Home Dessert French cake “Chou. Cake shu with curd cream Custard shu

Dessert

French cake “Chou. Cake shu with curd cream Custard shu

Delicious cake recipes

shu cake recipe

20 pcs.

1,5 hour

265 kcal

5 /5 (1 )

Every year, culinary experts offer more and more new delicacies, which are quite simple to prepare even at home. The “Shu” cake should also be considered one of these products, photos of which undoubtedly prove their uniqueness and attractiveness. Once, my mother saw a friend’s recipe for making these unusual cakes, and after using it at home, I can say that the resulting dessert is truly worthy of the highest praise. I am happy to share it with you.

Inventory and kitchen appliances: sieve, saucepan, pastry bag, baking tray.

Required Products

Features of product selection

From the list of products above, it is already clear what exactly you will need to create the perfect Shu custard cake. However, in order to get the desired result, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of individual products. For example, you need to choose the most ordinary flour, without additives or raising agents.

If you want the crust of your products to acquire a beautiful chocolate color. then you should replace 20 g of flour with a similar amount of high-quality cocoa.

Butter, which is also included in the dough for “Shu,” must be cold and hard, but you can achieve a similar result only by purchasing a quality product. You should approach the choice of dye responsibly. In principle, you can take the usual dry food version, but it is better to immediately purchase a gel analogue of the desired color (only a few drops are enough for painting).

The sugar can be whatever you want: fine-grained or coarse-grained, it doesn’t matter, and as for the syrup, I made French “Chou” cakes with raspberry syrup, but you can try some other analogue that you have in the pantry.

History of French cake

“Chou” is a choux pastry, and this is how it is translated from French (“choux”). It is generally accepted that the authorship of the recipe for such a dough belongs to the personal chef of Catherine de Medici - Panterelli, who invented it in 1540.

Naturally, over time, certain changes were made to the recipe (which could not but be reflected in the name of the products, which were transformed from “pate a Popelini” to “pate a Popelin”), although much remained unchanged. In 1760, Jean Avis (French pastry chef) baked the first “Chou” buns, replacing the usual potatoes for such products with brewed flour.

It cannot be said that modern confectioners did not have a hand in improving the recipe, because in those days no one could even think about the possibility of obtaining such a thin layer of sand dough as we see it today.

How to cook “Shu” cake at home: step-by-step recipe

Having familiarized yourself with the recipe and history of the “Shu” cake, you will probably be interested in trying to use in practice one of the modern recipes for this dessert, presented along with photos that describe each stage of the work step by step. Therefore, having prepared all the necessary ingredients, we move on to the cooking process itself, for which we perform the following steps:

First, sift the flour into a bowl and add the same amount of sugar to the measured amount (100 g), thoroughly mixing the two ingredients.

Next, take cold butter (80 g) and chop it into small pieces with a sharp knife.

It is the hardness of the butter when stored in the refrigerator that determines its quality, but to prevent it from melting too quickly when preparing Shu cakes, try to touch it as little as possible.

If you want to make a colored dessert, like I did, then you need to add dye to the sugar and flour. As I already said, just a few drops of gel dye will be enough. The color of the finished dessert will be exactly the same as the color of the dough, so you shouldn’t overuse dyes, worrying that they will eventually turn very pale.

After mixing flour, sugar and coloring, add the diced butter and begin to rub it into the remaining ingredients (just pass the resulting mass between your fingers several times).

As a result, we get a lump that looks like crumbly plasticine. From this “plasticine” I roll a ball and, placing it between sheets of parchment, roll it out with a rolling pin until a layer of 2-3 mm is obtained. Immediately place the rolled out dough in the freezer.

When making a “Shu” cake with craquelure (cracks in the top colored layer), it is necessary to prepare two types of dough, and while one of them is already cooling in the refrigerator, we immediately proceed to creating the second one - custard. Here the whole procedure is a little simpler and involves the following steps:

