Croquembouche

Classic croquembouche - or “croque en bouche” is a spectacular dessert.

It’s a tower of cream puffs - miniature choux buns, usually with some sort of cream filling - held together with a golden caramel. The sugars in that caramel are cooked to a certain temperature, such that they set into a hard, crunchy caramel.

That caramel is where this traditional French dessert gets its name, which translates as “crunch in the mouth”.

Anyway, it’s traditionally served at weddings in various European cities, but also started becoming a popular alternative to wedding cakes here in North America about a decade ago.

It’s also great for holiday dinners, or fancier potlucks.

Add some seasonally appropriate decorative elements, and you’ve got yourself a Christmas croquembouche!

The thing is, you don’t need to be a pastry chef to make this pastry tower!

Choux pastry is incredibly easy to make, and - while it can be a little time intensive - anyone can do it. For that matter, you don’t even need to make your own pastry - more on that in a bit.

Once you try choux pastry, there are all kinds of things you can make with it. Cream Puffs, Chocolate Eclairs, Mini Eclairs, Profiteroles...

Anyway, bfore I get to it, a bit of a disclaimer here: This may be an easy recipe to make, however, it’s also sort of dangerous.

I won’t kid you, there is nothing worse than a hot sugar burn. If you drop the sugar onto skin, it will burn, it will stick, and it will HURT! Please exercise caution when dealing with the caramel in this recipe.

If you do make this for a group, and you do manage to burn yourself in the process.. I promise the reception it will receive - and the amount of brownie points you’ll gain - will be worth it.

Be careful anyways, though!

What Are Cream Puffs? What are Profiteroles?

Before I get to the “How”, let’s address the “What”, with a bit of definitions and such 🙂

Cream puffs / profiteroles are a great “fancy” dessert option.

Not only are they easier to make than you may think, they take very little in the way of ingredients. Also, they can be customized many ways!

While the terms tend to be used somewhat interchangeably, “Cream Puffs” tend to be larger, and split in half like a bun.

“Profiteroles” tend to be much smaller - an inch or two in diameter.

They’re usually filled by jamming a pastry bag into a small hole in the side of the pastry, rather than slicing it open.

Both items start out with the same batter - Pâte à choux, or “choux pastry”.

It’s a basic recipe that’s used to make everything from cream puffs and eclairs to cruellers and churros.

It doesn’t contain any leavening ingredients (yeast, baking powder, baking soda, etc), instead relying on its high moisture content to puff during baking.
Baked at a high temperature, the water becomes steam and creates large air pockets in the final product.

Fill them however you want - with pastry cream, pudding, mousse - and there you go. Fancy dessert!

If you want to up the badass factor though, consider assembling profiteroles into a croquembouche.

Ingredients

This croquembouche recipe is in two main parts - the pastry puffs, and the caramel to put it together.

All together, you’ll just need some super simple ingredients that you’ll be able to find in any grocery store:

All Purpose Flour
Granulated Sugar
Unsalted Butter
Large Eggs
Salt

As for the fillings... that really deserves its own section...

Fillings

While most croquembouche recipes include the filling, I prefer to leave that open to choice.

Stabilized Whipped Cream or Vanilla pastry cream is pretty standard, but the real fun comes from customizing things to your tastes, and to the event you’re serving it at.

For that matter, you can always mix and match, using a mix or 2 or more fillings throughout your crooquembouche.

Here are some ideas - and recipe links - for you to choose from.

Pastry Cream

My base Pastry Cream recipe can be flavoured with anything from vanilla bean or vanilla extract, to coffee, other extracts, or even liqueur.

Planning to serve it to chocolate lovers? Try Chocolate Pastry Cream

Whipped Ganache

You may be familiar with chocolate ganache as it relates to making truffles, or dripping on cakes.

With the right chocolate:cream ratio and 1 extra step, you can make ganache into a rich, fluffy filling that’s perfect for your profiteroles.

Try my Whipped Milk Chocolate Ganache or Whipped White Chocolate Ganache.

Mousse

Finally, mousse can be a super tasty filling here. Along the lines of whipped cream, but with a bit of extra oomph from egg whites and - in these cases - fruit.

Try my:

Clementine Mousse
Cranberry Mousse
Pumpkin Mousse
Raspberry Mousse

... or basically any favourite mousse recipe!

