The worst part about typing recipes at night is that it makes me so HUNGRY. Is it really hunger though… I certainly would not eat broccoli. My mouth is literally watering looking at my own pictures which I know makes me sound very vain. I actually used to hate this cake. I mean I never liked it. Today though oh-my-gad absolutely delicious. The cream is light but still coats your mouth with all its richness from the praliné. The choux pastry is nice and airy and the silvered almonds on top just give it that extra crispiness. The hardest part of this recipe is getting the choux pastry to the right consistency, I have written a whole post about that here. Pipping it can also be a little tricky but no matter the shape, no matter if the cream is pipped instagramaly worthy or not, it will make your kitchen smell so good, it will taste even better, and it will definitely make everyone happy.

For the choux pastry:

The first element of this desert is of course the choux pastry. To make the fail-proof dough the one that puffs up and stays that way, the one that simply won’t let you down it’s that way. You will notice that the recipe here calls for water only. It isn’t uncommon. Choux pastry made with water only tends to puff up a bit more than with a water/milk combination. They also tend to be on the drier side. I transcribed the recipe exactly the way I found it but of course do as you wish! Prepare a baking tray and do not line it with parchment paper. Ideally you have a stainless steel baking tray but even if it’s aluminum I think it’s safe to bake right on it every once in a blue moon isn’t it?

Grease your baking tray with a canola oil sprayer – or any other oil that does not have a strong taste like grapefruit oil. Wet the edge of the ring, and using a plate large enough, dip it in the flour. Mark the tray on which you will bake the choux so that we can use it as a pipping guide.

We are going to pipe 3 circles of choux pastry. The first one on the very mark we just made. The second one on the inside of that first circle of dough. And the third one right on top of the two like so.

Spray the dough with oil and then using a small strainer, dust the dough with powdered sugar, be generous, this will help the dough rise nice and steady even without using craquelin.

Place the silvered almonds on top making sure they stick to the product but without pressing too hard, be gentle. Bake this first in an oven preheated to 350F for about 45 to 50mns.

Let it cool down completely on a cooling rack before cutting the top third off. You don’t want to cut it in half like a sandwich, you really want to just trip the top of to get a nice little hat kind of moment.

Pipe another round of choux of the same diameter than the one you just used. This circle of dough will be used to put inside of the Paris Brest, underneath the cream. I pipped two for insurance purposes, also because I found my first pipped ring more oval than round. Spray with oil and dust with powdered sugar.

Bake at 350F for about 30mns or until browned and crispy on the top. If you need to check the doneness of your products do so through the door using your oven light. In any case do NOT open the oven door before you are pretty confident it is done. By doing so you would be letting escape the only thing making your choux puff up: the steam from the water contained in the dough.

The mousseline cream

Warm up 500g of milk on the stove. Meanwhile mix 150g of eggs and 250g of sugar until combined. Add 60g of corn starch and mix.

Once the milk is about to boil, pour 1/3 onto the egg mixture while whisking simultaneously to prevent the eggs from cooking on contact with the very hot milk. Add another 1/3 of milk and return the pot with the remainder of the milk on the stove on medium.

Return everything back to the pot on the stove and cook the cream. At this stage you must stay in front of the stove at all times and whisk the cream making sure to get to the bottom and the sides of the pot so the cream doesn’t burn. Once the custard starts to bubble up remove the pot from the stove. Transfer to a bowl and add 125g butter. Mix. Add 240g of praline and mix until smooth. At this point you can use an immersion blender to perfect the cream.

Transfer the custard cream in a prepared clean filmed tray and chill in the fridge until completely cooled about 1 hour.

Once the cream is cold it will have this consistency. Simply smooth it out using the whisk attachment on the stand mixer. You will have a very hard time doing this by hand (I know I’ve tried) so if you don’t have a stand mixer don’t let the cream cool down to much in the fridge.

Slowly add the remaining 125g of butter while whisking at the same time. The rule is that if the cream is really cold the butter should be very very very soft (never melted) and if the cream is at room temperature, the butter should be cold. This is to allow the butter to incorporate well to the cream but also so allow the cream to be whisked (and air bubbles to form inside of it) to so it can get to the light and airy texture we love. I always have a cold cream and a squished between my fingers butter.

Place the cream in a pipping bag with a dented tip and store in the fridge.

The assembly

Get the inner ring of choux and poke holes in it with a toothpick.

Pipe the cream in the holes all along. You know it’s full when you see cream coming out from the next whole.

Pipe a first layer of cream in the bottom part of the choux. Place the inner ring on top of it and pipe another layer of cream over it to cover it up (I forgot to take a picture sorry)!

Powder the top with powdered sugar and place it over the filled choux.

Gnom gnom gnom gnom…