St. Honore Cake

This is all baked until golden brown in an oven heated to 450 F (240C). The small domes will be done first and will have to be pulled from the oven. They will puff up and turn a lovely golden brown when done. Watch the browning of the Chou Ring. If it is browning faster than the Puff Pastry, lower the oven heat and bake out longer. When done, remove and let cool. The Filling can be either of the following: Creme Chantilly - vanilla flavored sweetened whipped cream or Creme Chiboust - which is Pastry Cream mixed with Italian Meringue and flavored with Rum, Coffee or Kirsch. The little domes, when cool, are filled with the Creme Chantilly by poking a small hole in the bottom of them and piping the filling in with a Pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip. Then they are dipped in a caramel made of 3/4 cup Granulated Sugar cooked with 3 Tablespoons water until it just begins to darken. Place them at regular intervals around the baked Chou Ring. Attach them with a little of the Caramel to hold them in place. Fill the center of the Ring with the Creme Chantilly piped out of a Pastry Bag fitted with a Larger Tip (Star Tip looks nice.) Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve. Chou Paste 2-3 eggs (1/2 cup) beaten 1/2 cup mixture of half milk, half water 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar 3 1/2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup flour Place the water-milk mixture in a saucepan and add the salt, sugar and butter. Bring slowly to a boil, them remove from the heat and add the flour all at once. Beat the dough vigorously with a wooden spoon, replace the saucepan on the heat and beat the dough for 1 minute or until it comes away from the sides of the pan and no longer sticks to the spoon. Transfer the dough to a warmed mixing bowl, Add a third of the beaten egg beating the dough all the while with the spoon. When the egg is completely mixed in add one half of the remaining beaten egg, still beating the dough vigorously until completely incorporated, and then add the remaining egg and continue to beat until the dough is smooth. Creme Chantilly: About 4 cups using 2 cups heavy cream beaten with 1/4 cup confectioners sugar and vanilla to taste.