Croquembouche

I just got a fabulous new perfume, and the scent is Croquembuche. I just love it and suggest you try it! A little about the tasty treat....

Croquembouche typically looks like this (right). It is composed of light cream (mousse or custard and can be in a variety of flavors) filled pastry puffs, and they are typically towered on one another. The finished tower is then sealed with hot crack caramel (like...345 degrees super hot) and when this cools the tower can be decorated or eaten by cracking off the puffs. Delicious!
And how did this fun and fancy dessert come to be??

"It has its origins as a fanciful, edible architectural structure displayed on the medieval tables of French royalty and nobility. Antonin Careme (1783-1833), the most famous French chef of his generation, popularized the Croquembouche. He created Turkish mosques, Persian pavilions and Gothic towers. The entire genre spiraled up and out of control towards the end of the 19th century, but then subsided to manageable dimensions. During the 20th century the Croquembouche has survived as a conical construction of choux balls piled on top of one another, each on a nougat base with a decoration at the top. Demeter’s Croquembouche captures the light and sugary scent of the nougat and choux balls perfectly, in a scent far more delicate than you might otherwise expect."


*About the top image, Louis and Marie are celebrating the birth of the dauphin. The room is decorated with fabrics, and on the table are elaborate confections and decor......Marie and Louis are sitting at the head of the table with their backs to us