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Saint Honoré cake

The Saint Honoré cake is a famous example of French patisserie. It consists of a puff pastry base surrounded by a ring of caramel-coated choux puffs and topped with whipped cream (Chantilly).

It is a bit tricky to make, but this recipe gives you all the hints you need.

117K 4.4/5 based on 24 reviews

Last modified on: April 14^th 2013

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For 3 Saints Honoré cake, you will need:

1 450 g Puff or flaky pastry (pâte feuilletée)
2 90 g icing sugar
3 1 kg 50 g Confectioner's custard (Crème pâtissière, or French pastry cream)
4 1 kg 50 g Choux pastry (pâte à choux)
5 600 g caster sugar
6 600 g Chantilly cream
Total weight: 3,840 grams

Change these quantities to make: 1 Saint Honoré cake 2 Saints Honoré cake 3 Saints Honoré cake

Change measures: Metric

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How long will it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
2 hours 6 min.	45 min.	2 hours 51 min.

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Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 10 min.

Preheat the oven to 430°F (220°C).

Cut a circle of puff pastry 26 cm (10 inches) in diameter and prick all over with a fork or pique-vite (pastry pricker).

Stage 2 - 10 min.

Cover with cooking parchment, weigh this down with a wire rack (to prevent the pastry swelling up) and bake in the oven. You can also cook it between two baking sheets.

Stage 3 - 3 min.

Once the pastry is starting to brown and is almost cooked, take it out of the oven and remove both the wire rack and the paper. Sprinkle icing sugar over the top and put it back in the oven...

Stage 4 - 5 min.

...for a few minutes, until the top caramelizes (if necessary, finish this under the grill).

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Stage 5 - 36 min.

Prepare 1 kg 50 g Confectioner's custard (Crème pâtissière, or French pastry cream).

Stage 6 - 30 min.

Prepare 1 kg 50 g Choux pastry (pâte à choux) and pipe in small heaps about 1.5 cm (3/4 inch) in diameter using a forcing bag .

Stage 7 - 5 min.

Flatten the points with a tea spoon dipped in milk to make the puffs nice and round.

Stage 8 - 20 min.

Once the puffs are cooked, leave them to cool.

Stage 9 - 10 min.

Prepare a light caramel with 600 g caster sugar.

Stage 10 - 2 min.

Stand the pan of caramel on a folded cloth.

Stage 11

Dip the rounded side of a choux puff into the caramel...

Stage 12

And place on a baking sheet (covered with a sheet of cooking parchment), caramel side downwards.

Stage 13 - 40 min.

Do this with all the puffs then put the caramel to keep hot.

Fill the puffs with confectioner's custard, without turning them over.

Stage 14

Turn a filled puff the other way up, hold by the top (the set caramel side) and dip the bottom into the liquid caramel...

Stage 15

Then stick this around the outside of the pastry circle and hold in place for a few seconds until the caramel sets.

Do this with the other puffs until you have completed the ring around the Saint Honoré.

Stage 16

You can put a puff in the centre for added artistic effect if you wish.

Stage 17

Fill the space with rosettes of whipped cream.

Stage 18

You can pipe small rosettes of cream around the outside, between the puffs, as a finishing touch.

Refrigerate before serving.

Remarks

This recipe needs a lot of work, so it is a good idea to be organised and to prepare the elements that can wait in advance, as far as possible: puff pastry circle, confectioner's custard and choux puffs (you can even fill these).

Once you keep to the basic principle (puff-pastry base, choux pastry around it and cream filling) you can vary this in many different ways: by changing the cream, for example. Give free rein to your imagination.

And to drink?

A sweet white wine, such as a Loupiac.

Keeping

A few hours in the fridge.

Source

Home made.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
13,403 Kcal or 56,116 Kj	1,040 gr	5,310 gr	3,564 gr
670 %	400 %	501 %	540 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
349 Kcal or 1,461 Kj	27 gr	138 gr	93 gr
17 %	10 %	13 %	14 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

Possible allergens in this recipe: Gluten, Milk, Sulfites, Egg

How much will it cost?

For 3 Saints Honoré cake : 13.59 €
Per Saint Honoré cake : 4.53 €

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)

	Confectioner's custard (Crème pâtissière, or French pastry cream): You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Diplomat cream, Yvetot Douillons, Pear and chocolate tart with a hint of mint, Strawberry Verveine Tart , Puits d'amour, ... All
	Choux pastry (pâte à choux): You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Puits d'amour, Profiteroles, Chouquettes, Mini Mont-Blanc choux puffs, Paris-Brest, ... All
	Caster sugar: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Tarte Normande, Passion fruit jellies, Vanilla ice cream, Naan, Poaching syrup, ... All
	Chantilly cream: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Cranachan, Individual charlottes with morello cherries, Rum babas, Key Lime Pie for Jeremy, Mini Mont-Blanc choux puffs, ... All

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