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Courtesan Au Chocolat A La Grand Budapest Hotel

By: Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Makes: 1 dozen

ingredients

Choux pastry puffs

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup 1 stick of unsalted butter
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 larger pinch of sugar
  • 4 beaten eggs

Milk chocolate ganache filling

  • 1 cup of heavy cream
  • 3 cups of high quality milk chocolate, I used Lindt brand

Vanilla Cream Glaze

  • 1 cup of icing sugar
  • 5 teaspoons cream, plus more if needed
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • gel colouring in pink, sky blue and green

Simple Vanilla Buttercream

  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup of icing sugar
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon milk

instructions

Make the choux pastry puffs

  • Note: you will need three baking sheets, each lined with a piece of parchment paper. You will also need a piping bag fitted with an open circle tip.
  • In a medium saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt and sugar to a boil.
  • Remove from heat. Slowly mix in sifted flour.
  • Return to heat, stirring and cook for a minute until dough forms a buttery lump.
  • Let cool slightly.
  • In a small bowl, beat the eggs until combined.
  • Stir in the egg mixture into the flour mixture, mixing until combined.
  • Using a piping bag fitted with an open circle tip, pipe out the choux dough in three different sizes to form the towers – golf ball sized, walnut sized then quarter sized. Tip: if your piped dots have “tails”, fill a tiny bowl with warm water and dip a clean finger into the bowl and use your finger to press down the “tail.”
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes until puffy and happily browned on the bottom; remove the quarter-sized ones after 20 or so minutes.
  • Using a paring knife, cut an “X” slit into the bottom of each puff to allow steam to escape.

Make the ganache!

  • In a medium saucepan, heat the cream on medium-low heat until it reaches a low boil.
  • Add the chocolate; turn off the heat and let sit for ten minutes untouched.
  • Whisk together to form a silky ganache.
  • Power chill in the freezer for 30 minutes until ganache thickens enough to pipe into pastry puffs.
  • Once puffs are cool and ganache is thick enough fill a piping bag with ganache and pipe into the bottoms of the puffs.

Make the glaze

  • Combine all ingredients for the glaze in a medium bowl; whisk together until smooth.
  • Pour equal amounts into three smaller bowls and tint each one a different pastel colour.

Make the buttercream

  • Combine all ingredients for the buttercream in the bowl of a stand mixer.
  • Beat on high until fluffy and light. Add a tiny amount of sky blue gel food colouring to tint.
  • Fill a piping bag fitted with an open star tip with the buttercream.