Baked Goods & Sweet Treats Recipes Vegan

BAKE OFF BAKE ALONG: WEEK 9 (Patisserie)

me and choux

I always love Patisserie week, not because I’m particularly good at it but because there’s truly nothing better in the world that a nice creamy choux bun or eclair. 

So patisserie week is always a week of highs and lows for me: highs because I get to eat patisserie; lows because I have to bake patisserie and I don’t find it particularly satisfying to bake. It’s a bit too fiddly for my liking. 

I felt fairly unexcited going into watching this semi-final episode. Mostly because I think Kate’s a fairly rubbish baker and never should have been on the show and that Stacey should have left weeks ago. Sophie seems lovely and she and Stephen are both solid bakers so I’ll be happy if either of them win. (I’m still not over Prue and Paul cutting Liam down in cold-blood the episode before.) 

But to be honest, I judge my Bake Off winner by “who’s cookbook would I want to buy” and the answer is, I wouldn’t by a cookbook from any of the top 3. I’d be there for Liam’s book though. 

This week I tackled vegan chocolate choux buns. And to be honest, my vegan batter didn’t get quite the rise and airiness that I like to see in my buns but they were still scrumptious and Sam wanted to eat them all in one sitting. 

Vegan Choux Buns

Ingredients: 

For the pastry:

1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp margarine
5 Tbsp aquafaba whipped stiff with a pinch of cream of tartar
1 cup non-dairy milk

For the custard:
½ cup non-dairy butter, softened {add a dash of salt if your butter is unsalted}
½ cup maple syrup
3-4 tbsp tapioca starch {start with 3 and add a bit more until you’re at a custardy consistency}
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

For the chocolate ganache:
½ cup non-dairy chocolate chips or a chopped up chocolate bar
2-3 tbsp non-dairy butter {add a dash of salt if your butter is unsalted}

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 200 C (400 F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Stir together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder in a bowl.

In a heavy bottomed pot, bring milk and margarine to a boil – stir continuously!

Add the flour mixture to the boiling milk mix, set the heat to low.

Keep stirring the flour until it starts to come together and pulls away from the sides. It’s best to use a thick steel spoon for this – the dough gets a little tough. Make sure you don’t cook the flour for more than 3 – 5 minutes.

Remove the pot from heat, and stir in the aquafaba mixture 1/3rd of the quantity at a time. The dough will nicely form a ball.

Shape the dough into small bun shapes and place on the parchment paper.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 C), turn the baking tray around and leave in the oven for another 10 – 15 minutes. Check to make sure the choux is golden brown and isn’t burning.

Test one of the eclairs by carefully taking it out of the oven and tapping it with your finger — it should sound/feel a little hollow and the shell should be a little hard.

Turn off the oven, stick a wooden spoon in the oven door and let the pastry cool in there for about 30 minutes. After that, you can turn it out on to a cooling rack. Wait another 30 minutes before filling and glazing.

Whilst they are cooling make your custard filling by combining all filling ingredients together in a mixing bowl using a mixer.

Using a pipping nozzle pipe your custard into your choux buns.

Prepare the chocolate sauce by melting chocolate chips {either in microwave or in a double boiler}. Mix in a few tbsp non-dairy butter, and stir until chocolate is smooth and runny.

Spoon your ganache onto your buns and then refrigerate for approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:

Work fast so your dough doesn’t start to stick!

piping pastry for vegan chocolate choux bun
pastry vegan chocolate choux bun
vegan chocolate choux bun
me presenting choux me kissing vegan chocolate choux bun me and choux
top view of vegan chocolate choux bun side view of choux buns
Harold and I
Harold judging

Harold rated my vegan chocolate choux buns 4 out of 5 licks. He thought that they were tasty but that they could have been a bit bigger. 

Are you excited for tomorrow’s finale or are you feeling a bit cold towards it? 

Regardless, I’m excited to see what patisserie you whipped up so link up your bakes below: 


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pin it for later vegan chocolate choux bun

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