patisserie Archives - Juniper Cakery | Bespoke Cakes in Yorkshire & the Humber

15th January 2019 // 1 Comments

Recipe: Cherry and and Rose Bellini Eclairs for Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and we can’t wait too! Full of sweet little treats, lots of pink and more heart shaped sprinkles than anyone could count it’s such a cute holiday! This year we are kicking off the love-filled season with these Cherry and Rose Bellini Eclairs. Pretty choux pastry desserts filled with rose extract infused cherry preserve and whipped prosecco swiss meringue buttercream… then topped with cherry flavoured fondant, fresh cherries, sprinkles and elegant roses!

Ingredients and tools needed… (makes approx. 10 eclairs)

For the eclairs

165g plain flour
300ml water (room temperature)
100g diced butter
4 beaten eggs

To fill, bake and decorate

Cherry and Rose Bellini Eclairs recipe!

Step 01:

Firstly. pre-heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/400F/Gas mark 6. After that add your butter to a saucepan with the water on medium to high heat on your stove top. When the two ingredients melt together bring them to the boil! Don’t worry… this shouldn’t take too long. For us it takes around 5-7 minutes.

Step 02:

Next remove the pan from the heat and also add in your flour. Quickly start to stir. The mix will thicken at this stage (try not to stir too much as this will over mix the dough).

Step 03:

Once your flour has been incorporated it’s time to add in your beaten eggs a little at a time (make sure to add the egg on top of the dough and not right onto the pan’s surface… the heat will instead start cooking up scrambled eggs). We’d recommend pouring in whatever you estimate to be an egg’s worth then stir vigorously (this part takes some arm muscle). Repeat this until all your eggs have been added.

Tip: This part is, however, a lot easier with someone to kindly help you. Whilst you mix everything together have your helper add in the egg.

Step 04:

When your choux dough is ready it should be thick and look a little glossy! Next you’ll need to scoop it into a disposable piping bag. You can use a large round piping tip or go rogue and just snip the bag when you’re ready to pipe!

Step 05:

Spritz your silpat lined cookie tray with water. You don’t need a lot so make sure you don’t drench it!

Step 06:

Now you can pipe out your eclairs. Snip your disposable piping and pipe thick lines of your dough along your tray. You’ll need the scissors to cut the dough off. It’s got a lot of elasticity in it’s texture so it won’t snap or break off easy. Place in your oven and bake for 30 mins. When the 30 mins are up turn the tray around and bake for a further 10 minutes. When baked leave to cool before filling and decorating.

To fill

Step 08:

Take your cherry preserve and then add a few drop of rose water to it. Most importantly, make sure you taste test so can get the exact flavour you like. You may need a few drops more depending how strong you’d like the rose flavour to be. Make sure the mix doesn’t end up runny though. Add your rose water infused cherry jam to a piping bag fitted with a bismarck tip. At two points along the flat base of your eclair pipe a little of the preserve in. Don’t pipe too much!

Step 07:

If you’ve already whipped up our prosecco swiss meringue buttercream (or SMBC) then bag it up in a disposable piping bag with your bismarck tip at the end. Now pipe the SMBC into your eclair at 3 alternating spaces between where you piped in your preserve. You can, however, use whipped cream to fill.

To decorate

Step 08:

To decorate we added some cherry extract to pink fondant and mixed it in, however, you can leave this plain if you like. We love the added cherry flavour though! When ready roll out your fondant and cut oblong shapes using for fondant eclair cutter.

Step 09:

Add a little light corn syrup onto your filled eclairs and gently lay your pink cherry fondant on top!

Step 10:

Finally, you can add your roses, cherries and sprinkles! Why not use melted chocolate to attach (use a cocktail stick to apply the chocolate) each piece on top of your fondant covered eclair. We opted for light pink roses in the middle surrounded with fresh morello cherries and sweet white heart sprinkles!

Now enjoy! Aren’t these fun and boozy inspired eclairs perfect for a Valentine’s Day dinner? Whip these up for your crush, your best friends or just for yourself (seriously, we won’t judge). They’ll be such a treat paired with some rose gold prosecco (our favourite is by Bottega)!

27th April 2017 // 2 Comments

Recipe: Strawberry Milkshake Cream Puffs!

Yep, it’s still unicorn month on our blog which means lots of rainbow and sparkle themed recipes and tutorials. This week we decided to a make something a little fancy for the unicorns who enjoy the finer things in life. Introducing our Strawberry Milkshake Cream Puffs recipe! Don’t worry though… it’s still fun and great for all ages.

