Saint-Honoré Cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 250 g puff pastry
• 250 g milk
• 100 g butter
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 150 g flour
• 4 eggs
• 5 dl milk
• 1 vanilla pod(s) or 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 40 g cornstarch
• 4 tbsp milk
• 50 g chocolate, dark
• some butter
• 200 g sugar for the caramel cream
• 5 tbsp water
• 500 ml cream, whipped

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 25 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 35 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours

Saint-Honoré cake

For the pastry base, line a 20 to 22 cm springform pan with the rolled out puff pastry. Prick the pastry firmly with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking. Bake the pastry base blind in a hot oven at 200 °C (top/bottom heat) for 15 minutes and allow to cool. For the oven cakes, bring the milk, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil. Pour in all the flour and stir vigorously until a ball forms. Allow the dough to cool in a bowl. Gradually beat the eggs into the batter. There is no need to add more eggs if the batter is very shiny and long peaks cling to the ladle. Spoon the batter in portions into a piping bag fitted with a smooth nozzle 1-2 cm in diameter. Pipe nut-sized heaps of this onto a greased baking sheet, spaced about 5 cm apart. The balls will double in size during baking. Bake the cakes in a hot oven at 175°C (top/bottom heat) for about 20 minutes (do not open the oven door during baking to prevent the cakes from collapsing). Then let the cakes cool and then lightly cut into the sides for filling. For the filling, briefly bring the milk to the boil with the slit vanilla pod or with the vanilla sugar and let it steep. Beat the egg yolks and sugar until you get a whitish cream. Mix the cornstarch with the milk. Mix the hot milk (remove the vanilla pod first) into the egg custard. Also beat in the mixed cornstarch and bring the mixture to the boil over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream has thickened. Crumble the dark chocolate and melt it in a bain-marie. Divide the cream equally between two bowls. Stir the melted chocolate into one half of the cream. Let both creams cool. To prevent a skin from forming on the surface, grate a little cold butter over the top using a lemon zest. For the caramel glaze, caramelize the sugar and water over medium heat until light brown and set aside in a hot water bath. Cake assembly: Place the puff pastry base on a cake plate. Using a piping bag, fill half of the cakes with vanilla and chocolate cream. Moisten the filled cakes with a little liquid caramel sugar and arrange a double row on the cake base. Place a second and—depending on the number of cakes—a third row on top. Spread the remaining caramel sugar over the entire ring. Using the piping bag, garnish the center of the cake with whipped cream.