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1
Prepare all the ingredients. It is recommended to use a croquembouche mold to ensure a straight and solid ornamental cake.
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2
the cremer puffs on a slightly greased baking sheet. Count 3 to 5 buns per serving.
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Brush the on each bun using a fork...
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...and bake in a hot oven at 180°C/256°F for a good 20 minutes.
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When baked, the bun must be browned dry and puffy.
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Leave to cool. If still soft, leave to dry a bit longer in the warm oven.
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7
Flavour the custard or the to taste.
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8
Quantity of cream depends on the number of buns to be stuffed.
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Once cooled, stuff the buns from their flat side. To do so, poke them with the tip of a knife...
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...and stuff using a decorating bag with a small round plain tip
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Level the surface using the tip of your knife.
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12
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You may stuff the buns with different flavours and make a mix when assembling the ornamental cake.
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Nougat: In a copper pan or a stainless steel saucepan, gather sugar and glucose. Do not add water.
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15
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16
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...add chopped almonds...
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...and stir using a spatula.
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...until almonds are well coated with caramel and nougat makes a compact mass.
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Slightly grease your working surface...
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Pour the nougat on the slightly greased working surface...
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...and work it by folding in itself 2 or 3 times with a "triangle" spatula.
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It has to be rolled out when warm. If no greased working surface is possible, you may roll it out on a silicone baking paper such as "fiberlux".
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Form a stand of 3 mm thick with nougat by using a dessert ring as a cutter. Hammer on the ring with the rolling pin to cut the nougat.
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Leave to cool in a dry place.
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With the remaining nougat, form triangles. If the nougatine is too hard, break it in small pieces...
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...on a fiberlux baking sheet.
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Place in warm oven (150°C/300°F) for a few minutes to soften it.
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...and cut nougat into strips.
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In these strips, cut triangles and mold them on the rolling pin to give them a round shape. Leave to cool.
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Prepare a caramel with glucose...
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...and white icing. In this caramel, do not use sugar, because used alone, it hardly resists to temperature changes. A caramel made from caster sugar will be quickly sodden while a caramel made from glucose and icing will be more resistant.
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38
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...and cook sugar until caramelized. Be careful not to make too dark a caramel which would give a bitter taste.
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40
When the caramel is ready, stop the cooking by dipping the pan in another pan filled with cold water.
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41
Glaze the buns one after another. To do so, there are several options. With caramel: Dip the curved side of the buns into the warm caramel...
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...and place them on a sheet of parchment paper. Leave to cool.
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This makes buns with a flat side covered with caramel.
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With sucre grains: Dip the curved side of buns into the warm caramel...
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...then into the sucre grains.
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This makes buns with one side covered with sucre grains.
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With praline: Dip the curved side of buns into the warm caramel...
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...then into the praline.
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This makes a bun with a flat side covered with praline.
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These 3 possibilities may be combined with eachother when assembling the ornamental cake.
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Assembling: The cone allows to place the buns either inside or outside the mold. Here we will assemble inside the cone. To do so, slightly grease the inside of the mold.
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Assemble with cooked sugar by beginning from the tip of the mold, the glazed side of the bun against the stainless steel cone.
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Place the number of desired buns taking care to stick them to each other with the cooked sugar.
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Proceed level after level...
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...to obtain a balanced ornamental cake.
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Continue to stick the buns one after the other...
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...by alternating flavours and sugar or praline decors.
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Continue down the side of the mold.
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Place the nougatine disk on the serving dish.
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When the cake is hard, flip it on the disk and remove the cone.
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Stick this ornamental cake on the nougatine stand...
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...using a bit of remaining warm caramel.
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Stick the sugared almonds between the buns by scattering them here and there.
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Stick the nougat triangles on the lower side of the nougat stand.
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The piece may be displayed as it is.
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We can add or too and fix to the top a subject which symbolizes the ceremony (wedding, baptism, communion...).
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