Strawberry milkshake cream puffs recipe!

Makes approximately 18 cream puffs

Ingredients needed for the choux pastry:

100g diced butter
300ml water
150g plain flour
4 medium eggs lightly beaten

Ingredients needed for the strawberry cream filling:

284ml double cream (aka heavy cream or whipping cream)
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
Strawberry essence (add how ever much you like in, but make sure you taste test)

Ingredients needed for the ‘icing’:

250g Belgian white chocolate
Pink food colouring (not all work with chocolate - this is the brand and colour we used)

Step 01:

To start this Strawberry Milkshake Cream Puffs recipe pre-heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/400F/Gas mark 6. In a saucepan add your diced up butter along with the 300ml of water and heat until the butter has melted. Once melted turn the heat up so that the ingredients come to a boil.

Step 02:

As soon as the butter and water mix boils (you really don’t need to leave it too long) add in your plain flour and mix until a ball of somewhat shiny dough forms. Nothing should stick to the sides of your saucepan at this point.

Step 03:

This step takes a bit of energy and a lot of arm work! Slowly add in your beaten egg whilst mixing the dough vigorously. Your dough should get slightly stiffer and glossier as you add the eggs!

Note: You don’t want your eggs to cook separately and end up with lumps of scrambled egg in your pastry. To help stop this when you add and mix in the egg take your saucepan off the heat. Once the egg has incorporated into the mixture add the heat then repeat until all of the lightly beaten egg has been added in. Make sure that you are constantly and vigorously stirring too!

Step 04:

Lightly spritz your silpat / silicone baking mat with a little bit of water (an unused spray bottle really helps). You could just flick water on using your fingers or a clean pastry brush too.

Step 05:

Scoop the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a large plain round tip and pipe equal sized balls of dough onto your baking trays.

Step 06:

Now place in your pre-heated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes!

How do you know your cream puffs are ready? Well, you’re going to have to remove one from the oven and slice it open. They tend to weigh or feel a lot heavier than they look. The inside of your eclair should also feature a lovely hollow middle and should feel a little dried out – perfect for fillings!

Step 07:

Create your pink strawberry cream filling by adding your double (heavy or whipping) cream to the bowl of a stand-up mixer. Add in the vanilla bean paste and strawberry essence too! We also included a drop of pink food colouring before whipping as this helps minimise the risk of over whipping the cream.

Note: If you do over whip your cream and end up with a clumpy looking filling it’s easy to fix! Yay! Just add a tablespoon or two of unwhipped double cream (though you can also use full fat milk) and whisk for a few seconds before checking.

Step 08:

To fill your cream puffs add the whipped cream to a piping bag fitted with a bismark / filling piping tip (we used a 230 by Wilton). Insert the tip into the base and slowly pipe your strawberry whipped cream into the choux pastry puff! You should see the level base of the puff begin to fill a little. Remove the tip and bag and you should see a little cream poking out!

Step 09:

To coat melt some Belgian white chocolate and add in your food colouring. Remember that not all food colours can work with chocolate. This is the brand and colour we used, which worked really well with our melted down white chocolate. Some brands can separate, go a murky colour or even seize up. If you’re unsure of how your colour will work you can keep your chocolate coating plain and instead add instant colour with lots of sprinkles!

Step 10:

Take each cream puff and dip into the chocolate. Tap each whilst upside-down to help any excess chocolate from dripping down the sides. Leave to the side to set! If you want to add sprinkles, dried pieces of strawberry etc then you should add these whilst the chocolate coating is still melted. To add splattered effects wait until set!

Now you can enjoy your (grown-up unicorn inspired of course) Strawberry Milkshake Cream Puffs! We pilled ours into our new gold rimmed champagne coupes / saucers from Sainsbury’s! Why not try these cream puffs teamed with strawberry gelato, extract whipped cream and fresh berries.

We finished ours with a liberal splattering of edible gold paint for a touch of luxe, but you can party up yours with sprinkles! Try freeze dried chopped strawberries or white chocolate sprinkles for a little extra flavour. Or for an afternoon tea or a bridal shower get-together you can even add edible petals and flowers to decorate.

Hello! We’re Felicity & Krystle; we create beautiful cakes and confections in Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire!

Since we opened Juniper Cakery our work has featured in international books, magazines & blogs. In 2015 we began creating bespoke cakes and confections to order. We've also created treats for Olivia Burton Watches, Benefit Cosmetics, Boux Avenue, Homepride Flour, The Happy Egg Co., Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Satin Ice, Royal Albert and more! We also write for the popular Craftsy.com blog too!