Sunday, May 03, 2009

CROQUEMBOUCHE

CLICK PICS TO ENLARGE























That is not a bald spot.







Have you ever heard of a Croquembouche?

The Corquembouche was first created by a Chef back in the 1700's name of Careme'. He took Cream Puffs, dipped them in carmelized sugar and stacked them up in a conical shape. It became the Traditional French Wedding Cake and is best served by cutting with a Broadsword. They are usually 3-5 feet tall, but these I made for the NA Fundraiser auction two weeks ago are just baby's, only about 100 Puffs each.

After you get them built, you take your melted sugar and you spin it around the cake, leaving a fine silken golden web that these pictures do not quite show. Thats what I am busy doing in the pictures above. Thanks, Kimmy for taking these pics!
They are quite stunning to see and delicious to eat.
Any Pastry Chef worth their salt would be horrified at the way these look, but one of them sold for $150 dollars at the Auction!








13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool! But you're not fooling me. That's a pile of old baseballs. Hey Steve! UF Mike

GEWELS said...

AWESOME!!!!! You need to have Waterbaby post the recipe on my imagined eating blog. PLEASE!

They look fabulous- good job Steve!

SkippyMom said...

If you click the pic' you can see how pretty the sugar is full size.

I would've outbid the other guy - oh, they look so scrumptious!

bulletholes said...

Nice pile, right Mike!

Gewels! WB helped me make three of these a few years back for Cub Scouts.

Yay Skippymom! Yeah, if you click the picture you see the details!

Anonymous said...

That is good stuff Bulletholes. I made one of these at the Cordon Bleu Pastry school. A lot of effort goes into making one of these.

bulletholes said...

Ha! Not if you buy the Cream Puffs already made!

Waterbaby said...

OMG!!!!! I LOVE THESE THINGS!!!!! THEY ARE MESSY BUT DELICIOUS!!!

Annie said...

They look delicious. Hiya Bulletholes!

red dirt girl said...

YUMMM-EEEEE !!!!

(and you didn't cheat by going to Sam's - RIGHT ?????!!!!)

do i have to get married to order one?
please say no.

xxx
rdm

Anonymous said...

Hey Good Looking...
My pastry chef started making these things and only 1 problem...nobody ever eats them. Maybe 1 or 2 "puffs" are pried off the tower but that's it.
All that work for nothing.

bulletholes said...

WBaby-Wasn't that fun! We had the whole neighborhood making those things!

hi Annie! They are pretty good eatin'. And pretty to look at too!

Yes RDM, I cheated but I didn't go to Sams. Went to Walmart. Have you ever made pate Choux for 200 ream Puffs? Then piped 'em out and filled them with Pastry cream that you made? OK-
And no, you don't have to get married...you can just sleep with the Chef!

Hey Banq man! They probably aren't eating them becaus ethey dont want to get them on their nice clothes. A Croquembouche can be sliced and served on plates, with forks and everything.
I once made 6000 Cold Hors' D Ourves and had 5500 come back.
Heartbreak!

GrizzBabe said...

Yummy! You've got mad skillz!

David Kanigan said...

Wow. You need to take the craft commercial.