Profiteroles and Birthday Fireworks.

What is one to do...it’s the boys birthday tomorrow, you have last year’s EPIC offering to live up to and you have THREE CAKE FAILS all in one day. Quelle Desastre. I shall tell you what you do....you make profiteroles and pray (there is a special cake God just for cake praying yeah?).

I don’t, however, want you to think that I’m a crazy clever housewife lady whose answer to all culinary trouble is to rustle up something elllllse fancy on a whim. Oh no....if it hadn’t been a mighty important baking day, I probably would have cried, thrown something and gone to bed in a huff....my answer to most struggles I encounter.

I had in fact plllaaaanned to make profiteroles all along, they were to be the yummy pudding, no fuss or fireworks, just a casual, ‘time for profiteroles?’ at the end of dinner. But given that the cakey part, where the fireworks were meant to be directed, had let me down, I just sort of redirected the emphasis. And made it seeeeeem like I am a crazy clever housewife lady with the answer to everything, even birthday cake fails.

The motto? Mmm not sure really, maybe to always plan to make profiteroles, I mean, it doesn’t do any harm. Or maybe to not follow stupid cake recipes that look suspicious from the start...no eggs? What? Or maybe it’s just that you shouldn’t cry over uncookable cake...because really, people don’t care, as long as you give hugs and kisses and gnocchi, all will be well. With Love and Cake.

Profiteroles.

Original recipe from Delia's Complete Cookery Course.

A few notes:

• Try to make these as close to the time of serving as poss, they need about half an hour to cool before filling but after that it's sogs-ville...and no one likes a soggy profiterole.
• This is just a basic choux pastry recipe, so you basically do exactly the same to make eclairs but shape the pastry into sausages before baking.
• If you don't have a piping bag etc, simply, split the choux buns in half, fill with whipped cream with a spoon, and join the halves together again.

Makes 12-15

You will need

a greased baking sheet

For the pastry 

60g plain flour

1 tsp caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

150ml water

50g butter, cubed

For the filling

275ml double cream, softly whipped

For the chocolate sauce

225g dark chocolate

3 tbsp cream

• Preheat the oven to 200°c.
• First we need to get everything ready to make the pastry, because when it gets going, it's a speedy process. So weigh the flour into a bowl and add the sugar, then beat the eggs in a separate little bowl.
• Pop the water and butter in a saucepan and heat over a medium heat until the butter has melted and the water just starts to boil.
• As soon as this happens, take the pan off the heat, pour the flour and sugar into the pan and beatbeatbeat with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth paste that sticks together and leaves the sides of the pan clean.
• Continuing to beat, add the eggs, a bit at a time, until you have a smooth, glossy paste.
• Now, run the greased baking sheet under some cold water and shake most of it off...this means a little bit of steam is created in the oven, helping the pastry to rise.
• Arrange teaspoon-fulls of the pastry on the baking sheet, leaving plenty of room for rising between each one.
• Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven up to 220°c and bake for another 15 minutes, until golden and puffy.
• Remove the choux buns to a wire rack and pierce each one with a knife or skewer to allow any soggy-making steam to escape.
• While they cool, make the chocolate sauce by melting the chocolate and cream together, either in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave.
• Whisk so you have a lovely silky sauce.
• Now to fill your profiteroles...pop the whipped cream in a piping bag, poke the nozzle into each choux bun and squeeze out a healthy dose of cream.
• You could pour over the chocolate sauce now or serve it alongside, either way...well done, fail averted.