Orange Choux with Rhubarb and Vanilla Custard
Rhubarb & Custard is a British classic but rather than doing them separately I wanted a custard that tasted of rhubarb and this one does. At first bite you taste the creaminess of the custard and vanilla but then the lingering flavour is of the rhubarb. The custard is sandwiched between thin crisp shells of choux that has been flavoured with orange making it another classic combination, Rhubarb & Orange. Creamy, light and crispy, sweet and sour…I ate more than my fair share of it.
I was eating the orange flavoured choux on its own while putting together the dessert, just like when I added lemon rind to the pavlova to add a different layer of flavour the choux benefits greatly from the orange peel.
On this post I also varied the filling with rhubarb slices flavoured with orange blossom, a favourite of mine from last year, sitting on top of vanilla mascarpone cream. Just don’t ask me to choose between the two.
Orange flavoured choux with rhubarb in orange blossom on vanilla mascarpone cream.
Orange flavoured choux puffs with rhubarb custard.
For the Choux Pastry read here.
Rhubarb Custard
This custard is based on a creme patisserie recipe as it has to be thick to hold its own shape, which is good news if you hate making custard for fear of making it curdle, this way you have to boil it…just never stop whisking it until you’re done.
The recipe I have here does just holds its shape to be spooned on to the choux without dribbling off it. I had it on the pastries for the photos for an hour and the custard stayed in place well. Next time I would like to add literally a few flakes of agar agar to stiffen the custard further so I could get more custard, more height on to the pastry without coming off the sides, but it’s not necessary unless you want height.
- 6 egg yolks
- 125 grms sugar / 1/2 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
- 60 grms / 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 300 ml / 1 3/4 cups single cream
- 100 ml / cup of full fat milk (or at least semi-fat)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or scrape seeds from a vanilla pod
- icing sugar for dusting the choux
Put the cream and milk in a pan, add the vanilla and bring it to the boil. In the meantime whisk the sugar and yolks in a large bowl for a few seconds, then add the flour in one go and whisk it in well.
Once the cream is up to boiling point add it in a stream to the yolk mixture whilst whisking the mixture continuously. Pour the mixture back into the pan on a low/medium heat and keep whisking all the time. When the mixture comes to boiling point it will thicken but keep whisking for another one to two minutes, at this point put it on a low heat.
It should be really be thick because adding the rhubarb is going to thin it down but you want to make sure when it’s cold it’s thick enough to hold its shape on the choux. Mix it with the rhubarb and store in the fridge until needed.
For the Rhubarb
Note on sugar: You may want to add an extra 2 tablespoons of sugar to this depending how sour the rhubarb is and your tastebuds are, bear in mind the creme patisserie will also be sweet, at the end taste it and decide. You’re serving this custard coldish and for that reason you tend to want it on the slight sweeter side, as the cold will dampen the tastebuds.
- 400 grms / 3 1/2 cups of rhubarb chopped
- 50 gms / 1/4 cup of sugar
- 1 orange, juice of it
Put all of the ingredients in a pan with the lid on, on a low heat until the rhubarb has started to collapse.
Stir and if the rhubarb is completely disintegrated it should look watery, take the lid off put it on the lowest heat and let most of that water evaporate, remember to stir it now and again to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom.
It could take 20-30mins, you should be left with a thicker pulp and reduced. Cool it.
If you want the flavour of orange to be stronger you can glaze the choux like I have below with marmalade before dusting with icing sugar. Warm a few spoonfuls of marmalade and glaze it with pastry brush.
Rhubarb Flavoured with Orange Blossom
- 400 grms / 3 heaped cups of sliced rhubarb
- 225 grms / 1 cup of sugar
- 225 grms / 1 cup of water
- 1/2 teaspoon of orange blossom
Turn oven to 180C / 160C fan /350F / gas 4.
In a small pan melt the sugar and water together and let it boil for a couple of minutes, turn off the heat. Add the orange blossom.
Lay out the slices of rhubarb in a large oven proof dish and pour over the syrup, bake in the oven for 20 minutes. It should be long enough to soften the slices but still maintain intact. Leave it to cool in the dish. These can be kept in the syrup in the fridge for days.
Vanilla & Mascarpone Cream
I don’t like having just whipped cream and for that reason I’ll always add either mascarpone cheese or cream cheese. It has to be full fat, to hold its shape, the reduced stuff will end up weeping after a while.
- 300 ml / 1 cup and 2 tablespoons double or whipping cream
- 250 grms /1 cup of mascarpone or cream cheese (full fat)
- 2-3 tablespoons of caster sugar (superfine)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or vanilla extract
Whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla until just about to hold its shape, you don’t want it too stiff.
Whisk the mascarpone for seconds only to loosen it and add one tablespoon of the cream to it and fold it in. Add the rest of the cream by folding, don’t overbeat it. It will sit in the fridge for a day, but means the mixture will be harder to pipe out.