1,504 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

Chinois

"Chinese" - what a strange name for this cake! A kind of brioche, filled with confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière) which can be decorated with fondant icing.

270 K 2× 3.9/5 (34 reviews)

5 hours 30 min. difficulté

Easy

3.15 €

2 Chinois

4 Ingredients

Last modified on: September 10^th 2018

For this recipe: I want to make it (400×) I made it (421×) Comment Send to a friend Ask a question Follow Printable Diaporama Vidéo User-friendly URL

For 2 Chinois, you will need:

1 1 kg brioche dough
2 600 g confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière, or french pastry cream)
3 40 g beaten egg
4 200 g fondant icing (optional)
Total weight: 1,640 grams

Change these quantities to make:

1 Chinois 2 Chinois 3 Chinois

Change measures:

Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 50 min.

Resting: 4 hours

Cooking: 40 min.

All in all: 5 hours 30 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 10 min.

After preparing 1 kg brioche dough, refridgerate for 1 or 2 hours or overnight, so that the dough becomes firm.

Then roll out dough (sprinkle generously with flour) into a large rectangle about 1 cm or 0.5 inch thick.

Stage 2 - 3 min.

Put this rectangle on a bigger sheet of cooking parchment. If necessary, reshape your rectangle after this transfer operation.

Stage 3 - 5 min.

Spread a layer of 600 g confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière, or french pastry cream) all over dough rectangle, 0.5 cm or 0.25 inch thick (add more if you wish).

Stage 4 - 5 min.

Now your goal is to roll up the dough to form a cylinder.

It looks difficult, but in fact it's quite easy, thanks to the paper sheet. Use it to start rolling, without touching the dough, and so form the roll.

Stage 5

Continue until completely rolled up.

Stage 6 - 2 hours

Put roll on a baking sheet, and refrigerate for about 2 hours, until the roll becomes quite firm.

Stage 7 - 3 min.

After this time, remove roll from the fridge and with a large sharp knife, trimm off the ends to neaten.

Note: you can cook these bits later.

Stage 8 - 10 min.

Then cut the roll into slices about 3 cm or 1.5 inches thick, and arrange them in a round mould or tray, touching one touching another.

That's why firm dough is absolutely essential, otherwise the slices will squash during cutting.

Stage 9 - 2 hours

Cover mould with a plastic sheet, and leave in a warm place for 2 hours.

Stage 10 - 3 min.

After this time, preheat oven to 180°C or 356°F. Glaze top of cake.

Stage 11 - 40 min.

Put in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Stage 12 - 10 min.

Turn out on a wire rack.

When cake is cool, you can decorate it with 200 g fondant icing, melted in bain-marie or microwave oven.

Remarks

You can also put on the custard before rolling up: raisins, small pieces of dried apricot, chocolates chips, etc.

Keeping: 1 or 2 days in the fridge, folded in a plastic film.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	1,340 RDI=510 %	6,140 RDI=580 %	2,770 RDI=420 %	5,970 RDI=300 %	25,010 RDI: 300 %
Per 100 g	80 RDI=30 %	370 RDI=40 %	170 RDI=30 %	360 RDI=20 %	1,530 RDI: 20 %

The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman Change to a man

Possible allergens in this recipe: Milk, egg, Gluten, leaven

How much will it cost?

For 2 Chinois : 6.40 €
Per Chinois : 3.20 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

This recipe uses (among others)

Other recipes you may also like

Flambéd bananas

The trick of this recipe is to end up with bananas caramelised on the outside, still firm on the inside, coated with a tasty syrup which is not 95% butter.
February 21^th 2011333 K 14 40 min.

Vanilla sugar

Almost essential in patisserie, you can find it in expensive little sachets of about 10g. It's necessary to distinguish between the vanilla sugar which really contains vanilla, and vanillin sugar, purely chemical which has never seen a vanilla pod. Here is how to quickly make a whole jar full of...
August 12^th 2018425 K 15 30 min.

Clarified butter

This is a way of melting butter to eliminate all the impurities. The clarified butter can then be heated without spoiling, and is more digestible. It is ideal for cooking at high temperatures where small black specks would spoil the appearance, or for emulsified sauces like béarnaise or mousseline.
June 21^th 2017469 K4.2 2 hours 15 min.

Real custard sauce (crème anglaise)

Real custard or vanilla sauce consists of egg yolks beaten with sugar and cooked slowly in vanilla milk. It is the base or the accompaniment for many desserts.
January 17^th 2018425 K 24.3 45 min.

Chocolate mousse

Here is a simple quick recipe for chocolate mousse. It is just necessary to be careful at the final stage, when mixing the melted chocolate and the beaten egg-whites.
February 21^th 2011481 K3.7 40 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

The 2 comments already posted on this recipe

Quite strange, problem with the brioche dough maybe?
Posted by jh december 3^rd 2015 at 15:26 n° 2
I actually baked this recipe and followed directions. I also used your Brioche and Custard recipes also. My results looked exactly like yours in the picture, except for one thing, when my Chinois cooled, the bread inside the "Rolls" shrank to almost nothing! I am not sure why, but that was disappointing.
Posted by Anonymous december 2^nd 2015 at 11:43 n° 1

Follow this recipe

If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.