Profiterole Celebration Cake - as featured on BBC1's A Great British Bake Off's An Extra Slice!
Profiteroles...on a cake...
Today I'm sharing this Profiterole Celebration Cake which I made for my friend Maria's birthday this week. When we started work over a year ago now I made an effort to bake for all of my new found friend's birthdays and I've been doing it ever since. For me starting a new job felt a lot like starting school as a child. I was eager to be liked and to make friends so I did what I knew best, I baked!
There haven't been as many cakes around here as of late... You may be well aware of my new diet and fitness regime but where would the fun in life be if there wasn't any cake?! Cake is also a much better way of getting a sexy bum - who wants to do squats anyway? I swear my bum and thighs are made from chocolate, cream, sugar and butter and boy am I proud.
A cake fit for a queen!
So join me in putting the diet to one side, and hop off of that treadmill for just five minutes because I'm about to share with you the most decadent, luxurious and extravagant profiterole layer cake you have ever seen. Made with three layers of vanilla sponge, two layers of whipped cream, and two of chocolate ganache topped off with a crown of cream filled, chocolate dipped choux buns. That my friends, is what you call a cake.
Now, I don't want to waste valuable cake eating time by typing much more so, dive into to my Sky High Profiterole Cake, you can thank me later.
The recipe
Profiterole Celebration Cake
This cake is stacked high with layers of vanilla and chocolate sponge, ganache and whipped cream, topped with fresh profiteroles. Find out how to make this stunning Profiterole Celebration Cake.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 375 g butter at room temperature
- 375 g caster sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1 vanilla pod or 2 teaspoon extract
- 375 g self-raising flour
For the profiteroles
- 70 ml water
- 40 g plain flour
- 30 g butter
- 1 egg
- 1.5 tablespoon sugar
For the decoration
- 4 tablespoon dark cocoa powder
- 50 g dark chocolate
- 50 g double cream
- 600 ml whipping cream
- 4 tablespoon icing sugar
Instructions
- For the cake
- Begin by pre-heating your oven to 180C or gas mark 4 and line three 18cm/7inch cake tins with grease proof paper.
- Cut the butter into cubes and cream the butter with the sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.
- Add the eggs to the mix one at a time and beat the mix well in between each addition.
- Cut the vanilla pod lengthways and scoop out the seeds.
- Add the vanilla seeds (or vanilla extract) to the cake batter along with a third of the flour.
- Gently fold the flour into the cake batter until completely combined before adding the rest and folding into the cake batter again.
- Spoon the mix between each of the three cake tins. Ensure the mix is level in each tin.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown and springy to the touch.
- (You may want to bake them in batches so that you can bake them all at the same level in the over).
- Remove from the oven and turn the cakes out onto a wire wrack. Leave the cakes to cool completely before moving on to the next step!
- For the profiteroles
- Bring the water, sugar and butter to the boil in a saucepan.
- Remove from the heat when the mixture begins to boil and add all of the flour.
- Stir until combined and immediately add to a medium heat.
- The mixture will begin to get thick, keep beating the mixture until it leaves the side of the pan.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool completely.
- Beat the egg together in a separate bowl. Slowly add this to the mixture in the sauce pan a little at a time.
- Beat the mix well for at least 5 minutes until it is a dropping consistency. (If it isn't you may need a little more egg).
- Fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe circles roughly the size of a 50 pence piece onto grease proof paper onto a baking sheet.
- Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes until they have puffed up and are crisp.
- Take out of the oven and place on to a wire cooling rack and leave to cool before filling and decorating.
- For the decoration
- Pour 300ml of cream into a large bowl, whisk this together with 2 tablespoon of the icing sugar until light, fluffy and spreadable.
- Take the remaining 300ml of whipping cream and whip this together with the cocoa powder and 2 tablespoon icing sugar.
- Sandwich the bottom two layers together with the chocolate cream. Sandwich the top layer to the middle layer with the sweetened cream.
- Lastly, top the cake with the remaining chocolate cream.
- Place the remaining sweetened cream into a piping bag.
- Poke a hole into the bottom of each of the profiteroles and fill with the cream.
- Gently warm the double cream in a small pan.
- Break the chocolate into cubes and add to the cream.
- Whisk the cream continuously on a low heat until the chocolate has melted completely.
- Leave to cool until it thickens.
- Dip each of the profiteroles into the ganache and stack on top of the cake to finish.
Nutrition
Calories: 571.04kcalCarbohydrates: 48.99gProtein: 7.03gFat: 39.36gSaturated Fat: 23.89gTrans Fat: 0.84gCholesterol: 181.78mgSodium: 225.19mgPotassium: 130.68mgFiber: 1.39gSugar: 27.5gVitamin A: 1335.38IUVitamin C: 0.24mgCalcium: 51.2mgIron: 1.23mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
I had just the one slice of this Profiterole Celebration Cake but boy did it really hit the spot - the combination of vanilla, sponge, cream, dark chocolate and choux pastry really is heavenly. One mouthful and you can't help but grin. This celebration cake is what happiness is made of.
More choux inspiration...
So what do you think? Have I sold you on the idea of making a Profiterole Celebration Cake for your friends and family? Perhaps you want to keep yours all to yourself...
