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Cédric Grolet is not only a master of optical illusion with his trompe l'oeil works of edible art, but he's also a pastry chef up for a challenge!
Last week, the pastry chef from two Michelin starred Le Meurice in Paris apparently agreed to make a wedding cake of gigantic proportions. On his Instagram thread, Cédric Grolet has unveiled the photo of one (or rather four) XXL Saint-Honoré wedding cakes, measuring a whopping 1.50m in diameter.
To achieve cakes of such magnitude, the best pastry chef in the world and his team spent three hours whipping up 23 litres of cream ... now that sounds like a feat in itself!
It remains to be seen how this huge pastry will be transported to its point of destination and if it makes it one in one piece!
Check out 46 of Cedric Grolet's mind-blowing desserts.
Watch the painstaking work as it happened:
A post shared by Cedric Grolet (@cedricgrolet) on Feb 28, 2019 at 4:00am PST
The pastry legend makes it look easy. Look what happens when an amateur tries his hand at making the challenging Saint Honore cake at home:
So, what is a Saint Honore cake?
Pronounced San-toh-naw-RAY this traditional choux pastry French dessert is named after the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs, Saint Honore. Legend has it that it was invented in 1847 at the Chiboust bakery on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.
The impressive dessert is made of a base of puff pastry topped with a ring of small creme filled puffs around the edge which have first been dipped in chocolate or caramel coating. They are placed side-by-side all around the top and the caramel keeps them in place.
The centre of the ring is then filled with crème pâtissière lightened with beaten egg whites or whipped cream using a special piping tip called a St- Honoré tip.
Want to have a go at making your own Saint Honore cake?
If you're up for the challenge, making a Saint Honore cake is not for the faint-hearted. A cake which requires the mastery of several techniques including pastry making and piping skills. Both puff pastry and pate a choux feature along with whipped cream and pastry creme and salted caramel.
Discover this saint honore recipe which is a gentle initiation into the process to try out at home.
