Chocolate Praline Croquembouche Recipe

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Chocolate Praline Croquembouche
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Ingredients:

  • 1 recipepate a chou
  • about 1 cup chocolate pastry cream
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • large pastry bag
  • 1/2-inch plain tip
  • 1/4-inch plain tip

Directions:

  1. Make cream puffs: Preheat oven to 425°F. and butter and flour 2 baking sheets.
  2. Spoon pâte à chou into a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip and pipe about 55 mounds onto baking sheets, each about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, leaving 1 1/2 inches between mounds. With a finger dipped in water gently smooth pointed tip of each mound to round puffs. Bake puffs in upper third of oven 10 minutes, switching position of sheets in oven halfway through baking if necessary. Reduce temperature to 400°F. and bake puffs 20 minutes more, or until puffed and golden. Let puffs stand in turned-off oven 30 minutes. Transfer puffs to racks to cool. With a skewer poke a 1/4-inch hole in bottom of each puff. Puffs may be made 2 days ahead and kept in an airtight container. Recrisp puffs in 400°F. oven 5 minutes and cool before filling.
  3. Make filling: In bowl of a standing electric mixer beat pastry cream until just smooth and soft enough to fold in heavy cream (do not overbeat). In a chilled bowl with cleaned beaters beat heavy cream until it holds soft peaks and fold in praline powder. Fold whipped cream mixture into pastry cream. Chill filling, covered, about 1 hour, or until cold.
  4. Fill cream puffs: Transfer filling to a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain top and barely fill each puff (do not overfill), putting filled puffs in a shallow baking pan.
  5. Make caramel: In a heavy saucepan stir together sugar and water and bring to a boil over moderately low heat, stirring and washing down sides of pan with a brush dipped in cold water to dissolve any sugar crystals until sugar is dissolved. Boil syrup over moderately high heat, without stirring, until it begins to turn pale caramel. Still without stirring, gently swirl syrup in pan (so that it colors evenly) until it begins to turn golden caramel and remove from heat. Caramel will continue to color slightly off heat and will thicken as it cools. As caramel begins to reach thickness of corn syrup, return pan to a burner at lowest possible heat, using a flame-tamer if necessary, and keep warm (do not simmer).
  6. Assemble croquembouche: Line a tray with wax paper. Working quickly with 1 cream puff at a time, impale bottom of each puff on tip of a small serrated knife and carefully dip top in caramel, leaving bottom 1/3 inch uncoated (to facilitate handling) and letting excess drip off. (Be extremely careful when working with hot caramel.) Set puff, coated side up, on prepared tray. When all puffs are coated, center 3, touching to form a triangle, on a cake-decorating turntable. Form a ring of 9 puffs around triangle and, working with 1 of the 9 puffs at a time, carefully dip 1 edge into caramel, letting excess drip off, and affix puffs to one another in a tight ring around first 3 puffs. Dip bottom of a puff in caramel and center it over middle of first 3 puffs. Working with 1 puff at a time, carefully dip 1 edge of each puff into caramel, letting excess drip off, and build a second, slightly smaller ring on top of the first using 8 puffs (if necessary adding an additional puff in center to stabilize ring), making sure each puff is glued with caramel to the one before it.
  7. Build on top of first 2 rows 4 more rings of 5 puffs each in same manner, always building from inside out with an additional puff in center as support.
  8. For top of croquembouche build 1 layer of 3 puffs and top with 1 puff. Let caramel harden 5 minutes and loosen croquembouche from turntable with a spatula. Transfer croquembouche with hands to a platter.
  9. Slip 5-inch-wide bands of wax paper under edges of croquembouche to protect from caramel drips. Remove caramel from heat and cool to thickness of molasses, 2 to 3 minutes. Dip tip of a small spoon in caramel and drizzle caramel decoratively over croquembouche. (Alternately, all puffs may be dipped in initial caramel and put in a shallow serving bowl without being molded into a cone shape.) Let caramel harden and remove wax paper. croquembouche is best served as soon as possible but may be made up to 12 hours ahead and chilled but not covered.
  10. To serve croquembouche, lightly shatter caramel cage with back of a knife and dismantle, 1 puff at a time.
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Nutrition Facts

Per ServingPer 100 g
Amount Per 1 Serving
Calories 2624.22 Kcal (10987 kJ)
Calories from fat 1017.88 Kcal
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 113.1g 174%
Cholesterol 82.2mg 27%
Sodium 1021.83mg 43%
Potassium 420.97mg 9%
Total Carbs 394.26g 131%
Sugars 301.45g 1206%
Dietary Fiber 10.55g 42%
Protein 16.39g 33%
Vitamin C 0.6mg 1%
Iron 7mg 39%
Calcium 121.6mg 12%
Amount Per 100 g
Calories 359.09 Kcal (1503 kJ)
Calories from fat 139.28 Kcal
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 15.48g 174%
Cholesterol 11.25mg 27%
Sodium 139.82mg 43%
Potassium 57.6mg 9%
Total Carbs 53.95g 131%
Sugars 41.25g 1206%
Dietary Fiber 1.44g 42%
Protein 2.24g 33%
Vitamin C 0.1mg 1%
Iron 1mg 39%
Calcium 16.6mg 12%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Find out how many calories should you eat.

Tastes

  • salty
  • savory
  • bitter
  • sweet
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Recipe Tags

Weightwatchers Points

  • 61.1
    Points
  • 73
    PointsPlus

Good Points

  • saturated fat free,
  • low sodium,
  • low cholesterol

Bad Points

  • High in Sodium,
  • High in Sugar,
  • High in Total Fat

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