Three years ago I contacted Denene Vincent, executive chef and owner of Le Chat Gourmet, because I was looking for an internship. Little did I know that I would gain much more than a plethora of culinary experience, but I was blessed to have made a wonderful friend, too. Denene is incredibly talented and I always look forward to taking classes at LCG. She and her husband, Michael, are two of the nicest people I know and I'm very fortunate to be able to call them friends.
Denene & me in the LCG kitchen.
I often find myself perusing the LCG website for new classes, making my "wish list" of classes to take in the near future. The class that was on the top of my list this time was the Christmas Croquenbouche. It was something that was always a bit of a mystery to me. Every time I search for French wedding cakes I stumble upon the Croquenbouche. The Croquenbouche is the "piece de resistance" at weddings in France, and other important celebrations and holidays. It goes without saying that the Croquenbouche is absolutely stunning. What could be prettier than a tower of cream puffs dripping in caramel, then wrapped in spun sugar?
I did a bit more research about the Croquenbouche and learned that its meaning is very literal in the French language. Broken down it means "crunch in the mouth." Croque meaning crunch, and bouche meaning mouth. This made me laugh since this is exactly what it does! A combination of soft, airy cream puffs and crunchy homemade caramel is divine!
If you have not been to Le Chat Gourmet I urge you to go. Whether you are a gourmet chef at home, someone looking to further your cooking skills, or even if you've never touched a knife, you will feel right at home in Denene's kitchen. I promise, you will not be disappointed.
Photos from the Christmas Croquenbouche class at Le Chat Gourmet:
We all took turns mixing the pate choux.
What the pate choux looks like once it is all mixed. It's a very sticky dough. Piping the cream puffs with a piping bag is ideal.
Waiting to go into the oven!
Cooked eclairs and cream puffs.
Assembling the Croquenbouche:
Dipping the cream puff into hot caramel, using it as a "glue" to build the tower.
Sticking them together.
Drizzling hot caramel over the tower.
Beautiful caramel color.
The caramel is now ready to be spun. Can you see the threads?
Voila le Croquenbouche!
As an added bonus we also made eclairs!
Denene piping the eclairs.
Denene filling the eclairs with vanilla custard.
After being dipped in chocolate they are dusted with cocoa powder.
Is your mouth watering yet? I'll be making a Croquenbouche for Christmas this year! Bon Appetit!
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