Take 100 g of butter (in this case its temperature is not as important as in the previous one), cut it into large cubes and put it in a saucepan with a thick bottom.
Pour the butter with water (250 ml) and add a teaspoon of sugar and salt, stirring the mixture lightly as soon as the butter begins to melt on the stove.
Next, sift 150 g of flour and, after waiting until the butter has completely melted, pour it (all at once, so that no lumps form) into a saucepan. Before mixing, remove the saucepan from the stove.
Having mixed the butter and flour well, return the pan to the heat and again stir continuously with a spatula. The dough should not stick to either the walls or the bottom of the container, and at some point you will notice that it has rolled into a ball.
We continue to stir it until a light velvety crust is visible at the bottom of the saucepan, indicating the readiness of the dough. After stirring it for a few more minutes, remove the saucepan from the stove and transfer the resulting ball to another container.
Add eggs (4 pieces) to the finished dough, introducing them into the mixture one at a time. Adding eggs one at a time into the dough is necessary in order to accurately guess its consistency (the dough may contain a little more or a little less moisture). It is likely that four eggs will not be enough, and you will also need a fifth or even a sixth, because it all depends on their size.

In order for the dough to bake well, all eggs must be at room temperature.
Now you need to accurately catch the moment when the dough is ideally prepared, that is, when you mix it with a spatula and lift it up, the dough should drain a little, but not fall in pieces. However, you can’t overdo it, so it’s better to let it be a little thick. If the mixture turns out to be too liquid, then adding flour will not help, and you will have to make a new dough, mixing both later.
Place the finished dough into a pastry bag with a round tip (from my own experience: the most suitable diameter turned out to be 12 or 14 mm). If you don’t have such a nozzle on your farm, you can carefully cut the spout of the bag to the required diameter.
We take a baking sheet, cover it with parchment paper and remove circles with a diameter of 3 cm from the bag. You shouldn’t put a lot on it, because the dough simply won’t have time to rise properly.

It is important to leave a space of 4 cm between adjacent balls, since they will definitely increase in the oven and may stick together.
At this stage, it’s time to take the set aside dough out of the refrigerator and cut out as many circles from the frozen tile (using a special pastry ring) as you have on the baking sheet. Be prepared for the fact that the dough will be very hard, which means you will have to use force to get the desired circles.
As soon as all the coins take their place on the custard circles, put the future cakes in the oven, preheated to 200 °C, for 10-12 minutes. This is an approximate time, so it is better to focus on the condition of the dough itself: the bottom (that is, the choux pastry) should be browned. If you take the items out too early or open the oven during baking, they will simply fall off.
We take the finished “Shu” out of the oven, and after it has cooled, you can move on to decorating and adding cream. Properly prepared cakes should be completely empty inside.

Cream for cake “Shu”

How to beautifully decorate and serve “Shu” cake

In principle, a colored cake with cream and a lid looks original and attractive in itself, but you can use other methods of decoration. For example, add a small raspberry, pieces of other fruits to each product, or simply sprinkle the lid with powdered sugar. The main thing is to figure out how to prepare the “Shu” cake, and your imagination will tell you how to decorate it.

To prepare craquelin you will need: sugar, cocoa, butter, flour.

Combine all the ingredients for making craquelin in one container and, using a mixer or fork, mix until smooth. The mass will be lump-free and dense, like plasticine.

Place a large piece of baking paper on the table and lay out the prepared cocoa-cream mass, cover with a second sheet of baking paper and roll out into a thin layer approximately 2-3 mm thick. Without removing the paper, place in the freezer for about 1 hour.

At this time, you can prepare the cream and choux pastry. To prepare the cream you will need: butter, 10% cream (you can use thicker cream), dark chocolate, cottage cheese and vanillin.

Grind cottage cheese (any fat content) through a fine sieve.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter with a mixer at high speed until fluffy (this will take 2-3 minutes).

Combine cottage cheese, cream, vanillin and whipped butter.

Melt the chocolate in the bowl of a double boiler or in a water bath, pour it into the curd mass and stir immediately.

Place the finished curd cream in the refrigerator.

To prepare the choux pastry, prepare: eggs, flour, butter, water and a pinch of salt.

Pour water into a saucepan, add butter and add salt. Place on medium heat.

When the butter melts and the mixture boils, add flour and stir quickly, remove from heat.

The dough will begin to separate from the walls of the pan and follow the spoon. The structure of the dough will resemble softened children's plasticine. Using a spoon, cool the dough to room temperature.
Add one egg at a time to the dough, kneading the dough well after each.

The dough will become more liquid. I used homemade eggs, so the choux pastry turned out a rich yellow color.

Fill a pastry syringe with dough and pipe pieces with a diameter of approximately 3-4 cm into a mold lined with parchment. Leave 1.5-2 cm between the pieces, as the cakes will increase in volume during baking.