Seized Sugar

When you’re making and using the caramel, you’ll want to be careful to avoid the sugar seizing up.

This is when the sugar rapidly solidifies and becomes unusable.

You can tell when it’s happening, as it will go through stages like this:

Basically, you want to avoid shocking the caramel, or otherwise allowing crystals to form.

So, some things to keep in mind:

1. When you start boiling the syrup, wash down the sides of the pot with a wet pastry brush. Stray grains of sugar can trigger crystalization if they fall in.

2. Don’t stir the caramel after it starts boiling.

3. If you have to move the pot, do so gently. Picking it up and then roughly dropping it on a work surface can trigger crystalization.

4. Gently put the pot in a WARM water bath. If you put the pot in cold water, it’ll very likely cause it to seize.

5. Once the crystals start forming, know that you’re within a minute or so from it gong completely solid. Any agitation will just speed the process.

What do you do if your sugar seizes?

Fill the pot with hot water to soften it, and set it aside. This will make cleanup easier, later.

Grab a fresh pot, and start over. There’s not a lot of reason to try saving seized sugar.

Croquembouche Hacks

Between the recipe on this page and the fillings I linked to, above? You can make a croquembouche start to finish, 100% homemade.

HOWEVER, I realize this may be more ambitious than everyone has time or energy for. So... a couple suggestions if you need to "cheat" it:

1. Use instant pudding, Cool Whip, or another pre-made filling to fill the homemade profiteroles ... or

2. Buy pre made cream puffs, proceed directly to the assembly part of the croquembouche recipe at the bottom.

Personally, I think it's fun to do the start-to-finish thing... and gives you huge bragging rights.

Also, it's not difficult at all, or even all THAT time consuming. The pastry cream can be made ahead, and the puffs themselves work up really quickly.

Across the photos in this post, some of the croquembouches were made with my Homemade Profiteroles, and others with store bought.

It’s all good!

How to Make Croquembouche

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is a pictorial walk through with step by step photos and additional tips.

This recipe allows for about 40 profiteroles, which makes a tower for about 6 people.

The caramel makes more than enough for a bigger batch, so if you're looking to double - or triple - the pastry to serve more people, you don't really need to increase the caramel batch.

Make the Choux Dough

Pre heat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking sheet.

Note: It’s very important to not grease the pan – it will cause the pastries to flatten!

Combine water, butter, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan, heat to a boil over medium-high heat

Remove from heat, add flour, stirring with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until excess moisture is well incorporated.

Reduce heat to medium heat, return saucepan to stove top.
Note: You can also use a hand mixer and a large bowl, if you want!

Using the paddle attachment, beat the dough for a minute or so to allow it to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, beat together eggs and egg whites in a small bowl.

With the mixer set to medium speed, add beaten egg mixture to dough a little at a time, allowing eggs to fully incorporate into the dough before adding more.

It may look like a separating mess, but I promise it will come together!

When all of the eggs are incorporated and the dough is smooth and shiny, it’s ready to pipe!

It’ll be soft and a bit sticky, but more or less be able to hold its shape.

Pipe, Bake, and Fill the Profiteroles

Fit a Large Pastry Bag with a coupler and a plain tip, if desired. Personally, I just cut a small hole at the end of the piping bag.

Spoon choux dough into the pastry bag, being careful to avoid creating air pockets.

Bake for 12 minutes, then -WITHOUT opening the oven door – turn the oven temperature down to 350°F (180°C) and bake for another 25 minutes.

Crack the oven door open a few inches, turn the heat off, and allow the puffs to cool in the oven for at least 30 minutes.

This step allows the insides to dry out, providing a stronger structure to prevent collapse.

Allow choux buns to cool to room temperature before filling.

You can fill them once cool, or transfer the cooled pastries an airtight container until you’re ready to use them.

Set up a Large Piping Bag with a Standard Decorating Coupler, and a Bismark Piping Tip.

Fill the pastry bag with your choice of pastry cream, pudding, or mousse.

Once choux pastries are completely cool, jam the tip of the pastry bag into the side of a puff, and fill!

Assemble Your Croquembouche

Once you have a pile of filled puffs, you’re ready to make your first batch of caramel and assemble your pastry tower!

