Saint-Honoré
A cake named after Saint Honoré, patron saint of French bakers, and really three separate bakes assembled into one: a puff pastry base, a ring of choux buns dipped in caramel, and cream piped in waves through a distinctive nozzle. The order matters practically — caramel draws moisture from the air, so the buns are dipped last, just before assembly, or they turn sticky within a few hours.
Your own work in that: 40 min.
- Cream 30 min
- Base 20 min
- Choux buns 45 min
- Cooling 45 min
- Caramel 20 min
- Assembly 40 min
- Chilling 60 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneCook the pastry cream and chill it
Bring the milk to a boil with the vanilla, temper the yolks beaten with sugar and cornflour, cook 2 minutes past thickening, beat in the butter, spread it in a shallow dish and cover with film touching the surface. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, ideally for the whole time the base and buns bake. It must be cold before you fold in cream.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 120 g sugar · 45 g cornflour · 1 pcs vanilla · 300 ml whipping cream (36%) · 40 g butter
Bake the puff pastry base
Cut a 22 cm disc from the puff pastry, prick it all over with a fork and bake it on a lined tray for 20 minutes at 190°C, weighted under a second tray, until golden. The pricking and the weight stop it rising — the base must stay flat and crisp. Cool on a rack.
Ingredients: 250 g puff pastry · 250 g sugar · 70 ml water
Cook the choux paste
Boil the water with the milk, butter, sugar and salt, tip in the flour all at once and dry the paste over the heat for 2 minutes, stirring. Drying evaporates water and makes room for the eggs — without it the paste ends up too loose and the buns rise poorly.
Ingredients: 60 ml water · 60 ml milk · 55 g butter · 70 g plain flour · 2 pcs eggs · ½ tsp sugar · 1 pinch salt
Beat in the eggs one at a time
Transfer to a bowl, cool 5 minutes and beat in the eggs one at a time, until each is fully absorbed. Add the last egg gradually: the paste should fall from the spatula in a V-shaped ribbon, not drip.
Ingredients: 60 ml water · 60 ml milk · 55 g butter · 70 g plain flour · 2 pcs eggs · ½ tsp sugar · 1 pinch salt
Pipe and bake the buns
Onto a lined tray pipe 18–20 balls about 3 cm across (16 go into the ring, the rest are spares in case one cracks) and bake 25 minutes at 190°C, then 10 minutes at 160°C. Do not open the oven for the first 20 minutes — the steam escapes and the buns collapse.
Ingredients: 60 ml water · 60 ml milk · 55 g butter · 70 g plain flour · 2 pcs eggs · ½ tsp sugar · 1 pinch salt
Even balls, smooth tops — and the oven stays shut.Fill the buns with cream
Cool the buns completely on a rack, about 45 minutes. Beat the cold pastry cream until smooth and spoon half of it into a piping bag with a narrow nozzle. Make a hole in the base of each bun and fill it with the cream until you feel resistance. Whip the cream to stiff peaks and gently fold it into the remaining pastry cream — this goes on the centre of the cake. Fill before glazing — afterwards the caramel shell cracks.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 120 g sugar · 45 g cornflour · 1 pcs vanilla · 300 ml whipping cream (36%) · 40 g butter
Dip the buns in caramel
Cook the sugar with the water to an amber caramel and dip the buns top down, then set them on paper caramel side up. Take care: caramel is above 160°C and burns are serious — work slowly. Leave the rest of the caramel in the pan for gluing.
Ingredients: 250 g puff pastry · 250 g sugar · 70 ml water
Top down, then inverted — the glaze must be smooth.Glue the buns on and pipe the waves
Fix the buns with a drop of caramel around the edge of the base (if the caramel has set, warm it briefly over a low heat), and fill the centre with the lightened cream, piping wave-shaped zigzags with a Saint-Honoré nozzle. Without one, use a star nozzle — a different pattern, similar effect. Chill an hour.
Ingredients: 500 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 120 g sugar · 45 g cornflour · 1 pcs vanilla · 300 ml whipping cream (36%) · 40 g butter
Waves from a Saint-Honoré nozzle fill the centre.
Before you start
Eat it the day it is made
Caramel draws moisture from the air, and within a few hours a hard glaze becomes a sticky film. The buns and base can be baked a day ahead, but the glazing and assembly only on the day of serving.
Craquelin on the buns
Modern pâtisseries top the raw buns with a disc of craquelin — a paste of butter, sugar and flour. The buns come out perfectly round and crisp. A departure from the classic, but a clear improvement.
Caramel without crystals
Never stir caramel with a spoon — swirl the pan instead. Wash crystals off the sides with a brush dipped in water. A few crystals falling back in can turn the whole batch into an opaque, grainy mass.
