The Daring Bakers May 2010 Challenge…Croquembouche
The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.
I’ll be honest, I’ve been a BAD Daring Baker. It’s been too many months since I have participated. Time, effort, feasibility – and downright dislike for the past few challenges have kept me from joining the rest of the group on our monthly baking quests…but not this month.
I. Know. Choux.
Thanks to a couple of years of practice and a big hand from Donna of Spatulas & Corkscrews who taught me this fine art, I really, really know choux. So, when I logged in to check out the May Challenge, I was thrilled to see Croquembouche. While I have made countless (and I do mean countless) batches of choux dough for creampuffs, eclairs, profiteroles and the like in the past, I had yet to assemble a croquembouche. For those of you not in the culinary loop, (Hell, I had to Google it myself, don’t let me fool you.) “cropquembouche” simply means “crunch in the mouth.” And that, my friends, is the perfect description. Imagine if you will a tower of fully filled cream puffs. Each puff has been coated in a warm caramel that acts as the glue of the tower, and as it dries, it hardens into a crunchy bite of fabulousness.
But caramel alone wasn’t good enough for me. I added chocolate ganache as well.
Because chocolate ganache rocks.
And because I was assembling my croquembouche as a birthday cake for a friend, and I like to overdo things. Hence, the massive amounts of spun sugar I crammed all over this tower of sin. I just couldn’t stop. Seriously. I had the caramel flying from one end of the kitchen to the other – whip, whap, whip, whap. Stickiness in all it’s glory. It may be the most fun I’ve ever had in the kitchen, except for that time when I was 18 and Jon and I….wait, I digress. Well, let’s just say it was a lot of fun. I can’t wait to have an excuse to do all of that again. (You pick which I am talking about. Gutter brain.)
As you can see, not only did I make webs upon webs of the tiny strings, I also made sugar corkscrews. Too much fun and may even be illegal in some states. I must have made a hundred of them…and no, they are not good as hair accessories. Not that I tried.
(All that much.)
Yes, I am an addict.
A Caramel, Sugar, Chocolate, Cream Puff Addict. If there’s a 12 Stepper – enlist me. If not, then I suggest you check out the rest of the Daring Bakers stunning creations this month, as I feel sure that most of them knew when to draw the line and not over accessorize their assignments.
Oh, and catch me here again tomorrow – YES, REALLY…I am finally giving away another KitchenAid Mixer. That’s right. 5 Quart, you pick the color. No joke.
Hey? Tell your friends?? DoughMessTic is Back.
