Gateau St. Honore

This four-part recipe is in in honor of St. Honore, the patron saint of bakers. It may be quite challenging but don’t worry, Yummy magazine is giving you lots of ideas on how to make it more time-friendly.

Yield 1 9-inch cake

Part 1: Choux Pastry
You can do this a week in advance. Just store the puffs in a sealed plastic bag or airtight container in the freezer.
Prep Time 45 minutes  Baking Time 30 minutes

2 cups water
1 cup salted butter
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour
12 eggs

Part 2: Pastry Cream
You can do this while your pate choux is baking.
Prep Time 30 minutes  Cooking Time 15 minutes

4 cups milk
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

Part 3: Caramel
Prep Time 5 minutes  Cooking Time 15 to 30 minutes

2 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Part 1: Choux Pastry

1  Preheat oven to 425F.

2  Boil together water, butter, and salt.

3  While boiling, add the flour and stir until completely incorporated and forms a ball. The sides of the pan should be cleaned of the dough while stirring the mixture.

4  Take dough off the heat and transfer to a mixer bowl. Using the paddle, mix on low speed until the dough cools to 140F.

5  Gradually add the eggs, making sure each egg is completely absorbed by the dough before adding the next egg.

6  Place the dough in a piping bag and pipe as desired. (This is the same dough used in cream puff and éclair.)

7  For Gateau St. Honoré, pipe a 9-inch diameter circle on sheet pan lined with parchment paper or baking paper.

8  With the excess dough, pipe mounds to form cream puff-like figures on another sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

9  Bake the piped figures for 15 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 375F and bake for 5 to 10 more minutes or until golden.


Part 2: Pastry Cream

1  In a pan, scald milk and 1 cup sugar on low heat.

2  In a bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1 cup sugar, then add the egg yolks and whole eggs.

3  Pour the scalded milk into the egg mixture (continue whisking the egg mixture to prevent lumps from forming). When three-fourths of the milk has already been added, reverse the process. This time, add the milk-egg mixture into the leftover scalded milk in the pot while whisking the milk then return the mixture on the low heat. Stir continuously until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken.

4  Remove immediately from heat then transfer to a bowl. Fold in the vanilla.

5  Cover with plastic wrap directly on the cream (to prevent skin from forming) and refrigerate until cool.

Choco-and Coffee-holic tip You can do a chocolate version by folding in melted chocolate into the pastry cream. For a coffee flavor, fold in 2 tablespoons of coffee powder for every recipe of pastry cream.


Part 3: Caramel

1  Place the mixture of all 3 ingredients in a heavy-duty, stainless-steel pot. Stir just to moisten the sugar.

2  Prepare a bowl of tap water with a pastry brush.

3  Boil the sugar mixture until it reaches 300F. While the mixture is boiling, do not stir. When sticky syrup starts forming at the sides of the pan, brush them off with the pastry brush dipped in tap water.

4  When the mixture reaches 300F, immediately dip the pot in cold water to stop the caramel from cooking any further.


Part 4: Assembly

1  Poke a hole in the base of each baked cream puffs. Place pastry cream in a piping bag with a round tip. Fill the puffs with pastry cream. Set aside.

2  Get the baked 9-inch diameter dough and place on a cake pan. Then dip the bottom of the filled cream puffs in the caramel, and line them along the diameter of the dough, forming a rim. The caramel will serve as the adhesive. Spoon a generous amount of caramel on top of each puff.

3  Pipe the center of the circle with pastry cream then top with whipped cream. Place chocolate curls or fresh fruits on top of the cream, if desired.

Time-saving tips: Instead of pastry cream, you can use chilled vanilla pudding instead. You can also fill your puffs with ice cream—I like vanilla or mantecado! Another shortcut: Aerosol-can whipped cream as gateau topping.

Caramel care: When making caramel, be very careful of caramel burns (ouch!) and always have a candy thermometer on hand. Find caramel-making a challenge? Dip the puffs in melted chocolate instead!

Photography by Ocs Alvarez

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