Mille-feuille
Mille-feuille
white fondant, chocolate feathering, serves 8-10
Ingredients
Pastry layers all-butter puff pastry 500g Creme patissiere whole milk 1000g egg yolks 8 caster sugar 200g cornflour 100g unsalted butter 30g vanilla extract 5g salt 1g Icing white fondant 300g dark chocolate 50g warm water 5g
Use shop-bought all-butter puff pastry for the layers, not rough puff. It gives flatter, more even sheets. Jus-Rol all-butter is fine.
The fondant must be the block kind sold at baking shops or online, not rolled fondant. Work fast once it is poured as it sets in minutes.
This is one of the more technical bakes on the list. Read all the steps before starting.
Recipe
Pastry layers
1. Roll the puff pastry to 3mm thick. Cut into three equal rectangles. Dock all over with a fork. Refrigerate on the trays for 45 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 150°C. Place a sheet of baking paper on top of each piece of pastry, then weigh it down with a second baking tray. Bake for 40-45 minutes until pale golden and cooked through.
3. Remove the top trays. Dust the pastry generously with icing sugar. Return under the grill at 220°C for 3-5 minutes until the sugar caramelises to a deep amber. Watch constantly. Trim all three sheets to exactly the same size while still hot. Leave to cool.
Creme patissiere
4. Heat the milk and vanilla in a saucepan until steaming but not boiling.
5. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale. Whisk in the cornflour until smooth.
6. Pour a third of the hot milk into the egg mixture slowly, whisking constantly. Pour everything back into the pan.
7. Return to medium heat, whisking continuously until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Keep whisking for 2 full minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and salt.
8. Pour onto a tray lined with cling film. Press cling film directly onto the surface. Refrigerate until completely cold, at least 2 hours. Beat smooth before using.
Assembly
9. Place one pastry layer on a board. Pipe or spread the creme patissiere evenly over the top. Place the second layer on top and repeat. Place the third layer on top, caramelised side up. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Icing and feathering
10. Melt the dark chocolate and transfer to a small piping bag. Keep fluid but not hot.
11. Gently heat the fondant with the warm water to 35-40°C, stirring constantly. It should be just warm to the touch and flow like thick cream. Do not overheat or it will go dull.
12. Working quickly, pour the fondant over the top layer and spread in one sweeping motion with a palette knife.
13. Immediately pipe thin parallel lines of chocolate across the width, about 1.5cm apart.
14. Drag a skewer through the chocolate lines from top to bottom. Move 2cm across and drag from bottom to top. Alternate all the way across. You have about 60-90 seconds before it sets.
15. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set. Slice with a warm damp serrated knife, wiping between every cut.