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Piece montée

Piece montée (or croquembouche) is a traditional French cake often served at weddings. Raymond Blanc’s dramatic version will make for a very happy couple indeed. Make it even more extra special by dipping the caramel buns in nibbled sugar too. From Raymond Blanc Kitchen Secrets (S2)

For the choux buns
2 quantities choux bun pastry
For the choux bun filling
900ml/1½ pints pastry cream (crème patissière), warm
4 tbsp orange-flavoured liqueur
1 tsp orange zest (optional)
For the nougatine
480g/1lb 1oz white fondant icing
320ml/11fl oz liquid glucose
350g/12oz flaked almonds, lightly roasted in an oven at 170C/325F/Gas 3 for 8 minutes and kept warm
40g/1½oz cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
For the caramel
960g/2lb 2oz white fondant icing
120ml/5fl oz liquid glucose
For the royal icing
1 free-range egg white
1 tbsp lemon juice
200g/7oz icing sugar, sifted
To garnish
200g/7oz sugared almonds

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Line 2-3 baking trays with greaseproof paper.
Spoon the choux pastry into a large piping bag fitted with a 1cm/½in nozzle and pipe 80 choux buns onto the trays.

Transfer the remaining pastry to a piping bag fitted with a 0.5cm/¼in nozzle and pipe eight 10cm/4in “S” shapes onto the baking tray.Bake the buns for 30-35 minutes or until golden-brown, then transfer to a rack and leave to cool.

For the choux bun filling, place the warm pastry cream (crème patissière) in a large bowl and whisk in the orange-flavoured liqueur until the mixture is smooth. Add the orange zest (if using).

Place the filling in a piping bag fitted with a 0.5cm/¼in nozzle and pierce the underside of each choux bun with the tip of the nozzle, gently squirting a little of the filling into the bun as you do so (do not include the “S” shaped buns). Reserve in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the croquembouche.

For the nougatine base, preheat the oven to 130C/275F/Gas 1 and place two small or one large baking trays lined with greaseproof paper (or a non-stick silicone mat) on the middle shelf.

In a large saucepan over a medium heat, bring the fondant and glucose to a golden-brown caramel by boiling for 10-15 minutes (about 170C/340F).

Add the warm almonds and cold butter, remove from the heat and mix thoroughly.

Pour the mixture onto the warmed baking sheet(s) and flatten with a rolling pin to a thickness of 0.5cm/¼in.

Wearing rubber gloves and using a pair of scissors, roughly cut a circle about 30cm/12in from the nougatine.

Place the nougatine circle into a lightly-oiled cake tin (23cm/9in wide - 4cm/1½in deep) and press into the base, edges and sides using a clean kitchen cloth.

Trim off the excess nougatine with the scissors.

Warm the remaining nougatine in the oven to soften it, bring it together with your rubber-gloved hands and roll to a thickness of 5mm/⅛in.

Cut two discs of 6cm/2½in in diameter and two 7cm/2¾in in diameter and set them all aside to cool.

Cut decorative shapes of half moons and about 30 fang-shaped triangles from the nougatine.

For the caramel, in a medium-sized pan, cook the fondant and glucose to a dark golden caramel. It is important to make a dark caramel that has some bitterness to balance the sweetness of the dish, as well as being hard enough to hold the shape of the croquembouche and prevent it collapsing before it is served.

Place the base of the pan into a sink of cold water for one minute to stop the cooking – be very careful as you do so because the hot pan will make the cold water boil violently on contact.

As the caramel cools, it will thicken. You want it to cool to a consistency whereby it flows in a steady stream from a spoon lifted above the pan. If it cools too much, simply reheat very gently until it has regained the right texture.

Dip the top of each choux bun into the caramel and place, caramel side down, onto a non-stick silicone mat to cool.

Pierce the underside of the “S” shaped choux buns with the point of a small knife so as to allow the rounded top to be dipped in the caramel. Dip in the caramel to glaze and set aside to cool.

Place the nougatine base removed from the cake tin on the table in front of you with the flat base on top.

Reheat the caramel gently over a low heat till it loosens to a liquid, then lightly dip the edges of the largest choux buns into the caramel, turn through 90º and lightly dip again.

Place the dipped choux bun on the edge of the nougatine base with the flat side of caramel (that is the top of the choux bun) facing out; repeat until you have completed a full circle around the rim of the base. (The caramel will stick the buns together and hold them in place.)

Repeat the process on top of your circle of choux buns like laying a brick wall.

Continue until you only have a gap wide enough to fit one of the larger nougatine discs over. Affix this with a little of the caramel, then continue to build the choux buns. Top with one of the smaller nougatine discs.

Affix the moons to the top of this disc, standing upright and then top with the second larger disc. Now top with the “S” shaped choux buns, standing up and affix the smaller disc of nougatine to the top of the “S” shapes.

Affix the triangle shapes to the nougatine base with the tips facing out. Repeat until all the fang shapes have been used up and you have completed a circle all around the piece montée.

For the royal icing, in a mixing machine with a whisk attachment, whisk together all the ingredients until they form firm peaks when the whisk is removed. Spoon into a piping bag with a very small nozzle attached and decorate the piece montée/croquembouche with the royal icing and affix some sugared almonds around by dipping them in the caramel.

Add a wedding topper to the top of the cake if you like and serve to the happy couple.

Notes

The pasty cream (crème patissière) can be made the day before and kept in the fridge. The nougatine can be made a day ahead and kept in an airtight container. The royal icing can be made a few hours in advance, stored in the fridge and whisked again just before you use it. Keep a bowl of ice cold water nearby all the time you are handling the hot sugar and caramel – if you burn your fingers or hands, plunge them into the iced water then hold them under cold running water for 10 minutes to stop the burning.