Ingredients
Choux pastry:
- 130g cake flour
- 100g butter
- 4 eggs
- 2ml salt
- 240ml water
Mousse:
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 5 egg yolks
- 5 tbsp espresso, cooled
- 3 tbsp sugar, white
- 2ml salt
- 225g chocolate, dark
- 5 egg whites
Springbok horns:
- 100g chocolate, dark, chopped
Glaze:
- 150g chocolate, dark
- 100g chocolate, milk
- 60g chocolate, white
- 100ml whipping cream
Choux pastry:
- 130g cake flour
- 100g butter
- 4 eggs
- 2ml salt
- 240ml water
Creme brulee filling:
- 7 egg yolks
- 9 tbsp sugar, white
- 2 1/2 cups whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 1/2 tbsp mango juice
- 100g mango, dried
- 1/2 cup water
Caramel:
- 175g sugar, white
- 5 tbsp water
Preparation method
Choux pastry:
- Preheat oven to 200 C
- Grease and line a baking tray
- Heat butter, salt and water until boiling point
- Quickly pour in the flour and remove from heat, stir until smooth
- Return to heat, stirring, until dough is smooth and glossy
- Pour beaten eggs into dough until smooth
- Transfer mixture into a piping bag with a 1.5 cm round nozzle
- Pipe twelve 15 cm lengths onto the baking tray
- Bake at 200 C for 15 minutes
- Then reduce oven to 170 C and bake for 10 minutes, until crisp and golden
- Remove from the oven and puncture each éclair with a skewer
- Return to the oven for 5 minutes
- Remove from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack and cool
Mousse:
- Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Cover and place in fridge
- Chop chocolate into small pieces
- Mix egg yolks, coffee, a pinch of salt, and 2 tbsp sugar in a metal bowl
- Set over a pot of simmering water
- Cook, while whisking, until mixture has lightened and doubled in volume
- Add the chocolate and whisk until melted
- Allow to cool, whisking occasionally
- Beat egg whites until foamy, then whisk in remaining sugar until stiff peak
- Fold egg whites into the chocolate mixture in two stages
- Finally, fold in the whipped cream
- Cover with cling wrap and chill for 1 hour
Springbok horns:
- Melt chocolate then transfer to piping bag with 3mm nozzle
- Line a surface with non-stick baking paper
- Pipe 12 sets of springbok horns, 7 cm wide
- Refrigerate to harden
Glaze:
- Chop up each type of chocolate separately into small pieces
- Heat 50 ml cream until hot and stir in dark chocolate, until well combined
- Heat 30 ml cream until hot and stir in milk chocolate, until well combined
- Heat 20 ml cream until hot and stir in white chocolate, until well combined
- Refrigerate milk and white chocolate glaze
Assembly:
- Cut éclairs in half horizontally
- Dip the tops in the dark chocolate glaze. Refrigerate for 10-20 minutes to harden
- Pipe a flat strip of milk chocolate glaze along the top of each éclair
- Refrigerate to harden
- Pipe a white circle on the end of each éclair top
- Insert a set of horns into one end of each éclair top, just behind the white circle
- Refrigerate
- Pipe a strip of chocolate mousse onto each éclair base
- Place the top of each éclair on top of the mousse
Choux pastry:
- Preheat oven to 200 C
- Grease and line a baking tray
- Heat butter, salt and water until boiling point
- Quickly pour in the flour and remove from heat, stir until smooth
- Return to heat, stirring, until dough is smooth and glossy
- Pour beaten eggs into dough until smooth
- Transfer mixture into a piping bag with a 1.5 cm round nozzle
- Pipe twelve 15 cm lengths onto the baking tray
- Bake at 200 C for 15 minutes
- Then reduce oven to 170 C and bake for 10 minutes, until crisp and golden
- Remove from the oven and puncture each éclair with a skewer
- Return to the oven for 5 minutes
- Remove from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack, and cool
Creme brulee filling:
- Finely chop the dried mango and put into a small saucepan
- Add 1/2 cup water and 4 tbsp sugar
- Boil for 2-3 minutes. Strain and transfer to bowl. Allow to cool
- Beat egg yolks and mango juice, while adding remaining sugar until creamy
- Heat the cream until hot but not boiling
- Stir in the vanilla essence
- Add the hot cream slowly to the egg mixture while beating briskly
- Return mixture to the pot and cook gently for another 5-7 minutes, until thickened
- Stir in the dried mango
- Allow to cool, then refrigerate
Caramel:
- Combine sugar and water in a shallow saucepan wider than 15cm
- Boil until lightly golden, without stirring. Turn off heat
- Invert each éclair and dip carefully in the caramel. Allow to harden
- Using a blowtorch, burn (slightly) the caramel on top of each éclair
Assembly:
- Slice each éclair horizontally
- Fit a large rosette tip to a piping bag and fill with the crème brûlée mixture
- Pipe a generous strip of crème brûlée filling onto each éclair base
- Replace the tops of the éclairs