Carrot Cake Cream Puffs with Cream Cheese White Chocolate Ganache
These cream puffs take everything I love about a classic carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and packages it nicely inside choux pastry. Golden choux pastry with craquelin is filled with a spiced pastry cream, topped with a velvety whipped cream cheese white chocolate ganache, and studded with chunks of carrot cake.
Makes 8
Ingredients
Spiced Pastry Cream
240ml(1 cup) whole milk
240ml(1 cup) heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
1/2tspcinnamon
4large egg yolks
50g(1/4) granulated sugar
1tbspcornstarch
Whipped Cream Cheese White Chocolate Ganache
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream
130g(3/4 cup) white chocolate, coarsely chopped
120g(1 cup) cream cheese, room temperature
Craquelin
25g(2 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
25g(2 tbsp) brown sugar
25g(4 tbsp) all-purpose flour
Pâte à Choux
60ml(1/4 cup) water
60ml(1/4 cup) whole milk
1/2tsp granulated sugar
1/2tspsalt
57g(1/4 cup) unsalted butter
70g(1/2 cup and 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
110g(~2 1/2) large eggs, lightly beaten
Carrot Cake
60g(1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4tspbaking soda
1/4 tspbaking powder
1/4 tspsalt
100g(1/2 cup) granulated sugar
60ml(1/4 cup) vegetable oil
1 large egg
75g(1/4 cup) crushed pineapple
20g(1/4 cup) unsweetened shredded coconut
55g(1/2 cup) grated carrots
Instructions
Spiced Pastry Cream
Combine milk and cream in a small saucepan. Using a sharp knife, split vanilla bean in half lengthways and scrape out seeds. Add bean and seeds to milk mixture. Add cinnamon. Place over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5minutes or until hot (do not allow to boil). Remove saucepan from heat.
Whisk egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch, in a heatproof bowl until well combined. Slowly pour hot milk mixture over egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.
Return mixture to saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 6 – 8 minutes, or until custard thickens and coats the back of a metal spoon.
Transfer the custard into a large bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the custard (to prevent a film from forming).Transfer the bowl into the fridge and chill for 3 hours, or until the custard is no longer hot.
Whipped Cream Cheese White Chocolate Ganache
Place chopped white chocolate into a heat-proof bowl. Set aside.
In a small pot, bring heavy cream to a gentle simmer. Pour hot cream onto white chocolate. Allow mixture to sit for 5minutes. Whisk until chocolate is full incorporated. Place a piece of plastic wrap over bowl and transfer the bowl into the fridge and chill for 2 hours, or until the ganache is no longer hot.
When ready to assemble the cream puffs, transfer the chilled ganache to a stand mixture fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip mixture on medium-high until medium peaks form, about 1 minute. Transfer whipped ganache into a small bowl.
Using the same bowl and whisk attachment, whip softened cream cheese on high speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Fold whipped white chocolate into cream cheese until fully combined. Chill until ready to use.
Craquelin
In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and mix with rubber spatula until smooth.
Roll out the craquelin dough to 1/8-inch in thickness. Use a cookie cutter and cut out 12 2-inch circles. Set aside.
Pâte à Choux
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a saucepan, combine the water, milk, sugar, salt, and butter. Bring to a light boil, remove from heat, and immediately add in all the flour. Quickly stir in the flour, using a rubber spatula, and return saucepan back over medium-high heat.
Continue to stir the mixture, without stopping, until the paste is smooth, about 1-2 minutes. It will pull away from the sides of the pan and leave a thin coating of cooked paste on the bottom when ready. The texture should resemble dry mashed potatoes.
Transfer the paste to a stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low for the choux to cool down.
While the mixer is running on medium, gradually stream in the lightly beaten eggs. Mix until well combined.
Transfer the pâte à choux to the prepared piping bag with around tip. Pipe out 12 choux mounds onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving roughly 2 inches between each puff. If you are making choux with a craquelin top, this is when you want to add the craquelin to the choux mounds.
Place the baking sheet in the oven and immediately bake choux puffs for 35 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet and turn down the oven to325F, then bake for 10 minutes more until choux are deeply golden. Remove from oven and set on cooling rack to cool.
Carrot Cake
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a muffin pan and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (except for the shredded coconut).
In the bowl of a stand mixture fitted with a paddle attachment, combine sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. Add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in pineapple, coconut, and grated coconuts until fully incorporated.
Transfer batter evenly into the muffin pan and bake for 15 – 17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Allow the cupcake to cool in the pan for 5 minute before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completed. Once cooled, take 3 – 4 of the cupcakes and cut cupcakes into ½-inch cubes.
Assembly
Trim the tops off of the cooled choux pastry with a sharp serrated knife. Set the tops aside.
Transfer the chilled spice custard into a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip. Alternatively, you can use a spoon to fill the puffs. Pipe the custard into the puffs until it reaches the brim.
Transfer whipped cream cheese white chocolate ganache to a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip. Pipe two rings of ganache on top of the custard.
Place the ‘hat’ of the choux on top of the ganache. Garnish with cubed carrot cake. Dust with powdered sugar.
Serve immediately!
Notes
The carrot cake component makes 6 - 7 carrot cupcakes but you will only need to use half to garish these cream puffs. These carrot cupcakes freeze really well if you want to save the extras for later. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or a freezer-safe ziploc bag.