Pastry and Chocolate
Cooking Skills: Chocolate 2
Chapter 7 · Pastry and Chocolate
Skill goal
Combine chocolate with a biscuit case, ready-rolled pastry and choux, in four simple bakes.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
Chocolate and pastry go together naturally: a crisp case under a smooth filling, flaky layers wrapped round ganache, or light choux with warm sauce. This chapter uses only a biscuit case, ready-rolled puff pastry and a simple choux paste, so you can focus on the chocolate. Proper pastry-making is for Cooking Skills: Pastry 1 (planned).
The method
- Press the biscuit case firmly and chill it until hard.
- Make choux in order: boil, beat in the flour, cool, then add the eggs a little at a time.
- Bake hot and don't open the door early, or the buns collapse.
- Chill puff pastry swirls before slicing, so they hold their shape.
- Fill choux only just before serving to keep it crisp.
| Bake | Base | Chocolate part | Oven |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chocolate tart | Biscuit case | Set ganache | No bake |
| Profiteroles | Choux buns | Warm sauce | 200°C (180°C fan), 20 to 25 minutes |
| Pastry swirls | Puff pastry | Ganache filling | 200°C (180°C fan), 18 to 20 minutes |
| Éclairs | Choux fingers | Ganache glaze | 200°C (180°C fan), 25 to 30 minutes |
Hot paste, hot oven and filling
Choux paste is hot: the butter and water come to a rolling boil, and the cooked paste stays very hot. Beat it with a wooden spoon, let it cool for 5 minutes before beating in the eggs, and keep your face back from the steam. Don't open the oven in the first 20 minutes, or the choux collapses.Hot oven: use oven gloves, open the door away from your face, and put the tin on a heatproof surface. Don't leave the oven unattended, because chocolate bakes go from perfect to dry quickly, and every oven is a little different, so check early.
Filling choux: fill cooled choux just before serving, or the shells go soft. Pierce the base with a skewer or small knife, pipe in the cream, and keep filled buns in the fridge for no more than a day. Unfilled choux keep in an airtight tin for a day and re-crisp in a low oven for 5 minutes.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Chocolate tart with a biscuit case
The simplest chocolate tart: a crisp biscuit case filled with a 1:1 ganache and chilled. No baking and no pastry skill, just a good press and a good chill. Use a clear, deep chocolate flavour: this is where it shows.
Ingredients (8 portions)
- 200 g digestive biscuits, crushed
- 90 g butter, melted
- 200 g dark chocolate (about 70%), finely chopped
- 200 ml double cream
- 1 pinch sea salt flakes
- 1 20 cm loose-bottomed tart tin
- Mix the crushed biscuits and melted butter and press firmly into the base and up the sides of the tin with the back of a spoon. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Make the ganache: heat the cream until steaming, pour over the chocolate, wait 2 minutes and stir smooth.
- Pour into the case, tap to level, sprinkle with salt and chill for at least 3 hours. Serve in small slices cut with a hot knife.
Pastry, hot cream and chilling
Pastry: this chapter uses a biscuit case, ready-rolled pastry and a simple choux paste, so it needs no other pastry skill. Cooking Skills: Pastry 1 (planned) will cover shortcrust, puff shortcuts and tarts properly.Hot cream: cream heated to steaming is hotter than it looks and burns skin. Heat it in a small pan over a medium heat until it just starts to steam at the edges, don't let it boil over, keep the handle turned in and pour with care.
Chilled desserts: keep mousses, creams and pots covered in the fridge and eat them within about 2 days (general guidance). Take them out 10 to 15 minutes before serving so the flavour comes through. Don't leave them out for more than a couple of hours.
Allergens: chocolate contains milk (except some dark), and often soy (lecithin) and sometimes nuts or traces of them: check the label and the 'may contain' line. Cream, butter and many coatings are dairy, and cookies and biscuits contain wheat and often egg. Dairy-free dark chocolate and coconut cream can replace the dairy in many recipes, but the texture changes.
Level 2 · Choux
Profiteroles with chocolate sauce
Little puffs of choux filled with cream and drowned in warm chocolate sauce. Choux is boiled, beaten and baked: the steam inside puffs the buns up, so it needs a hot oven and a closed door.
