S1E2 Showstopper: Petit Fours

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It's time for another showstopper! 
This week, I have 4 hours to make three different kinds of petit fours (bite-sized french pastries): macarons, filled meringues, and choux pastry. Easy enough, right? Guys, I have been worrying about this challenge all week. I basically spent my whole week doing research and comparing techniques for these pastries.

Since it is Pride Month, I decided to theme my showstopper around Pride! I wanted to get as many colours of the rainbow as I could into my presentation. My plan was this:
  • Mini eclairs filled with crème patissière and strawberries, drizzled with dark chocolate
  • Pink macarons filled with peach jam (and/or peach buttercream, if the jam doesn't set)
  • Meringue nests filled with coconut whipped cream and topped with mango, kiwi and blueberries

I planned my bake in the same order as the bakers on the show did, meringue first, then macarons, then choux pastry. This order ensures that I have enough time for each pastry to dry out and cool properly in time for me to assemble them at the end.

I put on my running shoes (4 hours is a long time to be without arch support on a tile floor) and Evie started the timer.

First things first, meringue. 


How to test if meringues are properly whipped: turn your meringue bowl upside down above your head. If the meringue stays in the bowl, you're ready to bake it. If not, you have now successfully become the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. You can't lose!


Success!

I have made meringue before, but it usually takes me about 3 hours to bake them and dry them out properly. I was really worried about them not being done in time, so I decided to use a pavlova recipe (which cooks at a higher temperature for a shorter time) to give the meringue nests more time to cool and dry out. Using a pavlova recipe meant that I needed to add a few extra things to my meringue: corn starch and vinegar. It may sound odd, but these ingredients help to stabilize the egg whites so that they bake properly, giving them a crisp exterior with a nice soft chewy interior.


And then it was time to pipe them!


And then into the oven they went! They needed to bake for 30 minutes and then dry out in the oven for at least 30 minutes, so while they were baking, I moved onto my crème patissière. If you followed my showstopper last week, you'll know that I made a crème pat for my chocolate cake. I used a different recipe this time to try to achieve a thicker custard, adding flour as well as corn starch.


My timing worked out perfectly, so as soon as my custard was ready to cool, my meringue timer went off. I turned off the oven and opened the door very slightly to allow the meringues to cool slowly for 30 minutes. 

Next, I started my macarons. I have been both excited and scared to try macarons; they seem so finicky and every recipe is different. I read dozens of different recipes and finally settled on a recipe from Le Cordon Bleu London, because their prestige made me feel safe.

I started by sieving my icing sugar and almond flour together and then whisked my eggs with some white sugar to make a meringue.


Next, I added my colour. I had to make a special trip to get gel food colouring for this and I was so excited to use it!


Finally, I folded the dry ingredients into the wet.


And then I piped them onto my tray, trying to make consistent discs.


I mean, they look pretty darn okay! I gave the tray a quick tap to get rid of large air pockets, and then I set them aside to dry out a little before baking them.

My meringues were about 15 minutes away from coming out of the oven, so I got started on my peach jam by blanching and peeling my peaches. I cut the peaches into rough chunks and put them in a pot on the stove with some lemon juice, sugar and pectin.


And then the meringues came out and I changed the oven temperature.


The meringues took on a little more colour than I was hoping for, but still looked great! I transferred them onto a cooling rack and went back to my jam. I had to quickly blitz some of the bigger peach chunks with a hand blender to make a nice, smooth jam, but I was extremely happy with the colour! I poured it onto a plate to let it cool and set quickly.


Oven ready, macarons in. Time for choux pastry! 


While my choux dough was cooking, my macarons came out of the oven and went onto the cooling rack.


I had three macarons crack while baking and a few were irregular shapes, but I was extremely pleased with them overall. The tops were shiny and crisp, and the "feet" (the skirt around the bottom of each macaron) looked right!

Back to the choux. I adjusted the oven temperature again, mixed in the eggs and piped the mixture onto the tray.

 
Into the oven!


And then I prepared my fruit.


When the choux buns were cooked, I stabbed each one and put them back into the oven to dry out.

And the last thing to prepare was my coconut whipped cream! I whisked two cans worth of coconut cream with a little icing sugar and scooped it into a piping bag.


Assembly time!


Look at them!


Time: 3 hours 34 minutes

I am so proud of this. They turned out so much neater than I was anticipating, and the colours were exactly as they were in my head. Yes yes yes!

Now came the judging:




We recruited some help for this one. We had a few friends come over to taste and judge the bake!

Quotes and comments:
  • Meringues
    • "I don't really like coconut, but I like that."
    • "There's a really good balance of the sweet meringue with the light cream and the more sour fruit."
    • "There's a hint of toastiness. Like toasted coconut and marshmallow. It's really nice."
  • Macarons
    • "Brilliant, I would love to see real edible gold. Please source that. There's not enough edible gold."
    • "Nice feet and it breaks really nicely."
    • "I usually find macarons too dense and sweet, but these are light and well balanced."
  • Eclairs
    • "The chocolate compliments the other flavours well, I like that there isn't too much chocolate."
    • "The marriage of flavours!"
    • "The oat milk gives a nice nutty flavour." (to the creme pat)
    • "I would have liked the cream to be a bit firmer, I think it's a little soft."
They were so delicious! I was really so proud!

Stay tuned for bread week...

Recipes used:

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