Gâteau St Honoré with Vanilla Chantilly and Caramel Craquelin

⏱ 210 min · Serves 8

The grand dame of French pâtisserie: a crisp puff pastry base crowned with craquelin-topped choux buns, glossy amber caramel, and ribbons of vanilla-flecked Chantilly piped in the classic St Honoré wave. A genuine weekend project — and a showstopper worth every minute.

Per serving: 712 kcal · 10.5g protein · 74.0g carbs · 42.0g fat

Ingredients

• For the base: 250g all-butter puff pastry (shop-bought is fine)
• 1 tsp caster sugar, for dusting
• For the caramel craquelin: 60g unsalted butter, soft
• 75g light muscovado sugar
• 70g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• For the choux: 125ml water
• 125ml whole milk
• 110g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 140g strong white bread flour
• 4 medium eggs, beaten (about 200g)
• For the vanilla crème pâtissière: 500ml whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
• 4 egg yolks
• 100g caster sugar
• 40g cornflour
• 25g unsalted butter
• For the caramel glaze: 250g caster sugar
• 75ml water
• 1 tbsp liquid glucose or golden syrup
• For the vanilla Chantilly: 400ml double cream, very cold
• 40g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Method

1. Make the craquelin: beat butter and muscovado sugar until creamy, then work in flour and salt to a paste. Roll between two sheets of baking paper to 2mm and freeze flat for 30 minutes.
2. Make the crème pâtissière: heat milk with the vanilla pod and seeds to a simmer. Whisk yolks, sugar and cornflour until pale, pour over the hot milk whisking constantly, return to the pan and cook over medium heat, whisking hard, until very thick and it bubbles for 1 minute. Off the heat beat in the butter, pass through a sieve into a tray, cover with cling film on the surface and chill until cold.
3. Roll the puff pastry to 3mm and cut a 20cm disc. Place on a lined tray, prick all over with a fork, dust with the teaspoon of sugar and chill.
4. Make the choux: bring water, milk, butter, sugar and salt to a rolling boil. Tip in the flour all at once and beat over low heat for 2 minutes until the dough forms a smooth ball and leaves a film on the pan. Transfer to a bowl, cool 5 minutes, then beat in the eggs a little at a time until the dough falls from the spoon in a slow V-shaped ribbon (you may not need all the egg).
5. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan. Pipe a ring of choux around the edge of the pastry disc and a small spiral in the centre. Pipe about 16 walnut-sized buns onto a second lined tray. Cut 3cm discs of frozen craquelin and set one on each bun.
6. Bake the pastry base 30–35 minutes and the buns 25–30 minutes, until deep golden and hollow-sounding. Pierce each bun underneath and return to the switched-off oven for 10 minutes to dry. Cool completely.
7. Whisk the cold crème pâtissière smooth. Fill each bun through the base hole, plus the choux ring on the base, using a small piping nozzle. Chill.
8. Make the caramel: heat sugar, water and glucose without stirring to a deep amber (about 170C). Dip the base of the pan in cold water to stop it cooking. Carefully dip the top of each bun in caramel and set dome-side down on lightly oiled paper to make a shiny flat disc. Once set, dip the bases in caramel and glue the buns around the choux ring. Drizzle a little caramel over the centre.
9. Whip the cream with icing sugar and vanilla paste to firm peaks. Fit a St Honoré nozzle and pipe generous overlapping waves across the centre of the gâteau, from the middle outwards.
10. Chill 30 minutes before serving, and eat the same day for maximum crunch.