There are so many really great French inspired desserts that don’t get nearly enough attention in the USA, and one of these examples is the St. Honore cream cake. The cake is named after St. Honore (Honoratus) who just happens to be the French patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs.
This classic dessert that I learned to make in culinary school can be made few different ways. The first way starts with a very thin round cut out of puff pastry on which you pipe out a ring of éclair dough called pate a choux (pronounced pate shoo) along the outer perimeter of the puff pastry disc. Then you pipe out smaller round éclairs on another sheet pan and bake everything. Once baked everything is cooled and the round ring is cut in half all the way around and filled with custard and so are all of the individual smaller puffs. The next step involves making some caramel and dipping the tops of the small puffs into the caramel and let them harden upside down creating that tell tale flat top that is very traditional for this dessert. When you make the version with the puff pastry disc, make sure to fill the entire center of the dessert with piped out cream and fresh fruit, it makes a beautiful presentation if you are making it for a fancy event.
The other way to do this is a little easier…you can either scoop or pipe out large rounds of éclair dough in a ring and bake it in the oven. As it bakes, the rings will bake together. I usually pipe out about 10-12 large rounds. Then on another sheet pan I pipe out smaller puffs and bake them. Once cool, you need to fill these too…but what I do is that I turn the large round base upside down, poke holes in the bottom of the puffs and fill them this way, then I turn it right side up again. I then fill all the mini cream puffs. The next step is the same, make some caramel that is just turning a lovely amber color and pour half of the caramel out onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan and allow it to harden. As you run out of caramel in your small pot, just break pieces of the hardened caramel and keep adding it to your little pot of caramel, this will prevent having to reheat and possibly darken or burn the caramel as you glue the smaller puffs to the larger pieces beneath them. Doing it this way creates a perfect little portion for each guest and simply cut between each portion.
Traditionally this is filled with a crème chiboust (pronounced sheboost), which is essentially pastry cream, whipped cream and Italian meringue folded in as a stabilizer. The cream softens the pastry and the caramel, and when you bite into it you get a pleasant crunch that is easy on the teeth and not problematic at all….try it, you’ll love it.
St Honore Cream Cake
¾ cup heavy cream
Powdered sugar to slightly sweeten cream (about ¼ cup)
Caramel
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon corn syrup (prevents crystallization)
Begin with making the pastry cream either the day before or a few hours before you plan to make the dessert in order to give it enough time to cool and set. Then make the éclair dough following the instructions I have provided and pipe out the larger puffs in a ring and then the smaller puffs on a separate tray.
Once they have cooled add the heavy cream and powdered sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and whip until it almost forms stiff peaks. When it is almost whipped, add half of the amount of pastry cream and then whip it together the rest of the way. I usually don’t do the extra step of adding the Italian meringue, but if it is going to be for an event that requires it to be out on a buffet, I definitely would add it to create a more stable product.
Next, turn the ring of éclairs upside down by flipping it over using another sheet pan, then pierce the bottoms of all the puffs.
Use a medium sized tip in a pastry bag and fill it with the prepared cream and pipe a generous amount into each puff. Do the same for each of the smaller cream puffs and place everything back in the refrigerator.
Next make the caramel by putting all of the ingredients into a small pot and cooking the caramel to slightly beyond a hard crack stage (about 320°F) where it turns into a honey amber color. Once you have reached that temperature, you must be careful or it can turn dark very quickly. If you have a lot of puffs to coat in caramel then I suggest you pour half of the caramel out onto a paper lined tray and allow it to cool as you begin dipping the puffs.
Once the caramel has cooled, break it into pieces and add a little at a time into the pot to keep it all about the same color from start to finish. First dip the tops of the smaller puffs carefully into the caramel and allow them to set on the paper upside down to create a flat top. Once they have cooled, dip the bottoms of each small puff into the caramel and glue it onto the tops of the large puffs in the ring. Once it has set, cut them apart and enjoy!
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