Black Forest Choux

What is Black Forest Choux?

Black Forest Choux is a hybrid of the famous American Black Forest Cake and Choux Au Craquelin, a well-known French pastry.

Delicious choux pastry with chocolate craquelin filled with chocolate cremeux topped with vanilla chantilly and berry and cherry coulis.

From the texture of crispy choux au craquelin, the deep chocolate flavor from crémeux, the tanginess from berry & cherry coulis, and the silkiness and fluffiness of vanilla chantilly, every bite of this dessert is a wonderfully magical experience.

How To Make Black Forest Choux?

There are 5 components in this recipe which are: choux pastry with chocolate craquelin, dark chocolate crémeux, berry and cherry coulis, and lastly, vanilla chantilly cream.

Let’s start with Vanilla Chantilly. We need to refrigerate this overnight so you can do this ahead of time.

All you need is heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, whole milk, white chocolate chips, gelatin, and vanilla extract. 

This is more chantilly cream than a white chocolate ganache because the main ingredient here is the heavy whipping cream. I use white chocolate only for flavor and not as the body of this component.

To start, place milk, white chocolate, sugar, and vanilla extract in a pot at low heat. Keep stirring until there are no more lumps from the white chocolate. Then add melted gelatin to the mixture. Remove from the heat and let it cool completely at room temperature.

Once it’s cooled down, add the mixture to the cold heavy whipping cream. Keep mixing until they’re fully combined.

Use an immersion blender. This will give the Vanilla Chantilly a really smooth and silky texture. Keep in mind that it’s ok to aerate it a little bit but not too much.

Cover it with plastic and make sure that it touches the mixture to keep it from forming a film and condensation. Refrigerate overnight.

For the Berry and Cherry Coulis, you’ll need canned sour cherries, frozen mixed berries, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and slurry.

Add everything in a pot except the slurry. 

Mix everything together over low heat. Let it simmer until its liquid is reduced then add the slurry. Mix everything together until it thickens.

Remove from heat. Smooth this mixture out using an immersion blender and strain it using a sieve to turn it into a coulis.

 Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate and set aside.

Next is Chocolate Craquelin. This component is a mixture of butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and flour. This gives the choux a crispy top and a rounder shape.

To make this, cream the butter and granulated sugar together in a bowl using a spatula. Add all-purpose flour and cocoa powder and continue to mix it until it forms a dough-like consistency.

Transfer to a parchment paper and place another parchment paper on top. Roll it out with a rolling pin to 3mm thickness.

Place it in the fridge until it firms up.

For the Pâte à choux, you’ll need unsalted butter, milk, all-purpose flour, eggs, granulated sugar, water, salt, and vanilla extract.

Preheat oven to 200’c with no fan setting. Place everything in a pot except eggs and all-purpose flour. Bring this to a simmer and make sure that everything is dissolved. 

Turn the heat to a medium-low then add the flour while mixing it vigorously using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Keep cooking ’til the mixture is dried out. A thin film will start to form at the bottom of the pot, keep mixing until the thin film is reabsorbed but if you’re using a non-stick pot (like I do) just make sure to dry the mixture out. Cook it for about 3-4 minutes over medium-low heat until it forms into one soft ball.

Remember, this is an important step. Because your choux pastry might collapse if it’s not dried out enough.

Transfer the choux pastry into a mixing bowl and let it cool for about 8-10 minutes. Steam will also cause extra moisture in the choux pastry so spread it out just as shown in the picture so the steam will easily escape. 

Add scrambled room-temperature eggs and add them to the mixture gradually. Mix it with a spatula in between additions.

Keep mixing until all the eggs are incorporated. The right consistency is when you lift some of the mixture using a spatula and it forms a V shape.

Transfer it to a piping bag. Cut a hole about 10-12mm.

On a Teflon sheet or perforated mat make a 2-inch circle guide. I use a cookie cutter and dip it in flour to use as a mark. I use these Teflon sheets as it has better air circulation than just normal parchment paper and silicone mat. I also use a flat baking pan for better air circulation and even baking.

Pipe the pâte à choux at a 90-degree angle onto the sheet leaving a 1.5-inch gap to have room to expand.

Take out the Chocolate Craquelin from the fridge and cut out 2-inch circles using a cookie cutter or a bottle cap. 

Place chocolate craquelin on top of the pâte à choux.

Place them in the oven on the middle rack. Turn the heat down immediately to 170’C once the door oven is closed. Bake for 35 minutes and make sure that the fan setting is off. This will allow the heat to be trapped inside the oven helping the pâte à choux to rise. Make sure not to open the oven door in these first 35 minutes, otherwise, they will collapse, be flat, and won’t have a big cavity inside for the filling.

Rotate the baking pan after 35 minutes and continue to bake it for 7 to 10 more minutes or until they’re fully dried out.

Let them cool completely on a cooling rack.

A perfect Choux Au Craquelin is crispy on the outside and with a big cavity inside just as shown in the picture.

And for our last component, Dark Chocolate Cremeux. The ingredients are dark chocolate chips, powdered sugar, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla extract.

Mix egg yolks and sugar together.

Heat up some milk (it doesn’t need to be boiling). Then slowly pour all the milk into the egg yolk mixture while constantly whisking it. Add vanilla extract and transfer it back to the pot and place it over low heat. Cook it for a few more minutes while mixing it using a spatula. Don’t forget to scrape down the sides o the pot.

Dip the spatula in the mixture and run your finger over it (just be careful because it’s hot). If the line doesn’t go back, that means it’s ready, if it does, just continue to cook it a bit more.

In a separate bowl, place dark chocolate chips and put a strainer on top of it.

Pour the mixture immediately into the dark chocolate and strain all the egg mixture lumps.

Let this mixture cool at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

Assembly:

Place Chantilly, Cremeux, and Coulis in pastry bags.

Make a hole on top of the Choux using a small knife.

Then pipe in dark chocolate cremeux. Swirl it around to make sure the filling reaches the bottom. Stop just when the choux is about to be filled then fill the center of the cremeux with berry and cherry coulis. I used a small round tip for the cremeux and I cut a small tip of the coulis’ piping bag.

Pipe a swirl of Vanilla Chantilly Cream on top of the choux. I use a large star tip for this. Then take a round small spoon and dip it into hot water, pat it dry and make a small well by gently swiping it across the top of the chantilly.

Fill the well with berry and cherry coulis.

Now impress your family and friends with this gorgeous Black Forest Choux!

Serve and enjoy!

Did you make this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @missconfections on Instagram and hashtag it #missconfections.