Saint Honoré cake.

Tarte Saint Honoré is a classic French dessert that combines a crispy choux pastry base, profiteroles filled with pastry cream or Chiboust, and a caramel topping. It is an elegant and delicious dessert that requires some technique, but the end result is well worth the effort.

Ingredients:

For the puff pastry:

1 sheet of puff pastry dough

For the choux pastry:

125 ml water
50 g butter
1 pinch of salt
75 g flour
2-3 eggs

For the custard:

250 ml milk
1 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
50 g sugar
20 g cornstarch
10 g flour
2 gelatine sheets (4 g)

For the caramel topping:

200 g sugar
50 ml water

Elaboration:

1. choux pastry:

In a saucepan, heat the water, butter and salt until the butter melts.
Remove from the heat, add the flour all at once and stir until just combined. Return to the heat and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the dough comes away from the bottom of the pan. Leave to cool slightly.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition until the batter is smooth and shiny.
Place the dough in a piping bag with a large plain nozzle. Form small mounds of dough on a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving space between them.
Bake at 200°C for 20-25 minutes, or until the profiteroles are golden brown and crisp. Turn off the oven and leave the profiteroles in the oven for a further 10 minutes to dry out completely. Leave to cool.

2. Custard cream:

Heat the milk with the vanilla in a saucepan.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until pale. Add the cornflour and flour and mix well.
Pour the hot milk over the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat until thickened. Remove from the heat and add the previously hydrated and drained gelatine leaves. Leave to cool.

Prepare the Chiboust cream:

Alternatively, this cream can be made from ready-made custard as described above.
For this, Italian meringue is prepared:
- In a saucepan, heat the sugar and water to a 118°C syrup.
- Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until stiff. When the syrup is ready, pour it in a trickle over the egg whites, whisking constantly, until the meringue is firm and glossy.
Mix and whip the chiboust cream:
Gently fold the Italian meringue into the cooled custard.

3. Fill the profiteroles:

Fill the cold profiteroles with the custard using a piping bag with a fine tip.

4. Caramel topping:

In a saucepan, heat the sugar and water over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and caramelises. Carefully add the hot crème fraîche and stir until just combined. Allow to cool slightly.
Pour the caramel over the profiteroles, covering them completely.

5. Assemble the cake:

Place the baked puff pastry dough as a base.
Fill a piping bag with the chiboust cream (if you opt for this filling) and pipe a border of cream over the puff pastry.
Fill the choux pastry profiteroles with the remaining pastry cream or chiboust.
Prepare the caramel by heating the sugar and water until golden brown. Dip the top of each profiterol in the caramel and place them on the cream border on the puff pastry base.
Fill the centre of the cake with more custard or chiboust and decorate with caramel threads if desired.

Advice:

For a stronger vanilla flavour in the custard, you can use a fresh vanilla pod or good quality vanilla extract.
If the custard is too thick, you can add a little more milk to thin it out.
It is important that the profiteroles are completely cool before filling them with the custard to prevent them from going soft.
The caramel must be warm but not hot when pouring it over the profiteroles for it to adhere properly.
The tart Saint Honoré can be kept in the refrigerator for one day, but it is best eaten the same day it is prepared so that the profiteroles remain crunchy.

Tarte Saint Honoré is a high-calorie, high-sugar dessert. It should be eaten in moderation as part of a balanced diet.