Cappuccino eclairs

These cappuccino eclairs are so delicious! They are basically a traditional cream filled eclair, with a silky coffee glaze and a drizzle of chocolate (which is why I called them cappuccino and not coffee eclairs – they also sound more exciting this way!).

I used my standard choux pastry recipe for these eclairs, which I previously used for my lemon meringue pie eclairs! The recipe is faultless and comes from Joakim Prat, the amazing pastry chef and owner of Maitre Choux in South Kensington.

If I were to make these eclairs again I would definitely make them slightly bigger – longer and wider, as mine were slightly too mini… which meant obviously I had to eat more (no problem at all), but the main problem was the lack of filling that was a consequence of the bite size eclairs!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, feel free to post any comments about tips or if you’re at all stuck when tackling choux pastry! ❤

Ingredients: (I halved the original recipe, which gave me around 20 big eclairs)

100g whole milk
150g water
120g butter
5g caster sugar
4g salt
188g plain flour
250g eggs (approx. 5)
400ml double cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. icing sugar
- I didn’t have any coffee extract but if you do, it may be a nice idea to add some to the cream to give a stronger coffee flavour!
225g icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp strong black coffee/ espresso

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC, with no fan. Line 2 baking trays.

Place your milk, water, butter, sugar and salt in a medium sized pan and bring to the boil. As soon as it starts to bubble, add your flour and beat well with a spatula for one minute – until the dough no longer sticks to the side of the pan.

Take the pan off the heat and add the eggs one at a time, beating firmly in between. You may not need to use all 250g of eggs – if the dough is too thick, all the egg must be added. However it may be too runny if too much egg is added, which results in the eclairs sinking in the oven. Judging the consistency of the choux is extremely challenging for amateur bakers, but don’t worry! The article gives a really good tip which worked perfectly for me, “trace a deep line into the choux pastry with your spatula. If the line closes up slowly, then it’s ready!”

Place the dough into a piping bag, I fitted mine with a large star nozzle. Pipe your choux dough onto your lined trays in straight, neat lines. Bake for 35 mins, and then leave to cool. Prick a hole in one end of each eclair with a skewer as they cool, to let out any steam and heat to ensure your pastry stays crisp!

In the meantime, whisk your double cream, vanilla extract and 2tbsp of icing sugar until almost firm – but make sure it’s not so over whisked that it doesn’t fall off a spoon when held upside down!

Next, make your coffee glaze – mix together your sifted icing sugar and strong black coffee until you obtain a thick-flowing icing.

Place your whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle. Take one of your empty eclairs, prod the inside of the eclair with a long skewer via the insert which you made in the end of the choux on cooling. Poke the skewer in the ecalir until you reach the other end (this will make your you having filling right the way through the ecalirs.. hopefully!). Place the nozzle just inside the eclair, and gently fill your chouw with the filling – you should feel the eclairs become heavier which is a sign they are full right the way through!

Fill all your eclairs with the cream. Finally, dip the top-side of your filled choux eclair in the coffee glaze, scrapping off excess with your little finger, in one long movement! Now you can decorate your eclairs in any way you’d like – I finished mine with some lines of melted dark chocolate and edible pearls!