White chocolate iced, creme patissiere filled choux buns (recipe)

Hmm, ganache without cream…that’s not going to work! – me

This weekend’s baking adventure was going so, so well right up until the icing stage when we realised we had no cream with which to make the ganache. Instead, we iced them, so we ended up with something that’s a cross between an iced bun and a profiterole. What do you think?

Well, they taste nice. They’re a bit messy to eat, with extremely sweet white chocolate icing on the outside, creamy semi-set custard on the inside and a pretty darn good choux pastry holding it all together. They’ve been polished off pretty quickly, so I’m calling that a kind of accidental success.

The choux bun and creme pat methods are both borrowed almost exactly from Mary Berry, but the icing and the method for putting it all together are of our own creation, heavily based on what we saw the bakers do on Great British Bake Off.

Here’s the recipe. Makes 12.

Ingredients

For the creme patissiere:

• 3 free range medium eggs
• 60g plain flour
• 90g caster sugar
• 400ml milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

For the buns

• 60g butter, cut into cubes
• 150ml water
• 75g plain flour, sieved
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

For the icing:

• 25ml whole milk
• 75g white chocolate
• 30g-50g icing sugar, sifted

Instructions

Make the creme pat:

• Mix together the eggs, flour, sugar, vanilla essence and splash of the milk in a large bowl until smooth and set aside
• Warm the rest of the milk to almost boiling, then pour into the egg mixture, stir vigorously
• Wash out the pan, then return the mixture to it and heat gently until thick
• Pour into a clean bowl, cover on the surface with cling film and chill in the fridge

Make the choux buns:

• Cube the butter and heat in a pan with the water until the butter is melted and the water is boiling
• Take off the heat, sieve in the flour and stir vigourously. Keep going until it turns into a smooth, soft ball
• Allow to cool a bit, then stir in the beaten eggs, beating the mixture very vigourously until it turns into a smooth, shiny paste
• On a greased baking tray, pipe or spoon 12 equal blobs, at least 2 inches apart
• Bake in the oven at 200C fan assisted for 10 minutes, then 180C fan assisted for 20 minutes
• Remove and transfer to a wire rack, then using a skewer, poke a little hole in the bottom of each one, then leave to cool completely

Make the icing:

• Heat the milk and chocolate in a bowl over simmering water until melted, then remove from the heat
• Allow to cool to room temp, then seive in half the icing sugar, beating until smooth
• If it looks too thin to ‘drizzle’ successfully, sieve and beat in the rest of the icing sugar

Bring it all together:

• When everything is cool, use a piping bag and small nozzle to fill each of the buns with the creme pat via the holes you made earlier – be careful not to overfill or they’ll burst!
• Turn them all right side up again and spoon a little of the icing over each one
• Leave to set for 30 minutes or so, then serve

So, with a little bit of guesswork and a lot of help from Mary Berry, they turned out ok. Will you try them?