Cream Puff Cake Mraky: Two Choux Sheets, Vanilla Cream and Chocolate Glaze – A Retro Pastry-Shop Classic

Instructions

1. Choux pastry: Put the water, butter and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil until the fat has melted completely.

2. Take the pan off the heat. Add all the flour (1 1/4 cups / 150 g) at once and stir quickly with a wooden spoon until a smooth ball forms.

3. Return the pan to low heat and cook the dough, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes. It must pull away from the sides of the pan.

4. Transfer the dough to a bowl and let it cool completely. This is a key step, because hot dough would cook the eggs.

5. Beat the eggs into the cooled dough with a mixer, adding them one at a time. Add the next egg only when the previous one is fully absorbed.

6. Divide the dough in half. Spread each half evenly onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

7. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) on top-and-bottom heat. Bake for exactly 23 minutes. Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes, or the dough will collapse. Bake both sheets.

8. Cream: In a saucepan, mix the 1 cup (120 g) flour with the powdered sugar and vanilla. Pour in the cold milk.

9. Whisk everything thoroughly so there are no lumps.

10. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook to a very thick paste (similar to cream of wheat). This takes about 3 to 5 minutes.

11. Pour the paste into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface and let it cool completely to room temperature.

12. In another bowl, beat the softened butter until fluffy. Beat in the cooled paste a spoonful at a time, then add rum to taste.

13. Assemble: Place one baked sheet on a serving tray (the one that baked less attractively goes on the bottom).

14. Spread all of the vanilla cream evenly over the sheet.

15. Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks and spread it over the cream.

16. Cut the second sheet into squares on a cutting board (the size of the future slices) and arrange them on the whipped cream.

17. Melt the chocolate with the oil and pour it over the top. Refrigerate to set, ideally overnight.