Note: Depending on how generous you are with the dipping, you may want to make a second batch of caramel at some point.

In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water, bringing to a boil over moderate heat. Use a damp pastry brush to wash down the sides of the pan, and don’t stir it after it starts boiling.

As soon as the sugar changes to a light amber color - about 300°F (150°C) - remove pan from heat.

Set bottom of saucepan in a larger pan of warm water, on heat proof surface.

This will slow the cooking, but keep the caramel warm enough to work with.

You’ll want to work quickly to assemble your croquembouche, before the caramel cools too much to work with.

Personally, I like to freestyle it, not bothering with a croquembouche form, but your mileage may vary. Feel free to use a styrofoam cone - like a craft store Christmas tree form - covered in parchment paper if you’d like.

Pick up one of the largest puffs and carefully dip the bottom of the puff into the hot caramel, place on serving platter.

Repeat with more of the larger puffs, dipping the bottom of each puff in the caramel, and placing them to form a large circle.

Note: It doesn’t HAVE to be a perfect circle, but the rounder you get it at the start, the nicer the tower will look!

Make a second row on top of it, using fewer puffs and attaching them slightly to the inside of the first row.

Continue making gradually smaller rings....

Spun Sugar

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can try making a web of sugar strands around it. You can spin as much or as little sugar as you’d like, to achieve your desired effect.

To do so:

Cut the very end off a wire whisk, or use 2-3 forks held together - I like to use 2, back to back, held together with an elastic band.

Dip the tines of the forks / whisk into the remaining hot caramel, and use a swift motion to spin trails of caramel around the croquembouche.

Note: This works best with sugar that has cooled slightly - it can take a few tries to get the hang of it.

Serve within 2 hours of making.

It’s best to serve as soon as possible, as the caramel threads (if used) are very sensitive to moisture in the air - and in the dessert itself - and will melt.

Chocolate Croquembouche

While it won’t “crunch in your mouth” in the same way as hardened sugar syrup does, you CAN make a croquembouche with melted chocolate.

It’s easier, definitely safer (kid friendly, even!), and will make chocoholics happy!

Check it out!

You can make one larger tower, or individual chocolate croquembouche - just divide the profiteroles between the number of servings you’ll want to make.

Ideally, you’ll want 6-8 per person, but that will vary greatly based on how large you made them!

You will need:

1 batch profiteroles
~ 10 oz chocolate of choice

Finely chop the chocolate (if not using chocolate chips), place in a microwave safe small bowl.

Microwave on high for 20 seconds at a time - stirring after each burst - at a time until about ⅔ melted. Continue stirring until completely melted.

Dip the bottom of a cream puff in chocolate, place on serving plate. You’ll be using the melted chocolate to “glue” the profiteroles to the plate - and the side of each puff - each other as you go.

Dip the bottoms more puffs into the melted chocolate, arranging them into a circle on the plate.

Continue dipping and placing, reducing the diameter with each successive layer, to form your chocolate croquembouche tower.

More Fancy Recipes

Planning for a special dinner, whether Valentine’s Day, a special date, or a fancy dinner party? Here are a few recipes to consider!

Baklava Cheesecake
Balsamic Mushroom Baked Brie
Chocolate Dessert Ravioli
Clementine Mousse with Champagne
Crispy Fried Olives Stuffed with Garlicky Cheese
Fancy Tea Sandwiches
How to Make Cream Puffs and Croquembouche
Mini Mushroom Arancini
Mushroom Brie Turnovers
Mushroom & Goat Cheese Braid with Balsamic Glaze
Pepper Crusted Tuna with Wasabi Cream Sauce
Phyllo Crab Triangles
Savoury Tomato Shortcake
Seafood Mousse
Shrimp & Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms
Traditional Raspberry Mousse
White Chocolate Almond Amaretto Truffles
Wild Rice Stuffed Chicken Breast with Dijon Chive Cream Sauce

Share the Love!

Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you post it to Bluesky, be sure to tag us - @CelebrationGen. We're also on Pinterest, so you can save all your favourite recipes to a board!

Also, be sure to subscribe to my free monthly email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense. Well, the published nonsense, anyway!

Finally, if you love this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and/or a comment below, and maybe even sharing this post on social media!