I tried so many times to make these mocha eclairs. I even ended up changing the flavour part way through making them. They were originally going to be filled with a chocolate cremeux, however when the first two batches of eclairs failed I ended up eating the cremeux over a few days as it was so good and tasted just like a chocolate pot – which is a perfect speedy dessert that I should really feature on here – so when I got back in the kitchen a week later I changed these to mocha eclairs.
A coffee creme patissiere with a chocolate craquelin and chocolate icing. Part of the reason I had to change the flavour was because I had run out of Belgian chocolate and I didn’t have time to get more delivered, but also because I realised I have very little of anything on the blog which is coffee flavoured.
This is madness because I absolutely love coffee and barely a day goes by where I don’t have any. So often though instant coffee is used in a cake and the coffee flavour is too mild or it’s decorated with a really sad coffee buttercream and it ends up tasting revolting. These mocha eclairs pack a real coffee hit, so if you are not a coffee lover then I suggest you change the filling in these to a vanilla creme patissiere.
The reason I had so many failures with these eclairs is because I tried a different choux pastry recipe to my usual one. I tried it because it was the recipe from my William Curley book and I have successfully made so many recipes of his that I just had to try it. I normally swear by Edd Kimber’s recipe, the main difference is that the William Curley recipe had milk as well as water and quite a lot of egg.
The first time I tried the recipe my choux was too wet, so the eclairs didn’t puff up at all. I then tried the same recipe again, thinking maybe I hadn’t cooked out the roux enough before adding the egg. So I made the same recipe again, but I changed some of the plain flour for bread flour. I also only added 3 of the required 5 eggs and it was already too loose. I began adding some more flour, when the choux felt like it was the right consistency I piped it out and topped it with the craquelin.
This time my choux went too far in the other direction. Instead of puffing up it exploded. They looked like they had been pumped up with a bike pump and they were completely unusable. All of this faffing taught me that there’s nothing wrong with sticking to a recipe that works, regardless of how many books you have. I am not necessarily saying there is anything wrong with the William Curley recipe as so many of the other recipes in the book worked so well, I thought this would too.
This final and successful attempt was made using Edd Kimber’s recipe and I was reminded that choux pastry is something you really need to make regularly to get good at it. By the last couple of eclairs my piping was getting pretty good.
The craquelin helps a lot with the shape too, but I am always in awe of all the perfectly uniform eclairs you see in the patisserie shop window. I can never work out if they are just a lot better than me or if all the broken eclairs end up in the bin. I hope it’s not the latter, otherwise trying to get better at piping eclairs would be a fruitless task.
The reason it bothers me so much that I cannot pipe perfect eclairs is because I like eating them so much. Choux puffs I have pretty much perfected, I really need to try paris-brest again, but I wonder if that would tip me over the edge and send me into meltdown.
Back to these eclairs though, they are seriously good and please don’t be put off by all that I’ve written, use your instincts when baking and follow the tips I’ve included in the recipe.
Mocha Eclairs
Ingredients
- 1 x Quantity of Choux Pastry
- ***Coffee Creme Patissiere***
- 2 Tsps Vanilla Extract
- 500 ml Milk
- 120 g Sugar
- 50 g Plain Flour
- 120 g Egg Yolks approx 6 eggs
- 60 ml Espresso
- 10 g Instant Coffee
- ***Chocolate Craquelin***
- 80 g Plain Flour
- 10 g Cocoa Powder
- 90 g Caster Sugar
- 75 g Unsalted Butter cubed
- ***Chocolate Icing***
- 500 g Fondant Icing Sugar
- 50 g Dark Chocolate melted
- Water
- ***To decorate***
- Coffee Beans
- Cocoa Nibs
Instructions
- First prepare the craquelin, put all of the ingredients into a bowl and rub with your fingertips untill it resembles breadcrumbs. Continue to mix until it comes together and forms a dough. Place the craquelin between two sheets of greaseproof paper and roll it out to about 3mm thick. Place this in the freezer to firm up for 30 mins. Then take the craquelin out of the freezer and using a knife cut out 12 rectangles that are 12cm by 2cm and place these back in the freezer.
- Next make the choux pastry, preheat the oven to 180C (160C Fan) Gas 4 (if you're using a steam oven, wait until you are ready to begin baking and then add 100ml of water to the cavity of your oven and preheat the oven to 160C Fan) and line two baking trays with baking parchment, draw 6 lines 12cm long, evenly spaced apart on each tray and turn the paper over so the lines are on the reverse. Ensuring you have 12 lines in total.
- Make the choux pastry as per steps 2- 7 of this recipe. Take the craquelin out of the freezer and place a strip on top of each eclair.
- Bake the eclairs for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Turn off the oven and leave the eclairs in the oven to cool for 30 minutes.
- Remove the eclairs from the oven and leave them to cool before icing and filling them.
- Next make the coffee creme patissiere, bring the milk, vanilla extract, instant coffee and espresso to a boil in a saucepan over a medium heat.
- Meanwhile combine the sugar and flour in a medium bowl, add the egg yolks and whisk just until combined.
