Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Chocolate Eclairs




This is a request for the chocolate pastry cream and this is one of the best chocolate pastry cream I've ever tried...by Pierre Herme.

Ingredients:

500 gm. milk
4 large egg yolks
75 gm. sugar
3 Tbsp. cornflour - sifted
200 gm. bittersweet chocolate, preferably Varlhorna Guanaja - melted
2 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature

Method:

(1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to boil. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks with sugar and cornflour in another saucepan.
(2) Very slowly drizzle the hot milk into the yolks mixture and keep stirring. Pour the rest of the liquid in a steady stream into the yolks mixture. Strain the mixture.
(3) Bring the mixture to boil - whisking energetically. Still over heat, stir in chocolate then remove from the heat and scrape the pastry into a small bowl. Stir in butter.
(4) Set the bowl into the ice-water bath and stirring frequently so that mixture remains smooth, cool the pastry cream .

21 comments:

r0ad5|d3 JuL|3+ said...

hi aunty~!
i was just wondering if the cream u used to fill the eclairs is chocolate pastry cream.. if it is, could u share the recipe pls? if it is a secret, its okay with me.. hehehes.. =)

i tried making a choc pastry cream for my previous attempt and it flopped... it didnt become a cream at all!!! it just stayed liquid.. urgh.. do help me out, if you could =)

thanks~!

Anonymous said...

This pastry cream recipe looks good but just a note for those who are a bit clumsy,like me!! I find that using a double boiler makes sure that your cream will never burn or curdle...takes a while longer but at least you can control the heat... =)

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty

Your bakes always leave me drooling :p
Btw, pls advise where to get chocolate..

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Kate,

For Varlhorna chocolate, go to Sun Lik. They have many brands of good cooking chocolate.

Supermarkets like Giant or Carrefour do have cooking chocolate too.

rgds

Aunty Yochana said...

Thanks Stef...for the tips.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi aunty,
how much is 1 tbsp of butter?

thanks,
angeline

Aunty Yochana said...

Angeline, 1 Tbsp. of butter is roughly about 15 gm.

rgds

r0ad5|d3 JuL|3+ said...

thanks aunty and stef for the recipe and the advice respectively!!! =)

Anonymous said...

Hi aunty, can I prepare this pastry cream in advance? Thanks

Aunty Yochana said...

Yes bernice,

This pastry cream can last at least 3 days.

rgds

Unknown said...

hi aunty lucy, i tried making this cream today but it stays watery and a bit thick but not thick or creamy enough to hold as a pastry cream.
How is the consistency of the cream should be? Do i have to whip till it look like the "hoon kueh" very thick texture.
Now that i have add all the chocolate and butter and its still watery, do u think the mixture can be safe if i double boil again and continue whipping again.
Or should i place in the fridge to harden it?

thanks

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi sue,

this recipe is by Pierre Herme - chocolate dessert book.

I followed the recipe and it was really good and smooth. If your cream turn watery, try adding some cornflour , stir and cook over low heat till thicken then chill it before using.

rgds

Unknown said...

aunty lucy , i chill it but but it still would not hold its shape. I will try to add more cornflour in the future.

I'm not sure bout this step 3) Bring the mixture to boil - whisking energetically.
What actually happens in this stage? Will the mixture turns very thick paste and hard to whisk? Because at this stage for me it was still watery and it was easy for me to whisk and then i add the cho n butter. So in the end mine cream looks like a thick ganashe instead. I think my mistake is at this 3 stage!
thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi aunty, I made this pastry cream this morning and it's yummy!!! The only thing I can complain is I find it very tedious to keep whisking but it's definitely worth the effort!!! Thanks for sharing this recipe!!!

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Bernice,

I think the same as you....don't mind the whisking as long as it taste delicious.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Aunty,

I tried this recipe and bring them for my friends and they all love it so much. These eclairs are super super delicious. Thank You for sharing this recipe with all of us.

Thank You and GBU
Racheline

MsCake said...

Hi aunty Yochana

This is only the cream filling, right ? That means I will use the choux pastry recipe from the choco cheese eclairs ?

Next, yr step 1), in separate saucepan, WHISK the yolk,sugar and cornflr, can I stir hard like creaming method or I need a elect whisk ?

Sorry to ask so much as I only started to get interested in baking recently after viewing yr all yr lovely recipes...

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi mscake,

Yes this is only the pastry cream. It's a filling for the eclairs.

Use a hand whisk , stir vigorously when pour in the hot liquid or use a hand held electric whisk, both works as well.

rgds

CHRISTOH said...

Hi Aunty Lucy,

I ended up with a lot of extra choc cream using this recipe today. I understand it can last 3 days? Would i be able to freeze it and use it as choc ganache when i next bake a choc cake? It's like so wasteful to have to throw out the extra cream after 3 days. Please help advise. Thanks n regards. Chris

Aunty Yochana said...

HI Chris,

You can use it to sandwich cakes or use it as a filling for buns but your cakes and buns must be already baked.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi yochana,

how much pastry cream would this recipe make?

Thanks for your time,
Astri =)