Hi guys!
This post is for the more experienced bakers...swans made from choux pastry. These look amazing when they are done!! Definitely a table center piece and the best thing it's dessert.
Strawberries + Cream + pastry = Yum!
Ta Da!!! |
What Do I Need?
Choux Pastry-
- 100g Plain flour
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 75g Unsalted butter, diced
- 175ml Cold water
- 3 Large eggs at room temperature, beaten
Chantilly Cream-
- 250ml Whipping cream
- 2 tbsp Icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp Vanilla essence
For The Swans-
- 1 Quantity of choux pastry dough
- 1 Beaten egg, to glaze
- 10 Large strawberries, thinly sliced
- 1 Quantity of chantilly cream
Raspberry Sauce-
- 250g Fresh raspberries
- 1 tsp Lemon juice
- 4 tbsp Icing sugar
What Do I Do?
To Make The Pastry-
- Put the butter, salt and water in a medium sized pan and heat gently until the butter has melted- Don't let it boil!! Then quickly bring the mixture to the boil and add the flour in one go.
- Take the pan off the heat and beat furiously with a wooden spoon, the mixture will look like a lumpy mess but keep beating, you will get a smooth heavy dough.
- Put the pan back on a low heat and heat gently to slightly cook the dough until the dough comes away from the sides and is glossy.
- Tip the dough in large mixing bowl and allow to cool until barely warm, then using a electric whisk add the eggs gradually. (A wooden spoon won't be effective enough.) You may not need all of the egg but the dough should be very shiny and almost paste like dough, if the mixture is too wet, it won't hold it's shape in the oven.
To Make The Chantilly Cream-
- Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla essence together until soft stiff peaks form.
- Cover with cling film and place in the fridge until needed.
To Make The Swans-
- Preheat the oven to 200c and place some of the dough into a piping bag with a plain nozzle and pipe 12 S shapes about 9cm long onto baking paper, allow room for expansion. Brush lightly with beaten egg to glaze. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown, don't open the oven door! Allow to cool when baked.
- With any left over dough spoon the dough the make 10 oval shapes onto another baking sheet about 8cm long, 4cm wide and 2.5cm tall. Again allow room for expansion and glaze with egg and place in the oven for 30 minutes until a golden brown colour.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 180c and open and close the door quickly to let out steam, then bake for an extra 5 minutes. Once removed from the oven prick holes into the shapes to allow steam to esacpe and allow to cool.
- Cut the ovals in half horizontally then slice the top half lengthways to make the wings. Place the sliced strawberries in the base of each oval. Spoon the cream into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe over the strawberries. Gently stick the neck into one end of each oval then set the wings onto the cream each side of the neck and dust with icing sugar.
To Make The Sauce-
- Put the raspberries, lemon juice and icing sugar into a food processor and puree. Press through a fine sieve to remove seeds.
- Taste and add more icing sugar if needed. The place a spoonful into a small bowl and place a swan on top and serve right away.
Ta Da!!! You've made your own swan lake! Yes these do take a bit of time to make but they look really impressive.
Let me know how your swan lakes turned out, I would love to know, comment below!!!
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