The name, Croquembouche, is French and means "crunch in the mouth". It is essentially a tower of creme puffs held together by caramel. I have also seen them held together using chocolate.
jjschnebel's Who Cooked That Up's site has the history of the Croquembouche and also a traditional recipe for the pate a choux (the dough), the pastry creme and the caramel. He also has instructions on how to assemble it.
However, this is about simplifying the Croquembouche. The first step to simplifying is to go to your local grocery store, and head to the frozen dessert department. There, you will find frozen cream puffs. I have tried the ones at Costco when they were being handed out by the demo person and they were very good.
Wilton has a recipe using their Candy Melts to make a ganache to "glue" frozen cream puffs together. Their Candy Melts even come in green and red so if you're feeling particularly creative, you can decorate yours in a Christmassy fashion.
Ingredients:
1 package candy melts, chopped
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 pkgs frozen mini cream puffs 50-60 cream puffs
Instructions:
step 1 Prepare Chocolate Ganache following recipe instructions below. Cool slightly.
step 2 Cover cake circle with foil; spread 2 tablespoons ganache onto covered circle.
step 3 Arrange 3 cream puffs in triangle shape in center of cake circle; form a ring of about 9 cream puffs around triangle.
step 4 Create next layer by dipping one edge of cream puffs, one at a time, into ganache; arrange in a slightly smaller ring on top of first cream puff ring.
step 5 Place additional cream puffs to fill center of ring. Continue building remainder of tree in same fashion, creating smaller rings on each level.
step 6 Finish with a single cream puff at the top.
step 7 If necessary, gently heat remaining ganache to thin. Using spoon, drizzle over cream puff tree.
step 8 Refrigerate to set; keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
1 14 oz package of candy melts
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Chop Candy Melts (you can use a food processor). Heat whipping cream in saucepan just to boiling point. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add chopped Candy Melts, stir until smooth and glossy.
They even have a video to help you to assemble it.
step 1 Prepare Chocolate Ganache following recipe instructions below. Cool slightly.
step 2 Cover cake circle with foil; spread 2 tablespoons ganache onto covered circle.
step 3 Arrange 3 cream puffs in triangle shape in center of cake circle; form a ring of about 9 cream puffs around triangle.
step 4 Create next layer by dipping one edge of cream puffs, one at a time, into ganache; arrange in a slightly smaller ring on top of first cream puff ring.
step 5 Place additional cream puffs to fill center of ring. Continue building remainder of tree in same fashion, creating smaller rings on each level.
step 6 Finish with a single cream puff at the top.
step 7 If necessary, gently heat remaining ganache to thin. Using spoon, drizzle over cream puff tree.
step 8 Refrigerate to set; keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
1 14 oz package of candy melts
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Chop Candy Melts (you can use a food processor). Heat whipping cream in saucepan just to boiling point. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add chopped Candy Melts, stir until smooth and glossy.
Willow Bird Baking has good instructions for assembling your cream puffs using their caramel glaze (their glaze recipe is below this photo, also from Willow Bird).
Prepare the plate your croquembouche will be assembled on with wax paper around the edges to catch excess caramel. Set up your work area: two baking sheets covered in parchment for the caramel-covered puffs to dry on, an ice-water bath to stop the caramel from cooking and for any burnt fingers. Once you’re set up, you’re ready to begin assembly.
Make the caramel glaze: Prepare an ice-water bath. Bring all ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, washing down sides of pan often with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Cook, without stirring, until sugar dissolves, 5 to 6 minutes. Raise heat to high, and cook, swirling pan to color evenly, until syrup is amber (about 325 on a candy thermometer), about 5 minutes. Remove caramel from heat, and set bottom of pan in ice-water bath for a few seconds to stop the cooking. Use immediately, working as quickly as possible.*
Assembly: Dip top half of each filled puff into caramel (be careful not to burn your fingers), letting excess drip back into pan. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let stand until caramel is set.
Carefully dip bottom half of 1 puff into caramel, letting excess drip into pan. Transfer puff, hot caramel side down, to a serving platter. Repeat with more puffs, forming a connected ring as you work. Repeat with more puffs, layering rings to form a pyramid, using 45 or 50 puffs total. (If the caramel begins to harden, reheat briefly over low heat.)*
*Note: Reheating the caramel did not work so well for me, and even qorking quickly wasn’t quickly enough — and as mentioned above, when the caramel cools, it settles thickly on the puff and can become a brittle hazard. Thus, you may want to make a half batch of the caramel at a time, starting over if your caramel gets cool/thick, so that you can ensure a thin coating on each puff.
I have seen Croquembouches (yes, that is the proper plural for it) used as a wedding cake but Ukrainian pastry chef Valentyn Shtefano and his bride-to-be must really like this dessert. He made her wedding dress entirely out of cream puffs and caramelized sugar. It took over 2 months to make and used 1,500 puffs. Although it appears to be heavy, the dress weighed only 20 pounds.
“At all times, I live my life halfway between French pastry
and reality.” – Lady Gaga
A simple Croquembouche~that's something I want to make.
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