Croquembouche

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve made a croquembouche―the celebration cake in France that’s served at weddings, baptisms, and first communions. I made my first croquembouche (which literally translates as “crunch in mouth”) back in culinary school for a demonstration to promote recipes from pastry chef Joanne Chang’s cookbook Flour, Too. Her croquembouche was a towering masterpiece of caramel-covered cream puffs surrounded by golden threads of spun sugar. Although the tall, pointed cone shape is most popular (and the one I adhere to), the puffs can be arranged to resemble churches, wishing wells, and even baby carriages, depending on the occasion. Croquembouches can also be decorated with sugar-coated almonds, sugar flowers, candied fruit, nougatine (caramel mixed with toasted nuts), and macarons, not to mention whatever other decorative flights of fancy one might have for a dessert whose appeal is largely about its presentation. 

My later croquembouches, all of which I assembled while developing this recipe, couldn’t compare; one was much too short (I miscounted the number of puffs in my initial layers) while another was so wonky that it looked like it came out of a Dr. Seuss book. The croquembouche you see here was my most recent and one that I’m very proud of. That’s because croquembouche is one of the more difficult pastries to make at home, thanks to its multiple components and the time needed to get it all done. I share a few techniques that make the process as seamless as possible but I want to stress that, in this case, practice makes perfect. This is all to say that your first croquembouche may not look quite like the one pictured here, but it’ll be delicious nonetheless. 

Making the Cream Puffs

A croquembouche relies on puffs―a lot of them―made from pâte à choux, which is a cooked paste of flour, butter, water and/or milk, and eggs. My recipe calls for one batch of choux pastry made with equal parts water and milk, which contributes to a crisp well-browned exterior. I also add a small amount of sugar to the choux to lightly sweeten it. When testing this recipe, I mostly played around with the dimensions of the puffs to figure out which size led to a stronger, more aesthetically-pleasing structure. Puffs that were with a template that was one-and-a-half inches in diameter were much too large, giving me a squatter croquembouche that wasn’t very impressive. Meanwhile, puffs that were just an inch round barely held any filling, making for a croquembouche that was all crunch. I found that one-and-a-quarter–inch puffs were the ideal size, striking a good balance between creamy filling and crunchy candy shell. I know that a quarter-inch difference may not seem like much, but when dealing with a towering construction like this, it adds up. 

Piping the choux for a croquembouche requires a bit of advance planning. Usually when I pipe puffs, I’ll freehand it but in the case of a croquembouche, you shouldn’t wing it. Better is to make a template for your puffs by drawing circles on parchment paper beforehand. This extra step yields puffs that are more uniform in size, making them easier to stack. One batch of choux makes 50 puffs, enough for 12 servings (about four puffs per person).

Once they’re all piped, I like to dust the puffs with powdered sugar. Doing so reduces the chance of cracks and splits and lends to even color development. Once the puffs are baked, I make a small hole in the bottom of each before sliding them back into a turned-off, but still hot, oven with the door cracked open. This helps dry out the puffs as much as possible so that they retain their crunch. If you decide to bake the puffs ahead of time, you can freeze them for up to a month then refresh them in a warm oven until crisp. 

I opt for filling the puffs with crème légère, mostly because I love the marriage of custardy pastry cream and fluffy whipped cream. However, if you’re inclined, you can absolutely fill the puffs with just pastry cream (be it vanilla, chocolate, or lemon) or whipped cream (sweetened, flavored, or plain). Like the puffs, you can make the crème légère ahead of time and keep it in your refrigerator. You should fill your puffs no more than two hours before you plan to serve the croquembouche since filled puffs will soften over time.

Assembling the Croquembouche

The other major component of a croquembouche is the caramel. For this particular croquembouche, you need two batches: one for dipping the tops of the puffs and another for gluing the dipped puffs together. Many recipes advocate for making a single batch of caramel to dip and assemble but since the caramel solidifies as it cools, making it extremely hard to work with no matter how much you rewarm it, I call for two batches of the golden syrup. I follow Stella’s advice and stir the caramel to help the sugar dissolve. Once the sugar syrup reaches a boil, I switch to shaking and swirling the pan to ensure even caramelization. Since sugar syrup caramelizes fast once it takes on color, I rely on eyesight alone to gauge doneness instead of a thermometer. I avoid providing a temperature as a guide, since the volume of caramel produced is too shallow and can lead to an inaccurate reading.

As soon as the color reaches medium amber, I carefully pour the caramel into a heatproof microwave-safe bowl. It’s worth mentioning that, during testing, I took the caramel to various degrees of caramelization, from a light honey color to one verging on burnt sugar. I prefer a medium amber color both for its visual appearance and depth of flavor, without harboring any bitter notes. If you prefer a different doneness, by all means, pull your caramel once it reaches that shade. 

At this point, you’ll want to don latex gloves to avoid getting burned by hot sugar, then dip the top of each puff in the caramel before returning it to the baking sheet caramel-side up. You should try to work as quickly as possible since caramel thickens as it cools, making it harder to coat the tops evenly. However if this happens, simply pop the bowl in the microwave and reheat until the caramel loosens.

Once their caramel coating hardens, I like to sort my puffs, grouping them together by size, which will help create even layers in the tower. (Even though we're using a template to pipe the puffs, it’s unavoidable that some will be slightly larger or smaller than the others). I cluster nine of the largest puffs together―all of which are similar in size―for the initial layer, then do the same for the next layer of eight puffs, and so on and so forth. Although this step isn’t necessary, it helps ensure that I use the correct number of puffs per layer while also speeding up the assembly process. 

To make sure I’m ready to assemble my croquembouche, I place a sheet of parchment paper on top of a cake stand or turntable (this will catch any caramel drips) followed by an eight-inch disposable cake round. On top of the cake round, I arrange my pre-selected nine puffs in a circle to help gauge the width of the base. 

As soon as that second batch of caramel is ready, it’s time to start assembling the croquembouche. Remove one puff at a time from the arranged circle, dip a rounded edge in the caramel then stick it back in the empty space, angling it slightly inward to promote an even slope and holding it in place for a few seconds until the caramel hardens. Once your bottom layer is glued in place, you’ll repeat this process for the successive layer of eight puffs, dipping each puff in the caramel and positioning it in the gap between the bottom two puffs, while angling it slightly inward and holding it in place. 

It’s inevitable that you’ll have spaces here and there in the layers that are too large to leave empty but too small to fit a whole puff. For these spaces, take one of the extra puffs, dip it in caramel, and place it sideways in the empty space. Continue building your croquembouche, layer upon layer, and zapping the caramel in the microwave as necessary to loosen it (keep in mind that you want to keep the caramel as fluid as possible to prevent a thick coating that will make it difficult to break the puffs apart when serving). Once you reach your second-to-last layer, dip the bottom of one puff, stick it to the bottom of another puff, then dip the rounded edge of the conjoined puffs in the caramel and stick it on top before dipping and placing your final puff. 

If the caramel hasn’t fully set, dip a fork into the bowl then move it in a circular motion around the croquembouche from top to bottom to form thin, shiny threads. The croquembouche can be kept at room temperature for a couple of hours before serving. Resist the temptation to hold the croquembouche any longer (whether at room temperature or in the refrigerator) as the caramel will become sticky and eventually melt since sugar is hygroscopic, pulling moisture from the cream puffs the longer it sits. When it’s time to serve your croquembouche, take a moment to admire your creation, maybe snap a few pictures with it, then break it to glorious smithereens.