Ingredients (6 portions)
- 125 ml water
- 50 g butter, cubed
- 65 g plain flour, sifted
- 2 Lion-marked eggs, beaten
- 1 pinch salt
- 200 ml double cream, whipped, to fill
- 1 batch pourable ganache (Cooking Skills: Chocolate 1, chapter 3), warm
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) and line two trays. Boil the water, butter and salt in a pan, tip in all the flour at once and beat hard until the paste leaves the sides of the pan. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs a little at a time until the paste is smooth and glossy and drops off a spoon. Pipe or spoon into 18 small mounds.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and crisp, without opening the oven for the first 20 minutes. Pierce each to let the steam out and cool on a wire rack.
- Fill with the whipped cream and pour over the warm sauce just before serving.
Hot paste, steam, hot sauce and filling
Choux paste is hot: the butter and water come to a rolling boil, and the cooked paste stays very hot. Beat it with a wooden spoon, let it cool for 5 minutes before beating in the eggs, and keep your face back from the steam. Don't open the oven in the first 20 minutes, or the choux collapses.Crisp choux: when the buns are golden, make a small slit in each with a knife to let the steam out and return them to the switched-off oven for 5 minutes. Damp, soft choux is nearly always one that came out too early.
Hot sauce: chocolate sauce for profiteroles is poured warm, not hot. Warm it gently in a pan or the microwave, stir, and let it cool for a minute before pouring, because it burns skin and melts the cream.
Filling choux: fill cooled choux just before serving, or the shells go soft. Pierce the base with a skewer or small knife, pipe in the cream, and keep filled buns in the fridge for no more than a day. Unfilled choux keep in an airtight tin for a day and re-crisp in a low oven for 5 minutes.
Eggs: use eggs with the British Lion mark and wash your hands after handling raw egg. Recipes in this course never serve raw egg: yolks and whites are baked, or cooked as described. Pregnant women, babies, older people and anyone unwell should check current FSA advice before eating egg dishes, even cooked ones.
Level 2 · Swirl
Chocolate pastry swirls
Ready-rolled puff pastry spread with a thick, chilled ganache, rolled up and sliced into spirals. They puff into flaky, chocolatey swirls. Chill the roll before slicing so the slices keep their shape.
Ingredients (10 portions)
- 1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry (about 320 g), chilled
- 100 g dark chocolate (about 70%), finely chopped
- 100 ml double cream
- 1 Lion-marked egg, beaten, to glaze
- 1 tbsp caster sugar, to finish
- Make a ganache with the chocolate and cream and chill for about 1 hour until thick and spreadable.
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Unroll the pastry and spread the ganache over it, leaving a 2 cm edge. Roll up tightly from a long side and chill the roll for 20 minutes.
- Slice into 10 rounds, lay flat on a lined tray, brush with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden and puffed. Cool on a rack.
Pastry, hot oven and filling
Ready-rolled pastry: keep it in the fridge until the last moment, and work quickly: puff pastry rises best when it is cold. Check the label for butter, wheat, and any traces of other allergens.Hot cream: cream heated to steaming is hotter than it looks and burns skin. Heat it in a small pan over a medium heat until it just starts to steam at the edges, don't let it boil over, keep the handle turned in and pour with care.
Hot oven: use oven gloves, open the door away from your face, and put the tin on a heatproof surface. Don't leave the oven unattended, because chocolate bakes go from perfect to dry quickly, and every oven is a little different, so check early.
Keeping: store baked treats in an airtight tin at room temperature for about 3 to 4 days (general guidance), or freeze them wrapped for up to about a month. Anything with a cream cheese or cream filling belongs in the fridge.
Level 3 · Eclair
Chocolate éclairs
Choux piped into fingers, baked until hollow and crisp, filled with cream and glazed with ganache. The skills are even piping, thorough baking and an unhurried glaze.
Ingredients (8 portions)
- 1 batch choux paste (Profiteroles, above)
- 250 ml double cream, whipped with 1 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 batch ganache glaze (Cooking Skills: Chocolate 1, chapter 3), just warm
- 1 piping bag with a large plain nozzle
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Make the choux paste and pipe 8 fingers, each about 10 cm long, on a lined tray, with space between.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until deep golden and crisp, without opening the oven for the first 20 minutes. Slit each, return to the switched-off oven for 5 minutes and cool.
