Black cocoa in the paste and a touch of charcoal give these eclairs their near-black shells, and the filling is a diplomat cream built on cherry puree set with gelatin. The shells are piped into molds and frozen before baking, which is how the source gets that flat, even top on every one.
French · Dessert
Black Cocoa Eclairs With Cherry Diplomat Cream
Cocoa-dark choux shells bake from frozen molds for an even top, then take blackcurrant jam, a cherry diplomat cream lightened with softly whipped cream and a scatter of fresh berries.
- Prep45 min
- Cook60 min
- Serves8
- LevelMedium
Ingredients
| 125 g | whole milk |
| 125 g | water |
| 5 g | sugar |
| 5 g | salt |
| 155 g | unsalted butter , 115 g for the shells, 40 g for the cream |
| 120 g | cake flour |
| 20 g | dark cocoa powder , 18 g for the shells, plus 2 g extra if skipping the charcoal |
| 2 g | bamboo charcoal powder , color only, optional |
| 330 g | eggs , 250 g beaten for the shells, 40 g whole and 40 g yolk for the cream |
| 150 g | blackcurrant puree |
| 100 g | blackberry puree |
| 2.5 g | agar-agar powder |
| 37.5 g | sugar , for the jam |
| 135 g | cherry puree |
| 15 g | lemon puree or juice |
| 40 g | sugar , for the cream |
| 2.5 g | gelatin sheet , bloomed in cold water |
| 200 g | heavy cream, 36 percent fat |
Method
- Heat the oven to 190 degrees top and 160 degrees bottom; sift the flour, cocoa and charcoal together.
- Boil the milk, water, sugar, salt and butter, tip in the dry mix and stir over low heat until a thin film coats the pot bottom; off the heat.
- Cool the dough to 60 degrees, then beat in the 250 g of egg gradually until completely smooth.
- Pipe into eclair molds, level, and freeze solid; unmold onto a perforated mat, thaw in the fridge, then rest 10 minutes at room temperature.
- Bake 3 minutes, drop to 160 degrees and bake 42 minutes more; cool completely.
- For the jam, boil the two purees, whisk in the agar mixed with the 37.5 g of sugar, boil 3 minutes, cool and blend until smooth.
- For the cream base, whisk the yolk, extra egg and 40 g sugar; simmer the cherry and lemon purees, stream them into the yolks while whisking, return to the pot and cook gently until thick, then cool to 60 degrees.
- Stir in the bloomed gelatin and remaining butter, press film onto the surface and chill; whip the cream to soft peaks and fold it through before using.
- To assemble, brush the shells with the blackcurrant jam, fill with the cherry diplomat cream and finish with fresh dark berries.
Notes
- A piping bag, blender and stand mixer replace the source's bakery molds and homogenizer.
- Charcoal powder is color only; 2 g more cocoa works instead.
- Shells piped into molds and frozen solid bake with flat, uncracked tops.
Ratios and technique checked against 金龙鱼烘焙 on Douguo (黑色浆果闪电泡芙). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.