Daring Bakers - Gateau St. Honoré

Back in March when I noticed a bunch of the baking bloggers I religiously read were all making red velvet cakes, I begged to be included in the group! This month Daring Bakers has grown to 48 members, all attempting the same challenge. This month's challenge was Gateau St. Honoré, in honor of the birthday of St. Honoré, the patron saint of bakers.

This pastry is often used as a final exam for pastry chefs, since it includes puff pastry, cream puffs, cream, caramel, and spun sugar. You can read more about the recipe and look at other bakers by clicking on Helene's post - she was one of the two hosts for this month's challenge.



I decided to make several small pastries rather than one large cake, and am glad I did. I even drizzled some caramel on the parchment paper that looked kind of like a butterfly, so I've included it here. Here's another view where it might be easier to see:



I was overwhelmed by this challenge. Last week I had talked myself out of it completely, but let myself be talked back into it. I did take the out of buying storemade puff pastry, but everything else is mine. I had never made cream puffs before, so that was neat to see how easy it is! All of my cake decorating supplies are still in the closet of my old bedroom in my parents' house in Oregon, so I had to improvise with spoons and ziploc bags, but it worked just fine. I didn't start until today, and it was due today, whoops. Normally I would have taken my time but I had psyched myself out about it.

With my extra dough I made some eclairs. I have no idea what I'll do with the bowl of cream I have left over, but some bakers have done some creative things including turning it into icecream!



There were a few casualties - I had a saucepan I was ready to throw away, so it was sacrificed to the caramel. I know I could heat it back up and retrieve the pan, but it was ready to die anyway. I did burn my finger on the molten caramel, and smartly (not) stuck it in my mouth, burning my tongue as well! Other than that, things went fairly smoothly. I'd like to eventually make puff pastry from scratch, it just wasn't going to happen this month.

Categories: Caramel, Cream Puffs, Custard, Daring Bakers, Pastry, Puff Pastry