- Slice each éclair along one side, pipe in the cream, and dip the tops in the just-warm glaze. Set for 15 minutes and serve within a few hours.
Hot paste, piping, glazing and filling
Choux paste is hot: the butter and water come to a rolling boil, and the cooked paste stays very hot. Beat it with a wooden spoon, let it cool for 5 minutes before beating in the eggs, and keep your face back from the steam. Don't open the oven in the first 20 minutes, or the choux collapses.Piping: fill a bag halfway only, twist the top closed, and squeeze from above, not the middle. Pipe onto a lined tray with a little paste dabbed under each corner of the paper, so it stays flat.
Glazing: use the ganache glaze when it is just warm and thickly pourable (about 35°C), and dip or spoon it over cooled éclairs. Hot glaze runs off and melts the filling.
Filling choux: fill cooled choux just before serving, or the shells go soft. Pierce the base with a skewer or small knife, pipe in the cream, and keep filled buns in the fridge for no more than a day. Unfilled choux keep in an airtight tin for a day and re-crisp in a low oven for 5 minutes.
Experiments
Experiment
Chilling the pastry
Cold or warm roll.
- Slice one pastry swirl roll after 20 minutes in the fridge and another straight after rolling.
Look for: The chilled roll slices cleanly and bakes into neat spirals; the warm one squashes and leaks. Chill before slicing.
Experiment
Choux baking time
20, 25 and 30 minutes.
- Bake three choux buns for 20, 25 and 30 minutes, and cool each. Cut one open.
Look for: The shortest is pale and collapses; the middle is golden and hollow; the longest is dark and crisp but dry. Bake until deep golden.
Experiment
Filling temperature
Warm or cold filling.
- Fill one choux bun with whipped cream straight from the fridge and another after the bun is still slightly warm.
Look for: The warm bun melts the cream into a puddle; the cool bun holds it. Cool the buns completely first.
Experiment
Glaze consistency
Hot, warm and cool.
- Dip one éclair in hot glaze, one in just-warm glaze and one in cool, thick glaze.
Look for: The hot glaze runs off in a thin layer; the warm one coats evenly and sets glossy; the cool one is thick and lumpy. Aim for just warm.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chocolate tart | ||||
| Profiteroles | ||||
| Pastry swirls | ||||
| Éclairs | ||||
| Chilling the pastry | ||||
| Choux baking time | ||||
| Filling temperature | ||||
| Glaze consistency |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Choux collapse | Oven opened early, or underbaked | Bake until deep golden; keep the door shut |
| Choux too flat | Paste too wet | Add the eggs gradually, stopping when it drops off the spoon in a ribbon |
| Soggy choux | Not dried out or filled early | Slit to release steam; fill just before serving |
| Biscuit case crumbles | Too little butter, or not pressed | Press harder and chill for longer |
| Swirls spread flat | Pastry warm | Chill the roll before slicing and the tray before baking |
| Glaze dull or streaky | Too cool, or not smooth | Warm gently and stir; glaze again |
Hot paste, eggs and allergens
Choux paste is hot: the butter and water come to a rolling boil, and the cooked paste stays very hot. Beat it with a wooden spoon, let it cool for 5 minutes before beating in the eggs, and keep your face back from the steam. Don't open the oven in the first 20 minutes, or the choux collapses.Eggs: use eggs with the British Lion mark and wash your hands after handling raw egg. Recipes in this course never serve raw egg: yolks and whites are baked, or cooked as described. Pregnant women, babies, older people and anyone unwell should check current FSA advice before eating egg dishes, even cooked ones.
Allergens: chocolate contains milk (except some dark), and often soy (lecithin) and sometimes nuts or traces of them: check the label and the 'may contain' line. Cream, butter and many coatings are dairy, and cookies and biscuits contain wheat and often egg. Dairy-free dark chocolate and coconut cream can replace the dairy in many recipes, but the texture changes.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can press a firm biscuit case and set a ganache tart.
- I can make choux paste and bake it crisp.
- I can chill and slice a rolled pastry.
- I can fill and glaze an éclair.
- I fill choux just before serving.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Chocolate 2, chapter 8 is A Chocolate Showpiece: planning and plating a chocolate dessert for guests.