Mocha Croquembouche

Cakes & Cupcakes
January 13, 2016
Cakes & Cupcakes
January 13, 2016

Mocha Croquembouche

A total showstopper, this Mocha Croquembouche is almost as pretty as it is delicious! Uhm, helloooo gorgeous! I have been

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Mocha Croquembouche

A total showstopper, this Mocha Croquembouche is almost as pretty as it is delicious!

A total showstopper, this Mocha Croquembouche is almost as pretty as it is delicious!

Uhm, helloooo gorgeous! I have been SO excited to share this recipe with you all, and it’s finally the day. Meet my mocha croquembouche: layers of delicious coffee pastry cream-filled profiteroles covered in a salted caramel sugar and mocha ganache.

Woof, what a mouthful. A delicious, mocha mouthful. 

Unfortunately I’ve come down with another bout of sickness, this time in the form of a stomach bug. So while I wish I was enjoying leftovers of this poofy goodness, I have been relegated to bed for the last 24 hours.

I can assure you, though, that my assistant and I ate more than our fare share of profiteroles this weekend. They were amaze.

I had no idea how easy profiteroles are to make. They seem so technical and time consuming, but they come together in minutes. Simply melt butter, sugar, and water, add in flour, and whisk in eggs.

A total showstopper, this Mocha Croquembouche is almost as pretty as it is delicious!

As for the pasty cream, you could really flavor it with anything. I chose a rich coffee flavor, but vanilla bean would be just as amazing. Simply substitute the 1/2 cup of coffee for more milk and vanilla beans for the espresso powder.

The whole thing comes together with the salted caramel sugar cement and healthy drizzle of mocha ganache. I’m in love.

OK, on to a matter of business. I am conducting my first ever reader survey, and I’d so appreciate 3 minutes of your time.

It’s very important to me to know what you like, what you don’t like, and how I can improve for you all. It is because of you that I am here, so I want to know what YOU want!

A total showstopper, this Mocha Croquembouche is almost as pretty as it is delicious!

What would you like to see more of in 2016? Less of? Do you like my travel posts? Do you want more savory recipes? Healthy weeknight meals? I want to know.

And for your time, I am sending each one of you a virtual hug. I feel like I say this all the time, but thank you for your support. For liking, commenting, sharing, baking. You inspire me to continue creating.

If you’re on a mobile or a tablet, you can fill out the survey here. If you’re on a desktop, you can fill out the survey below.

Thank you SO MUCH!

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Mocha Croquembouche

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Ingredients

For the profiteroles

  • 1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 5 large eggs

For the pastry cream

  • 1 1/4 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup strongly brewed coffee
  • 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch

For the salted caramel sugar

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the mocha drizzle

  • 3.5 ounces dark chocolate
  • 1 teaspoon strongly brewed coffee
  • 1/2 teaspoon crisco or coconut oil

Instructions

    To make the profiteroles

    1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
    2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix the butter, water, milk, sugar, and salt until everything is melted. Turn heat to low and whisk in flour, stirring for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and place into bowl of a standing mixer.
    3. Using a whisk attachment, begin to whisk flour mixture. Slowly and one at a time, add in eggs, beating in between each addition. Once everything is mixed in, transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1/2 inch tip.
    4. Pipe 1 1/2 inch rounds onto prepared cookie sheets. You should have roughly 24 rounds per cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, until the puffs are perfectly golden brown. Allow to cool completely before piping.

    To make the pastry cream

    1. In a medium saucepan over low heat, heat the milk, coffee, espresso powder, and 1/4 cup of the sugar until scalding.
    2. In a separate small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, other 1/4 cup of sugar, and cornstarch. Pour roughly 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking the entire time. Pour the warmed egg mixture into the saucepan. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens into a custard, roughly the texture of yogurt, about 15 minutes. Immediately remove from heat and place in an ice bath to stop cooking. Allow to cool completely.

    To make the croquembouche

    1. Place the mocha custard into a large piping bag with a small tip. Use the piping bag to pop a small hole in the bottom of each profiterole, then pipe the custard into the inside of the profiterole.
    2. Heat the sugar and salt in a small saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolves into liquid and becomes a light amber hue. Remove from heat and place in ice bath to stop cooking.
    3. Very carefully, dip the tops of each profiterole into the sugar, then place on cookie rack to cool slightly. Top each profiterole with a pinch of coffee granules (optional).
    4. You are now going to make the croquembouche. You will make roughly 6 layers of profiterole circles, beginning with the bottom layer consisting of roughly 12 profiteroles and creating a hollow pyramid from there. Dip each profiterole one at a time into the hot sugar mixture, this time on two sides at 90° angles to each other. Place profiterole onto a cake plate on its side with top facing outward, beginning your biggest circle. Continue to dip each profiterole into the sugar on two sides, placing one side down on the cake plate and attaching the other side to the profiterole before it, until you create a profiterole circle.
    5. Continue the process in layers, making sure that each layer hardens before adding the next. If the sugar gets too sticky, place over low heat to warm it up again.
    6. Once built, use a large spoon to swirl remaining sugar around and around the croquembouche.
    7. Heat the chocolate, coffee, and coconut oil in a small bowl until completely melted, then drizzle over croquembouche. Top everything with flaked sea salt.

 

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  1. I’ve tried a few recipes from this site and they’ve all turned out decent. This one did not. The profiteroles called for too many eggs, which I should have monitored as I went because the dough was so runny. I tested one batch by baking the runny dough and, needless to say, they came out flat as pancakes. Next, I halved the recipe, omitting the eggs, then combined it to the runny dough. This made it much better and the following batches puffed up nicely. The custard thickened in about 2 minutes not 15 minutes and it had small lumps throughout even though I was sure to add some of the warmed milk mix with the yolk mix to bring them to temperature. I beat them for a long time with my mixer, but still not what I would’ve liked. Overall, I was not happy with how this turned out. It was salvageable and people ate it, but I wouldn’t recommend this recipe or make it again.






  2. Ok, so I totally want to make this for my holiday party in a couple weeks. Its an intimidating dessert, but I think if I space it out over the week prior, it can be done. How far ahead can you make the elements to this? Or what would you suggest for working ahead?