Monday, August 27, 2012

Daring Bakers - Filled Pate A Choux Swans



Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!

I wasn't even sure if I was going to participate this month, but two days before reveal day, I dragged my ass into the kitchen and made Choux Swans filled with vanilla pastry cream.  I had to make the choux twice - luckily, the first time, I only made a half batch, as the choux did not rise.  Not wanting to leave anything to chance the second time around, I abandoned Kat's Good Housekeeping recipe and turned to Australian kitchen legend, Margaret Fulton, instead.  That recipe requires the flour to be added while the butter mixture is boiling on the stove top, and for the oven to be 200 degrees Celsius (gas mark 6) - slightly hotter than Kat's recipe. To add that extra chance of success, I borrowed Delia's tip of wetting the greased trays slightly to make a "steamier" environment in the oven.

Hooray - second time around, I had success:



The pastry cream recipe from the challenge notes gave me no such issues - it worked just right first time around.

Thanks to our host Kat for taking us with her on living a childhood memory.  To see what everyone else did with their choux pastry and filling, visit the slide show at The Daring Kitchen once it is loaded on 27 August, US East Coast time.

13 comments:

Finla said...

Better late then not doing it,looks good love the shape. I only rememberd it today and hurried up doing them too.

Kayte said...

Oh, Gaye, they look so pretty. I would love to have one of these presented...you always make such special things. This was a good challenge, it was interesting to read your success and your not-success...I always learn from that. Beautiful job on these (despite having to "haul your arse into the kitchen"!).

Cher Rockwell said...

Ha, I just made mine tonight.... (It was one of those insufferably hot weekends up here).
I like your swans :-)

Anonymous said...

Your swans look fantastic. Great post!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

They look fantastic! I didn't do it this month because I already had a swan recipe going up and thought that that might be bird overkill (I'm not sure why now that I say that out loud though :P).

Johanna GGG said...

I love them! They even look like they are swimming on the blue plate! Good old margaret fulton is so reliable - glad it worked for you!

Choc Chip Uru @ Go Bake Yourself said...

Your swans are absolutely fantastic :D

Cheers
Choc Chip Uru

Kari said...

Oh my goodness. I would be speechless if that wasn't a redundant phrase via the internet! These are incredible - well done!

Asmita said...

These are the cutest swans I have seen. Amazing!

Unknown said...

NICE!!!!! I think I would never be able to do that!!

Kim said...

Nicely done. I am sorry to hear that your first attempt with the choux produced a non-successful choux, but glad to hear that the second was a success. I did not see the suggestion for steamier oven, hmm, may need to give that a try. Nice job!

Kathy said...

Beautiful swans! They came out lovely! I made these years ago and they were a challenge but such a hit!

Hazel - Chicken in a Cherry Sauce said...

Well done - they look fabulous! I'm currently battling the macaron challenge, I'm definitely not up to choux yet but one day I will try!