Ingredients

Serves 4-6

Choux pastry
125ml milk
125ml water
pinch of table salt
100g unsalted butter
150g plain flour, sifted
1 tsp castor sugar
4 - 5 eggs
30g soft butter


Chocolate Sugar Fondant
50 ml water
100g castor sugar
200 g fondant (see note)
5 tablespoons cocoa powder


Sweetened Cream
200 ml cream
50 g castor sugar
½ vanilla pod (seeds only)


Spun Sugar (Caramel):
660g Sugar
200ml Water
260g Glucose

Method


Pastry
Preheat the oven to 180°C
Put the milk, water, pinch of salt and butter in a heavy based saucepan and bring to the boil on a high heat. Add the flour and sugar and using a wooden spoon, stir until it thickens. Lower the heat and cook the mixture further for 3 – 4 minutes stirring constantly   The mixture should leave the sides of the pan and be quite smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Beat in the eggs, with a wooden spoon, one at a time, making sure the paste is smooth before adding the next egg. Finally add the soft butter and beat in.  Place the mixture into a piping bag with a 1.5 cm piping nozzle. The mix should be nice and shiny between folds.
Pipe 9 cm éclairs onto a lightly greased oven tray or a non stick baking mat. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until they are a deep golden colour.  To dry out the éclairs, turn the oven temperature down to 160°C for a further 10 minutes. Remove the éclairs from the oven and place onto a wire rack to cool. Do not open the oven during the first 25 minutes whilst the éclairs are puffing as they tend to collapse if not cooked through.

Chocolate Fondant
Bring the water, sugar and cocoa powder to the boil in a small saucepan over a high heat.  When the sugar and cocoa have dissolved, remove from the stove and allow to cool to room temperature.  Add the chocolate sauce to the fondant stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until smooth and shiny.
Whisk the cream, sugar and vanilla seeds in a bowl until firm.  Place into a piping bag.
Turn the éclairs upside down and make a small incision with the tip of a knife, then pipe the cream gently into the éclair.
Dip the top of each éclair into the warm fondant and allow the excess fondant to dribble off by holding the éclair upright over the bowl and with your finger wipe the end to tidy.  Serve.

Note:
As an alternative to using the fondant, dip the éclairs into melted chocolate.  Fondant is a sweet soft sugar product that is used in vanilla slices, bakewell tarts or éclairs where you dip into the fondant.  You can find this at a specialty food store or maybe your good local bakery.  Be careful not to use fondant icing which is a very different product and has the consistency of play dough and is used for cakes and decorations.

Caramel Spun Sugar
For the caramel, combine water and sugar in a saucepan until it boils add glucose, and cook until caramel in colour. Remove from the heat and dip the base of the pan in a bowl of water to cool slightly. Grease a cake ring and place ring mould on a baking paper lined tray, pour enough caramel to coat the base 5mm. This is the base for the croquembouche.
Dip the puff bases in enough toffee to coat and place upside down on a tray lined with baking paper.
To assemble, oil the croquembouche cone.  Dip the sides of the puff balls in the toffee one at a time and place around the base of the cone. Continue adding balls until the cone is covered.