Eclairs – Daring Bakers | Beantown Baker

Monday, September 1, 2008

Eclairs – Daring Bakers

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to participate in a Daring Bakers Challenge. But I was excited to see this months challenge was eclairs. I’ve never made eclairs but really enjoyed eating them in the past. This month really flew by. I made these eclairs last weekend with plenty of time to write up my post. Then we had some family members in town and I just couldn’t find time to write this up until today. So I am a day late on posting, but better late than never!

I followed the recipe exactly for the dough and the chocolate glaze. For the pastry cream, I was worried that chocolate would make the eclair too chocolatey (is there such a thing? I say no, but hubby thinks there is).

I decided to do a raspberry pastry cream, but didn’t have raspberries on hand at the time I made it. Instead did vanilla pastry cream. For half of the pastry cream, I mixed in some mushed up raspberries after sending hubby to the store for me 🙂 The other half got the vanilla pastry cream.

I myself am not a huge fan of pastry cream. I much prefer whipped cream in the center of eclairs.

As I mentioned, I followed the recipe exactly for the dough. That includes the timing and the propping of the door with a wooden spoon. Based on what other Daring Bakers had said, I decided to cut slits into the eclairs immediately after baking and then letting them cool in the cooling oven. The ones that didn’t deflate were wonderfully hollow.

At first, I had the oven door entirely open but I did notice the eclairs were starting to deflate, so I closed the oven door and then propped it open to let them cool. The eclairs that were very close to the door did deflate while the others did not.

Thanks to our hosts (Tony Tahhan and Meeta) this month for choosing such a great recipe. I definitely enjoyed making the eclairs, although I doubt I’d make them again. It was a significant amount of work and hubby wasn’t crazy about them.

I’m not going to post the recipes here, click through to the hosts’ posts to see the recipe. The recipe I used for the pastry cream can be found here. As I mentioned, I didn’t have raspberries when I made it so I just left them out. Once it was completely cooled, I added 1 pint of smashed raspberries to 1/2 of the cream.

This chocolate glaze was amazing. I made 1/2 of the chocolate syrup recipe and it was perfect for the glaze. The leftover glaze was used on bread and then mixed with whipped cream for frosting.

Dessert, Other

5 comments »

23 Responses to “Banana Split Cupcake”

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1

stephchows — September 15, 2009 at 12:47 pm

Great cupcake hero entry!!! yum!
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oneordinaryday — September 15, 2009 at 2:04 pm

You’re right – it’s a freaking cute cupcake! I especially love that frosting and how you got it to look like a scoop of ice cream. Nicely done!
This is my first CH and I can’t wait till the voting begins! : )
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3

Amanda — September 15, 2009 at 2:49 pm

Wow, what a yummy looking cupcake! Great idea!
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oneparticularkitchen — September 15, 2009 at 4:14 pm

This is ADORABLE!! I love it!
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Xiaolu — September 15, 2009 at 5:08 pm

Gorgeous cupcake, Jen! I love how the cherry stands out. How do you get that black background if you don’t mind me asking? I’m pretty new to this food photography thing 8)
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Amy Kingman — September 15, 2009 at 5:41 pm

Yummmm!!!!!
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Jen — September 15, 2009 at 5:51 pm

Xiaolu – It’s actually just my black table. I’ve also had luck using a plain black piece of construction paper (most of my backgrounds are the 12×12 scrap-booking papers) or a black towel to get the background all black.

Here is an example using paper, and one using a towel.
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Xiaolu — September 15, 2009 at 5:59 pm

Thanks! That’s really helpful.
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Joanna — September 15, 2009 at 8:28 pm

Yum! Great idea 🙂
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Stephanie Wagner — September 15, 2009 at 10:44 pm

Awesome idea!
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bcallegra — September 16, 2009 at 2:04 am

Very creative and it looks great!
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The Novice Chef — September 16, 2009 at 3:15 am

What a cute idea! I love it!! And I know my nieces would be in love!
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nutmegnanny — September 16, 2009 at 3:33 am

Great idea…they look delicious!
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jesstyler — September 16, 2009 at 4:08 am

holy deliciousness! I NEED one of those! 🙂
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Kerstin — September 16, 2009 at 4:48 am

How creative, I love them! So cute and tasty with that cherry on top!
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Ingrid — September 16, 2009 at 3:14 pm

Very cute looking! I like your idea.
~ingrid
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lifeoftheparty — September 16, 2009 at 7:25 pm

These cupcakes are pure genius… you’ve definitely got my vote!
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Jigginjessica — September 17, 2009 at 12:34 am

Cute idea! What a great entry!
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thegreatpantryraid — September 17, 2009 at 7:37 pm

Wow – super cute! A lot of work, I’m sure, but such a big payoff! Great job!
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Kami — September 17, 2009 at 8:32 pm

So stinkin’ cute!
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Caroline — September 19, 2009 at 6:23 am

Very cute, indeed and loving the pineapple in the frosting. I can just imagine how delicious this would taste. What a great idea.
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Keiara Wells — September 19, 2009 at 5:57 pm

MMM, it looks fantastic! I’ll have to try this one 🙂 xox
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Sweet and Savory — October 15, 2009 at 5:55 am

These cupcakes are precious besides, I am sure, being delicious. What a great idea.