Saturday 27 November 2010

Cream puffs tutorial

Hi everyone!

I think that cream puffs are one of the easiest and most adorable deco sweets to make. I said easy because now I know how to make them and I would like to show it to you, so you could make your own ones :)

Cream puffs, in UK called profiteroles, are just little puffed pastries filled with cream, and usually topped with chocolate glaze. Most of you know them very well. They are one of the most popular desserts here in UK, especially on Christmas, so I thought that I will make some for my market day.

I made couple of bread rolls in the past so now I thought that I could make cream puffs, as they are very similar to bread rolls. Well, I was wrong. Bread rolls have more or less symmetrical pattern on the top, whether cream puffs are more chaotic. In my opinion, off course :)
I tried to search for a tutorial on how to make them, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it's too obvious for many how to make them, but it wasn't for me. And so I created my own way of making them and here you have my little cream puffs tutorial :)


First you have to colour your air dry clay with acrylic paint off course :) I used a bit of ochre colour.
Then you make a little ball in a size of cream puff you want to have.
Divide it in four more or less similar size parts. I wanted to have rather simple cream puff so I divided it in four. They don't have to be perfect ball shape, because cream puffs are not perfect when they raise in the oven :)


Take three balls (I chose bigger ones) and join them together.

Put fourth one on the top and squeeze them gently together.

Try not to squash them and try to keep it in shape.

I also joined them together underneath, by smudging the creases, so it wouldn't fall apart.




This is difficult part for me as I don't know how to explain it properly in English :D

Using pointed tool (I used knitting needle (???) in small size) smudge and dab the creases, trying to separate the parts a little.

(It's very similar process to making macaroons  I think.)


And here's the easy part :)

Using rough brush (I used nail brush as it's harder that toothbrush) make the texture on the dough.

Don't push too hard and if your creases become smaller, repeat dabbing them and then use brush again until you'll get desired look.



After your cream puff will dry it's time for baking! :) I used raw sienna colour and a make up sponge.

You can just paint them once but I like to do it in two parts. First I use wet sponge with a little bit of paint. I paint the whole dough and I get kind of light coloured background.
After that I use rather dry part of the sponge with more paint and gently apply the paint on the higher parts of the dough.

One tip for you is to dab the sponge with paint onto the piece of paperfirst and then on the cream puff, to get even colour on the dough.
After the puffs are completely dry, you can cut them in the half and fill with cream :)

I hope this tutorial will help some of you and you could make your own Christmas cream puffs! :)
If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

And thank you for visiting my blog! :)

19 comments:

  1. Lovely tutorial! Can't wait to try this. This is also a quite popular dessert on bigger parties in Belgium too ^^.
    I have a question though, how do you cut them in half without messing up? With a wire or?

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  2. Thank you Riechan!
    You'd have to wait till it dry, day or two and then it's really easy to cut it :)

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  3. I'm making them at the moment ^^

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  4. Who hoo! :D Looking forward to see them! :D

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  5. Thanks!! I was just searching for one and then you posted this tutorial! I was wondering if this method would work with polymer clay?

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    1. Yeah polymer clay works it is what I used nd it works the same you just have to bake it

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  6. Haha its funny, before I posted about my cream puff necklace I was going through the updates and saw your tutorial. Great minds think a like huh?

    The tutorial was really good. I could of used this before my making my necklace but I think that was one of the fun parts of my cream puff. The challenge of figuring out how to make something you haven't before.

    Your cream puffs are adorable and looks really good! Can't wait what you show us next. :D

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  7. @MyKawaiiDen:
    Hmm, I don't know. I think it would, but you would have to overcome some problems like:
    - polymer clay is much tougher so it would be harder to "smudge" the creases, but it's still possible.
    - "baking"/colouring it would be difficult, but still achievable. Personally I would use dry sponge with just paint, let it dry a bit and then bake it. Just don't apply too much paint because it will bubble up.
    - you would have to cut it in half before baking it, for example freeze it for a while, it will make it harder and easier to cut. Or try to cut it in the middle of baking, let's say after 15 minutes.

    It could be tricky with polymer clay, but I think possible.

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  8. @Candy Sanctuary:
    Thank you so much! :D
    I wanted to make cream puffs for long time and I had a really good japanese tutorial saved but now it's not available, so i had to figure it out by myself as I've already mived my clay with paint! :D
    I'm not a pro at tutorials making but I will try my best to show some more techniques I use :)

    And thank you all for such a nice comments! :D

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  9. @Mini Mo
    I see! Thanks very much! Will try out this tutorial with both polymer clay and air dry clay. Btw which air dry clay brand do you prefer working with?

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  10. @MyKawaiiDen:
    I've only tried Daiso Air dry Clay and european Fimo Light Air Dry Clay, which is more accesible here in UK. I prefer Fimo as it's harder after drying, where Daiso is lighter, more fragile and flexible. I also have Hearty waiting for me in my drawer :D but I haven't used it yet.

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  11. @Mini Mo
    Oh, I've tried Daiso and Hearty, but not Fimo's air dry clay as I can't get it here is sg. I've only used Fimo polymer clay. The reason I don't like working with air dry clay is because it cracks alot when I use it. (Also because it drys really fast here as it is hot all year round) But I think I will try to get my hands on the Fimo Light air dry clay! It looks like it doesn't crack as much. :) Btw your cream puffs look delicious! Wish I could make something as yummy as yours! :D

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  12. @MyKawaiiDen:
    Thank you! :D
    And yes, Fimo Air Light doesn't crack. It's tougher but still more fragile than polymer clay. I like working with both of these mediums, but each one of them for different things :)

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  13. Wow, good job :) This looks awesome! Im a newbie to all this and i was just wondering, What kind of paint did you use for the baked look and how did you make the chocolate?

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  14. Hii! good tutorial! :D
    how did you make the chocolate?? thanks :)

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  15. @Cosmic:
    I'm sorry for replying so late! :P
    I think I used "raw sienna"... That's what I usualy use for "baking"
    And the first pictura is with REAL cream puffs! :D It will direct you to the original website I got this photo from. I just wanted to show everyone how the real one look like :D

    Anonymous:
    The chocolate cream puffs are real! :D I wil make little tutorial on what to use for sauces soon :)

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  16. For the sauses use chalk pastels and liquid clay :) ps I am not the person from the last comment :)

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