- Whisk a third of the milk into the egg mixture to loosen it, whisk in the remaining milk and return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over a medium heat, whisking constantly until it thickens.
- Scrape the pastry cream into a bowl and cover with a layer of clingfilm, pressing it down so it touches the surface of the cream, this will stop a skin forming, allow to chill completely.
- Pierce three holes in the bottom of each eclair, take the coffee creme patissiere from the fridge and stir it gently, place it in a piping bag with a 5mm nozzle.
- Fill the eclairs with the coffee creme patissiere by piping it into each hole until the eclair is full.
- Next make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl wide enough to allow you to dunk the eclairs. Add the dark chocolate and stir, add water to create the desired thick consistency, as you don't want the icing to drip down the sides of the eclairs.
- Decorate the eclairs with the coffee beans and cocoa nibs
Thanks for reading.
Angela
Nigel Collins
I made these at the weekend (I still need a lot more practice on eclairs as the eclairs on one tray were perfect but the other tray collapsed a little after they had risen and so were hard to fill). The Mocha filling was excellent and just the right amount of coffee flavour. Think I need more practice…..
patisseriemakesperfect
Hi Nigel – thanks for commenting, if they collapse it probably means they weren’t dried out completely when they were cooked. If you touch them at the end of the cooking time and they feel a bit soft/damp, just give them another 10 mins or so until they feel dry.
Glad you liked the flavour.
Thanks
Angela
Elaine
Hi Angela. I stopped by to say that this is a fantastic recipe! I love mocha and I love eclairs but when you combine them both – that is pure magic! Thank you!
patisseriemakesperfect
Thanks so much Elaine – yes this is a really great dish I may have eaten quite a few of these 🙂
Jodie Dodd
You shouldn’t fret Angela, they look fantastic! I do love eclairs! I thought they were bismarcks at first – another one of my all-time favorites. 🙂 x
Hannah Hossack-Lodge
I always use Edd Kimber’s recipe for choux pastry too, no need to mess with what works! Mocha eclairs sound delicious and your piping is very neat, it is so hard to keep a steady hand when piping eclairs!
patisseriemakesperfect
Hannah I don’t know why I even tried another recipe – you are so right, I should’ve stuck with it. My piping had a lot of practice after I threw away so many batches of choux!
kellie@foodtoglow
Thanks for your honest account of getting towards your perfect eclair. And by the looks of them, they are without a doubt perfect. Can I just add my two cents’ worth on the coffee flavour thing? Ages ago it was recommended to me by a commercial baker that I admire to use Camp Coffee for the flavour. I know it may bring everyone’s eyebrows up to a point but honestly it gives great flavour in baking (wouldn’t drink it though), and the thickness is great compared to that of actual coffee. It is a deeply concentrated flavour. I am NOT a baker at all but the few times I’ve made coffee flavour things this has been my go to. Beautiful, drool-making images, Angela xx
patisseriemakesperfect
Kellie, you know I’ve heard this before about camp coffee and I know what you mean – it’s meant to work really well.
I’ll be honest, we have a new espresso maker and I just like to use it, but I will give your Camp coffee suggestion a try.
Thanks xx
Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes
Love this coffee twist on an eclair. Yummy!
patisseriemakesperfect
Thanks Jemma- it works so well.
Camilla Hawkins
Wow these look incredible Angela, that filling is beckoning me-)
patisseriemakesperfect
Thanks Camilla, I ate 2 or 5 of these 🙂
Lucy Parissi
They look amazing Angela! I am quite good at making choux buns but eclairs intimidate me a bit so I haven’t touched them for years. I agree choux pastry recipes are so varied best find one that works for you and stick with it.
patisseriemakesperfect
Choux buns seem to come out really well, but eclairs are tricky little buggers. I totally agree on the recipe, I wish I’d never doubted myself!
Dannii
Every chirostmas I say that I am going to make my own eclairs and I never do, but I am going to have to perfect these before Christmas – they look amazing.
patisseriemakesperfect
Dannii do it! If it’s anything like my experience it’ll drive you mad – worth it in the end though!
Renee
You’ve just inspired me to get baking, these sound absolutely delicious!
patisseriemakesperfect
Oh Renee, I’m so pleased. Enjoy your baking!
Jane
Wow! Love the perseverance to make it happen for this Mocha Eclairs. It’s what makes it perfect. I bet it tasted so good when you’re done. 💕
patisseriemakesperfect
Jane they were amazing. I was worried I’d be sick of the sight of them – but I managed to squeeze a couple in!
Felesha Bell
OMG!!! This pastry is right up my alley!! I could just cry!!
patisseriemakesperfect
Felesha they are so good. You have to try them.
Rebecca | Let's Eat Cake
I tried making eclairs once as well – I was following the Tartine book – and it was a hot mess! But you’ve given me the inspiration to try again!
patisseriemakesperfect
I’ve heard good things about the Tartine book. Have you tried any other recipes? Eclairs can be very fickle.
michele
Nothing beats an eclair in my book… except a HOMEMADE one?! These are simply exquisite…I just pinned this to make in the fall when its a little cooler here!
patisseriemakesperfect
Thanks Michele – yes choux can be funny with humidity, good idea to wait.