Thursday, May 27, 2010

Daring Bakers: PIECE MONTÉE

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.




Find the recipe here.

These were by far the tastiest thing we have made so far. A few notes:
  • This desert was surprisingly easy to make, and very forgiving when mistakes were made.
  • If you forget to add ALL the eggs to the cream filling, take it off the heat and pour the hot batter into eggs and whisk like crazy then return to a boil. It works just fine.
  • I found that scooping the pastry batter with a Mellon-baller actually resulted in taller puffs compared to piping the batter.
  • This recipe makes about 30, my hubby and I ate them ALL in 24 hours. Make a double batch if you want extras after a party.
  • the vanilla cream is more yummy than the chocolate version.
Enjoy!

13 comments:

Unknown said...

I want to pull out the bottom one.

Poires au Chocolat said...

That looks gorgeous! Yum.

Juline said...

Beautifully done. I like the sprinkles!

Anonymous said...

I've always wanted to make a croquembouche, but I have no idea what occasion would entail such a dessert. Probably not a Sunday game night. Looks fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Great work on your Piece Montee! I love that they remind me of frosted doughnuts :) I am so impressed that you were able to build your Piece Montee the way that you did!

Tracy said...

Beautiful work! I love the sprinkles; they make me think it is a tower of doughnuts. Mmm. :-)

Anonymous said...

Great job! I agree with the doughnut sentiment, and a tower of doughnuts is a tower of awesome.

Jeanne said...

I love the way you built your croquembouche, like a dome! Amazing that it held together. You've got good architectural skills. And it looks delicious!

Sinful Southern Sweets said...

Great job! Love the tip about scooping the puffs. Had no idea that was even an option. Would have been much easier!

tease-spoon of sugar said...

Oh yum! Yours looks amazing! Great job.

Mary said...

It looks great with all the sprinkles! I definitely could have eaten all mine too, and am now slightly regretting taking it to a friend's. Must make again!
:)

Winnie said...

I love how how your choux puffs are perfectly round!! Fabulous result!!

Athena said...

They look wonderful.