“I have two passions in my life - travelling and cooking. 1 year ago I decided to study confectionery professionally. It was a year full of culinary adventures. 

It is a very good feeling when you do things that you enjoy, you are really good at and your are at a right place.

I am very demanding of myself and when it comes to a dessert, I try to achieve perfection.

In general, dessert is a kind of festive events for me and what is life without such happy moments? ” - Nino Zantaraia.

You will need the following ingredients to prepare the croquembouche: 100 g flour, 100 g sugar (brown or cane), 100 g cold butter, food colorings (optional).

step 1

Combine flour, food coloring and sugar in a bowl. Add the cold butter cut into cubes and knead quickly until a homogeneous dough is obtained. Place between two parchments and roll out a dough to a thickness of 2-3 mm. Store in the freezer. Before use, cut out small rings and carefully place them on top of the choux.

step 2

Pour milk, diced butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan. Stir well when it boils so the butter melts well, then remove saucepan from heat and add flour only once. Stir circle-wise and place the saucepan again on the fire. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, bake the dough for 5-8 minutes. Then put the dough into a bowl, add the eggs (one by one) and quickly whisk, the dough may mix in up to 6-8 eggs. Place the dough in a pastry bag and place in a fridge for 1 hour or 1 night.

step 3

Baking mode: Preheat oven to 200 degrees for 10 minutes, then bring the temperature to 170 degrees and bake for 20 minutes until choux is golden brown. For the pastry cream you will need the following ingredients: milk 500 ml, egg yolk 3, sugar 150 g, corn starch 60 g. Additives: pistachio paste 30 g, pistachio flour 50 g. Combine egg yolks with sugar and starch and beat up well.

step 4

Boil milk, pour boiled milk over the egg mass and stir. Then put back to the saucepan and cook on low heat with continuous stirring for 3-4 minutes. Remove the cream on a plastic wrap (food wrapping cellophane) and wrap, place in a fridge for about 2 hours. Before use, beat up with a mixer, add pistachio paste and pistachio flour. Whip the cream (cream and jam should be cold) Combine the boiled cream and whipped cream.

step 5

To assemble the croquembouche take a thick piece of paper, draw a quarter circle on a paper with a radius of 30 cm, cut it out and fasten 2 straight sides with an adhesive tape. Cut off the top of the cone at about 2 cm (it will make it easier to insert the last cake). Wrap the cone with a foil or a plastic wrap.

step 6

To prepare the syrup, pour 80 grams of sugar and 20 grams of water in a deep saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and boil the syrup until you get a solid ball by dropping a drop into the cold water. Carefully dip the choux filled with cream in the syrup and fix it to the pre-prepared cone, start fixing from the bottom.

How To Serve

You have to work quickly when working with the caramel as it gets hard soon. You may need to make 2 servings of caramel for the assembling of croquembouche.