Croquembouche

Method

1. To make the choux pastry, preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.

2. Place the water and the butter in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Mix in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating the mixture well between each egg.

4. Transfer the pastry to a piping bag and pipe the mixture into small balls (around half the size of a golf ball) on large baking trays. The mixture should give around 80 balls. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until well risen, light and golden brown.

5. To make the filling, warm the milk, vanilla extract and orange zest in a saucepan, but do not let them boil.

6. In a heatproof mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together. When completely combined, add the flour and mix well.

7. Pour half the hot milk mixture into the bowl and stir well. Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk. Return to the heat and simmer gently for one minute, until the mixture is thick and glossy.

8. Dust the surface with the icing sugar to stop a skin forming, and set aside.

9. For the caramel, in a very large stainless steel saucepan, combine the water and sugar and allow to melt gently over a low heat. When the sugar has dissolved, raise the temperature and simmer until the syrup becomes a very light caramel. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

10. Fill the choux buns with the pastry cream using a clean piping bag fitted with a narrow nozzle. Carefully dip each of the filled buns in the caramel.

11. Line the underside of a croquembouche mould, plastic cone or similar large conical object with greased foil. Fill it to the top with the filled buns. Invert and remove the mould carefully. Shower with crystallised violets and spun sugar.