BLACK SWAN

The "Cygne à la Crème" (swan with cream) is a classic French pastry made of chou pastry. Here I wanted to make a black swan with flavors of cocoa, milk chocolate and orange jelly.

makes 4 servings,

The Cocoa Craquelin :

- 35 gr softened butter

- 40 gr brown sugar

- 30 gr flour

- 10 gr cocoa powder

Mix all the ingredients.

Then roll out this dough 3 mm thick between 2 baking paper sheets. Reserve in the freezer at least 3 hours.

The Milk Chocolate Diplomate Cream :

- 125 gr milk

- 1 egg yolk

- 8 gr flour

- 5 gr corn starch

- 20 gr sugar

- 35 gr milk chocolate

- 2 gr gelatin (1 sheet)

- 90 gr cold cream to whip (see the assembly step)

Prepare a pastry cream :

Hydrate the gelatin in cold water.

In a large bowl, beat the yolk with the sugar, then add the flours. Beat again.

Heat up the milk in a saucepan, then pour it over the previous mixture. Pour back in the pan and cook until it thickens, stirring all the time. When done, add the gelatin (drained).

Put the milk chocolate in a bowl and pour over it the cream still hot. Whip until homogeneous. Reserve in the fridge cover with a plastic film on the surface.

The Cocoa Chou Pastry :
- 125 gr water
- 50 gr butter
- 60 gr flour
- 15 gr cocoa powder
- 15 gr sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt

To make the chou pastry, follow the steps here : click!

You can see here the color the cocoa gives to the dough.

With the help of a pastry bag, pipe them 10 cm long, it'll be the body of the swan. Take the craquelin out of the freezer and cut triangles out of it to match the size of the chou pastry.

Put in preheated oven (medium heat) for 30 to 35 minutes. Allow to cool down.

Do the same for the head and neck of the swans. Here use a pastry bag with a small nozzle. Put in preheated oven for 15 minutes.

The Assembly :
We'll need some orange Jelly (recipe available here : click!)

Complete the diplomate cream :
Take out the pastry cream out of the fridge and whip it to loosen it up. Meanwhile, whip the cream until it forms peaks. Then fold it delicately into the milk chocolate pastry cream. Put in a pastry bag and reserve in the fridge 5 to 10 minutes...