Remove the rolled out dough from the freezer and cut out circles approximately 3-4 cm in diameter.

Place the resulting circles on top of the dough and place in a preheated oven. Bake for the first 10 minutes at 220 degrees, the next 20 minutes at 170 degrees. Do not open the oven door during baking, otherwise the cakes will fall.
Remove the finished “Shu” cakes from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Cut off the “cap” from the cooled cake and fill the void with the prepared curd cream. Return the "hat" back.

Tender, tasty, beautiful “Shu” cakes should be served immediately.

Cook with love! Bon appetit!

Do you love trying all kinds of culinary delights in pastry shops? But if, in addition to this, you also love to cook, then you simply must try making shu delicacy according to our recipe with photos.

Ingredients for shu cake

This dessert is very similar to profiteroles and differs from them only in size. The ingredients need to be prepared for both the dough and the filling.

For the test you will need:

5 eggs;
100 g butter;
1 cup flour;
1 glass of water;
a pinch of salt.

A similar set of components with minor additions will be used for the filling:

2 eggs;
5 tablespoons flour;
100 g butter;
350 g sugar;
750 ml milk;
a pinch of salt;
vanillin.

Cream recipe

In the case of this dessert, it is the filling that needs to be prepared first - it needs time to cool.

The filling mixture is made using the custard method and requires a certain sequence of actions.

1. Beat the eggs until foamy for 2 minutes.

1. With the mixer running, add sugar and continue beating until fluffy.

1. Without stopping, add flour, beat for another 1 minute and pour in warm milk in a thin stream.

1. Place the container with this mixture on low heat. Don't forget to stir to avoid burning the mixture.

1. After the liquid boils, cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes. This time is an average. It all depends on the consistency of the mass - it should thicken well.

1. Remove the pan from the stove and cool. After this, add vanillin and butter. The butter must be taken out of the refrigerator in advance so that it has time to warm up and become soft.

1. Beat the butter until white separately, and then transfer it to the mixture that was boiled on the stove. Beat everything together for a few minutes.

The finished filling should be quite thick. However, for optimal conditions, it is better to put it in the refrigerator while the dough is being prepared.

Cake dough shu

1. Boil water and add oil to it until it dissolves. Slowly add flour and a pinch of salt. In this case, the liquid must be stirred. In this state, let it stand for 1 minute over low heat. You will know the dough is ready when it pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

1. After removing the container from the heat, you can carefully add the eggs one at a time. Each egg must be mixed thoroughly and only then add the next one.

1. When all the ingredients are mixed, the dough will turn into a yellow, thick mass.

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment and spoon the dough onto it. Try to make round slides.

1. Set the oven to 200 degrees and bake until the dough is golden brown.

Now all that remains is to make a transverse cut and fill the product with filling. On top you can make patterns from icing or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

It turns out to be in size and filling. What we used to call “profiteroles” and cook with sweet creams is actually shu. Today I would like to present to your attention a recipe with step-by-step photos of preparing shu with craquelin, which is also often incorrectly called craquelure. These two concepts are similar - both are cracked coating, only the first is used in cooking, and the second refers to inedible.

What is craquelin and how to prepare it?

Let's start with him. Craquelin is a shortbread dough with which we will cover the shu before baking; in the oven it will crack and form a beautiful crispy crust with cracks on the cakes. Craquelin can be made in any color by adding food coloring to the dough. Those who avoid them may stain the dough with cocoa. I would not recommend painting with something like beets. The color will turn out to be an ugly dirty brown.

What you need for craquelin:

flour – 200g;
butter – 150g;
sugar – 2 tbsp;
salt - a pinch;
ice water – 4-5 tbsp.

Cooking process

Let's start with the dye. Everywhere they recommend adding gel, but I haven’t seen it here, I only bought the regular powder one. Therefore, I did the following: I dissolved a small amount in the same amount of water that is indicated in the list of ingredients. And since we need it very cold, we put it in the refrigerator.
I make the base dough using a blender. If you don’t have one, then a regular grater will do just fine. We will need frozen butter. We divide it with a knife into small pieces.
Place them in a blender bowl.
Pour flour, add salt and sugar. Cover and grind for 30 seconds. The flour and butter will mix and look like the photo below:
Take the water and dye out of the refrigerator and pour it into the mixture.
Close the lid again and turn on the blender to blend.
Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead it a little with your hands so that the dye is distributed more evenly. Wrap in cling film and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
After half an hour, take it out, cut it in half, put one part of the craquelin on one half of a sheet of baking paper. We are putting the second one in the cold for now.
Cover with the other half and wrap the edges with an envelope.
Roll out with a rolling pin in all directions to a thickness of 3 mm. Note! If it is thinner, then you will not be able to work with it further. If it is thicker, it will not bake properly in the oven.
We remove the layer in paper into the freezer. Let it sit while we work on the second part.
Then we swap them, take a glass of small diameter and cut out circles. The diameter of the circles should be approximately the same as the size of the future cakes. We do not remove the cut out circles. Place in the freezer until needed. We do the same with the second layer.

