Croquembouche literally means "crunch in the mouth". It is made of nougatine (toasted sliced almonds in caramel, rolled to the required shape) and choux puffs filled with pastry cream, and stuck together with lots of caramel (hence the "crunch in the mouth").
Chef H made a beautiful croquembouche -- complete with pulled sugar flowers and ribbon, royal icing, and spun sugar -- in the demo on Monday night:
Chef H's croquembouche was so pretty that no one in class wanted him to cut it (for tasting). We took some photos and left it at that.
Sometimes pastry chefs use a cone to help with the assembly of a croquembouche, but Chef H did it freehand, and we had to do the same.
For our practical this morning, we took about 5 hours (= two practicals back to back) to make our croquembouche. We had to use at least 50 choux puffs, the nougatine, and some royal icing in our croquembouche, but we did not make pulled sugar flowers (which is something we will do in Superior Pastry).
Here's what I managed, and I must say I'm happy with my first-time effort. Even though it is not as fancy as some of my classmates' croquembouche, I felt I had done my best. I wanted to make something neat and simple, and I achieved my goal. Chef H said he liked the nougatine ribbon I made for the croquembouche, so that's a bonus for me.
Anyway, I left my croquembouche in the staff dining room at School, because I didn't think we could finish that many croquembouche at Wilbrod House (there are four of us in Intermediate Pastry, so four times the cake every lesson).
Here are some examples of the croquembouche my classmates made:
Lovely works of art, I'd say. I have some pretty talented and creative classmates, and I'm glad I am in the same group as them (because they inspire me to try harder and be more imaginative).
The croquembouche below is also by a classmate. It is unusual for a number of reasons. The choux puffs in this croquembouche is filled with pistachio pastry cream, dipped in caramel and rolled in chopped pistachio. I didn't get to taste it, but I imagine it would be quite nice. Also, the butterfly made with white royal icing is so pretty against the green background.
This classmate is one of three selected by the chefs to compete in a pastry competition in May, and I'm sure you can see why.
All in all, it was a good day for me, even though I burnt my fingers a couple of times when dipping the choux puffs in hot caramel. In fact, everyone in my class burnt their fingers doing the same thing, so it is no big deal.
