Hazelnut Paris Brest by Nicolas Rouzaud
At the Connaught Pastisserie by The Connaught hotel in London, the cakes are displayed in a refrigerated display cabinet, which was built to look like a jewelry box. “Every cake is precious and special. It’s a real team effort, and working together is very important and reflects on the finishing results”, says its Executive Pastry Chef Nicolas Rouzaud.
The best seller is the signature Connaughty hound, “I think people love the idea that the hound changes seasonally, and it’s a real piece of art”, he explains. Another very popular cake is this Hazelnut Paris Brest, with neige décor, whose recipe we share below.
Hazelnut Paris Brest
Pâte à choux: (about 15)
- 110 ml water
- 110 ml milk
- 130 g T55
- 85 g butter
- 4 g sugar
- 2,5 g salt
- 220 ml whole eggs
Combine in a pan and bring to a boil: water, milk, butter, salt and sugar. Out of the heat, add flour and mix. Back to the heat, stir well to dry the mix. With the mixer, add the eggs slowly.
Crème Pâtissière
- 500 g milk
- 1 u vanilla pods
- 40 g custard powder
- 80 g caster sugar
- 30 g whole eggs
- 120 g egg yolk
Boil milk with vanilla pods. Mix together the rest of the powders with the egg yolk and pour it in your milk. Bring it to boil again and cook the crème pâtissière.
Hazelnut mousseline: (10 portions)
- 75 g hazelnut praline 65 % (smooth)
- 150 g butter
- 375 g crème patissiere
Mix the crème pâtissière with soft butter using a paddle until smooth. Add the smooth praline.
Caramelized hazelnuts: (10 portion)
- 120 g blanched hazelnuts
- 60 g sugar
- 20 g water
Roast blanched hazelnut at 150c for 8-10mins. Boil water with sugar until 116 °C. Add the roasted hazelnuts, and stir well until fully caramelized
Montage
Make the pate a choux, pipe it in a shape of a ring 6.5 cm and freeze it.Cook it in a deck oven with 180 °C top, 150 °C bottom for about 40 minutes, make sure it is properly dried. Once cold, cut it in a half and pipe on the bottom part some hazelnut praline in it, then pipe the hazelnut mousseline with a star nozzle number 15 all around it. Add some hazelnut praline on the top of it, decorate with some hazelnut caramelized cut in a half. Dust the top part of the Paris Brest with neige décor, place it on top of the mousseline, stick on top of it a whole hazelnut caramelised, and add some gold as a final touch.