Choux pastry shu

While the craquelin is frozen, let's move on to the shu itself. For them we will prepare the second type of dough - choux.

Ingredients:

butter – 100g;
water – 180ml;
flour – 200g;
egg – 4-6 pcs (300g);
salt - a pinch.

How to make brownie dough

Pour water into a saucepan and add oil.
We are waiting for it to melt.
Pour in the flour and continuously stir with a spatula over moderate heat to make the dough.
Once it has turned into a plastic mass, remove from heat. This happens quite quickly.
Let it cool down. Meanwhile, weigh the eggs. I highly recommend weighing them because... The correct consistency of the dough depends on the size of the eggs. First, break 4 pieces into a bowl, then add up to 300 g. It happens that one whole egg is too much, then we take only the yolk.
As soon as the mass has cooled and becomes warm, we begin to beat it with a mixer, adding eggs in parts.
Transfer the resulting choux pastry into a cooking bag with a nozzle.
Line a baking sheet with parchment. We take the same glass or shot glass that we used to cut out the craquelin circles and mark the circles on paper with a pencil.
Place the choux pastry into circles.
We take the craquelin out of the freezer, take out the cut out circles and place them on top of the blanks.
Bake in an oven preheated to 220°C for 10 minutes. Then switch to 180°C and bake for another 25-30 minutes. The shu should be well baked. If you don't bake them enough, they will be soft and fall off. Then there will be no shape and no cream inside. Focus on the color of the bottoms; it would be better if they were darker than lighter. Why bottoms? Because you won’t be able to see the rest of the cake. The craquelin will first become soft due to the temperature and “hug” the rising shu, which will continue to increase in size and the craquelin will not withstand it - it will crack.

Cream for cakes shu

You can pump cream into such cakes using a syringe or a cornet with a pointed nozzle. Or, to simplify the process, cut off the top of the cake. The texture of the cream should be light, but stable and in no case runny. Protein custard is best suited for these purposes.

What is needed for the cream

sugar – 140g;
water – 50g;
lemon juice - a couple of drops;
egg white from 2 eggs.

How to make cream for shu cakes

And that’s it – the cakes are ready! Our little feat should be rewarded with delicious, crispy outside and tender inside cakes.

Need I say that they are perfect for February 14th - Valentine's Day and March 8th?

Shu cakes can be prepared at home using the following ingredients:

In a container convenient for kneading, combine 100 g. flour, sugar, a few drops of food coloring and 80 gr. butter. Grind all the ingredients with a fork until you get buttery crumbs, and then knead the dough, which is called “Cracklin”.
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Roll out the dough between two layers of parchment (as in the photo) into a layer about 1-2 mm thick and put it in the freezer.
Prepare the choux pastry: in a small saucepan, combine water and 120 g. butter, put the saucepan on gas and bring its contents to a boil.
Add flour to the boiling mass and rub it until all the lumps disappear.
Beat the eggs at maximum mixer speed for 3-4 minutes.
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Add the hot custard part of the dough into well-beaten eggs, one tablespoon at a time.
Transfer the finished dough into a pastry bag with a small round tip and place small round cakes on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
Then we take out the frozen shortcrust pastry and use a round die to make small circles, as in the photo.
Place the resulting circles on top of the cake and place in the oven, preheated to 180 degrees for 30 minutes.
We take out the pieces and let them cool completely.
Beat the cream at maximum mixer speed until it thickens. Then add strawberry syrup in small portions. Transfer the finished strawberry cream into a pastry bag with a convenient nozzle.
We cut the blanks into two parts, as in the photo.
We beautifully spread our cream on the bottom of the workpiece.
And cover the top with the second part of the workpiece.
Now you can enjoy the great taste of Shu cakes.