried because compared to the videos mine were quite flat whereas Raymond & Michel's were perky and peaked. However, they seem to have worked out fine!

Piping the second lot now. Picked up a piping bag and 3 attachments from ASDA for £1.50. Much better than a plastic sandwich bag.
 
First batch out, second half way through cooking and third batch just went in.

I think I'll end up with about 55 balls, saying there'll be 7 of us eating this thing that seems quite a reasonable amount.

I've figured out how to fill a piping bag, use a small spoon! I first tried to force in a big serving spoon worth in and it was just a great mess. Using a desert spoon proves far more effective, a teaspoon even more so but it would be too slow.

Going to make the cream tonight (which I'm flavouring with Cointreau), and keep it in a flask. I'm going to inject it into my balls on the day (boxing day) and assemble that day also. The recipe I'm using (BBC Goodfood) says to assemble the day before and leave overnight in a cold place, but sod that on Christmas day!
If time allows, I'll practice some sugar work tomorrow but it seems very unlikely.

I'd love to offer some helpful tips for other people when they start making their buns, but I'm afraid I can't. Just don't worry if they don't look like Roux's! They'll come out fine! Just do a small test batch first, to make sure. You can always make some slight changes to the recipe. I'd like to add some vanilla to my batter but didn't have any, though I imagine it'll be nice. However, that may render the already sweet desert overly sweet.
 
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