Serves: 4
Named after the patron saint of pâtissiers, Gâteau Saint Honoré is a pillarstone of French pâtisserie. It combines a number of key techniques – puff pastry, choux pastry and pastry cream, not to mention assembling the cake.
Ingredients
For the puff pastry base
- 230g ready rolled puff pastry
For the choux pastry
- 250g water
- 100g butter, in cubes, plus a little extra for greasing
- 3.75g salt
- 7.5g sugar
- 150g plain flour, sifted
- 225g eggs (around 4 large eggs)
For the pistachio and raspberry pastry creams
- 550ml whole milk
- 155g caster sugar
- 45g corn flour or custard powder
- 90g egg yolk (around 4 or 5 large egg yolks)
- 90g unsalted butter
- 70g pistachio paste
- 2 tbsp raspberry powder
For the raspberry jelly discs
- 15g raspberry powder
- 50ml water
- 10g sugar
- 1g agar agar powder
For the finishing touches
- 300g double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 1 heaped tbsp icing sugar, sifted
- A handful of slivered pistachios
Special equipment
- 20cm circular cake tin base or cardboard cut out
- 9cm circular tartlet base or cardboard cut out
- Piping bags
- 12mm round nozzle for piping
- 8mm round nozzle for piping
- Pastry brush
- High accuracy weighing scales
- Pastry cutters (2cm and 4cm in diameter)
Directions
For the puff pastry base
1Unroll the puff pastry from its packaging. Use a 20cm circular cake tin base or circular cardboard cut out and a sharp knife to cut a 20cm circle out of the pastry. Use a 9cm disc or cut out to make 4 9cm circles.
2Transfer the pastry to a baking tray covered in baking parchment. Prick the pastry with a fork and refrigerate until you have made the choux pastry.
For the choux pastry
1Preheat the oven to 210°C, 200°C for a fan oven.
2Lightly grease a baking tray with a knob of butter.
3Heat the water, milk, butter, salt and caster sugar in a pan until the butter has melted.
4Away from the heat immediately tip in the flour and, using a wooden spoon, beat to combine.
5Move the pan back over a low heat, and stir the mixture (known as a ‘panade’) until it comes away easily from the sides of the pan.
6Remove from the heat, tip into a bowl and stir for 2-3 minutes until the mixture cools enough to add the egg.
7Add half the eggs in one go and beat vigorously to combine. Then slowly add the remaining egg, little by little – you may not need to use all of it! Keep checking the consistency. The mixture is ready when it looks very silky, and will drop from a spoon held at an angle above the mixture – ‘dropping consistency’ . It shouldn’t be runny.
8Place the 12mm nozzle in the piping bag and fill with the mixture. Pipe a circle of choux pastry around the circumference of the large pastry circle, 1 cm from the end.
9Pipe 13 choux buns 3cm in diameter.
10Pipe a loose spiral shape in the middle of the circle. Be sure to leave plenty of puff pastry uncovered as it will be filled with the pistachio pastry cream.
11Place the 8mm nozzle over the 12mm nozzle and pipe a similar circle around the circumference of the small pastry circles. Instead of a spiral in the middle pipe a single choux about 1.5cm in diameter.
12Pipe 16 small choux buns 1.5cm in diameter.
13Use the remaining egg and a pastry brush to lightly tap the surface of the choux pastry.
14Bake at 200°C for 20-25 minutes for the small Saint Honorés, 12-15 minutes for the small choux buns, 35-40 minutes for the large Saint Honoré and 17-20 minutes for the large choux buns. Be sure not to open the oven for the first ten minutes as the choux pastry may deflate.
For the pistachio and raspberry pastry creams
1Cover a flat baking tray in cling film.
2In a small pan mix together the raspberry powder and the water, using a whisk to make sure it all dissolves.
3Use a high accuracy weighing scale to measure the agar agar powder. Mix with the sugar.
4Add the sugar/agar mixture to the raspberry liquid. Bring to the boil then pour onto the baking tray.
5Leave to cool for a couple of minutes. Then cover with another layer of cling film and use a rolling pin to roll the jelly out to a thickness of 1mm.
6Refridgerate until set.
For assembly
1First, use small pastry cutters to cut circles in the raspberry jelly.
2Place the jelly circle ontop of the flat side of each choux bun, using any left over pastry cream to secure to make it stick.
3Using an electric whisk to whip up the cream, icing sugar and vanilla paste. Be careful not to over whisk.
4Fill a piping bag with the cream and pipe a large spiral design on the top of the large Saint Honoré. Use a star-shaped nozzle to pipe a rosette on the small Saint Honorés.
5Decorate the large Saint Honoré with 12 of the large choux buns, leaving one for the middle. Decorate the small Saint Honoré with 3 small choux buns around the edge and one in the middle.
6Scatter with slivered pistachios and serve ideally on the same day, or within two days.