If I've inspired you to have a go at choux pastry you may also like some of these recipes:
- Ice Cream Puffs from Helen @ Family-Friends-Food
- Chocolate Religieuses from Jen @ Jen's Food
- Lemon Curd Choux Buns from Lucy @ Baking Queen
- White Chocolate Éclairs with Salted Caramel Drizzle from Emily @ Recipes and Reviews
- Ptysie/Ptys - Polish Steamed Dough Pastry filled with Whipped Cream from Margot @ Coffee and Vanilla
- Strawberry Choux Buns from Camilla @ Fab Food for All
- Creative Éclairs from Andrea @ Made with Pink
- Choux Sygnets from Eileen @ ET Speaks From Home
This Sky High Profiterole Celebration Cake was made for the birthday of one of my best friends Maria. Who will you dedicate your Sky High Profiterole Celebration Cake to?
lara332 says
Looks absolutely delicious!! And it's so well decorated as well! Love it x
efwalt says
Thanks Lara! It didn't last very long in the office yesterday! It really did taste as good as it looks 🙂 please do share with your friends and family x
lara332 says
Haha I bet it didn't! I definitely will! Thanks for sharing this 🙂 x
efwalt says
My pleasure!
Joy says
Looks really scrummy!
efwalt says
Thanks Joy 😀
Sarah Trivuncic, Maison Cupcake says
How lovely! The perfect choice for when you cannot decide between profiteroles or cake!
efwalt says
Haha exactly Sarah 😀 my friend Maria is obsessed with profiteroles but I couldn't let her birthday go without a cake an so the profiterole cake way born 🙂
Anita-Clare Field says
Oh that's a really fabulous celebration cake. How lovely.
efwalt says
Thanks Anita-Clare! It certainly brought a sense of occasion to the day!
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
What a beautiful looking cake. It really is stunning!
efwalt says
Thanks Dannii! I liked the idea of a little edible gold leaf but thought that might be OTT!
Angela says
That looks amazing. Well done.
efwalt says
Thanks Angela!
Mellissa Williams says
Wow! Can life get any better than this cake. I need it now!
efwalt says
Thanks Mellissa that is praise indeed! Shouldn't take you too long to whip up :-p
Margot⚓C&V (@coffeenvanilla) says
This is one amazing cake! Love it 🙂
And thank you for mentioning my Ptysie as well.
efwalt says
Thanks Margot 🙂 my pleasure!
harrietemilys says
Oh my gosh. Wow! What an unbelievably beautiful, stunning cake! This looks so delicious and amazing! I'm definitely going to have to try making this, thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
efwalt says
My pleasure! If you do make it I'd love to see pictures 😀
LifestyleswithLia says
This seriously is an AMAZING cake! Wow, I am so impressed! This definitely is worth getting off the treadmill for and stopping squatting! LOL!
I'm sure your friend and colleagues were utterly thrilled! The cakes we get at my job are pale in comparison!
Take care my friend and happy baking! Thanks for sharing!
jensfood9 says
Such a beautiful cake, you have a very lucky friend. The photos are beautiful as well, love the styling.
efwalt says
Thanks Jen! I was so proud of it haha. Let's hope it wasn't a fluke 🙂 xx
jacquigourlay says
What an amazing looking cake!
efwalt says
Thanks Jacqui! I will definitely be making this again. It's a real show stopper!
Diana says
This cake looks amazing! I love profiteroles but I never tried making them... And the photos are gorgeous!
efwalt says
Thanks Diana. They are a lot easier to make than people realise. If I can do it anyone can!
laura@howtocookgoodfood says
What a gorgeous cake, your friend must love you for it. I am mad on profiteroles so would be very tempted to steal them all!
efwalt says
Thanks Laura. Profiteroles are her favourite too. I made some extra just for her 😉 you shouldn't have to share on your birthday :-p
kerrycooks says
Ooh yum! The fact that you made the profiteroles too is seriously impressive!
efwalt says
Thanks Kerry. I think I've got the hang of choux pastry at last!!!
kerrycooks says
Definitely - they look perfectly puffy!
efwalt says
I'll be on to éclairs next 😉
fabfood4all says
Oh wow your cake is totally to die for, love it:-) Thank you for linking to my Strawberry Choux Buns:-)
efwalt says
My pleasure 😀 it's nice to share some other lovely recipes!
Made With Pink (@Made_with_pink) says
Oh wow! Your cake sounds and looks absolutely delicious! Your photos are fantastic as well, and I love your cake stand. Thanks as well for including my eclairs in your list of choux links 🙂
efwalt says
Awe thank you so much! My pleasure including them! I've still not tried my hand at éclairs yet but yours look fab.
Cake stand is actually from H&M home section. They've got lots of.lovwlt stuff at the minute!!!
Margot⚓Coffee & Vanilla says
Oh, that looks amazing, so elegant... beautifully styled as well!
Thank you for mentioning my ptysie, much appreciated! 🙂
Elisangela says
I LOVE profiteroles, and so does my hnsabud, so I found a recipe at my moms house, and I tried to make them. So, this would be my 2nd attempt to make profiteroles. The first recipe was a bit confusing with the quantities. They used gr, ml, teaspoons So from this recipe I realize is the same amount of water and flour, and 1/2 of butter, easy, They came out beautifully!!! I had to leave them about 10 more minutes in the oven, because they seemed a lit bit undone yet. But every oven is different, so that should matter. Overall it is a great and very easy recipe!!!!
Emma Walton says
Hi Elisangela. Thanks for stopping by and finding the time to comment! I'm glad you enjoy the recipe and that it worked so well for you. Have you got any photos?! I'd love to see them.
Lisa says
OMG this is fricking epic!!!!!! I love how perfect the sponges are and who doesn't like profiteroles?!?! Perfection!! Bravo xxx
Emma Walton says
Haha great reaction thanks Lisa :-p it is one of my favourite cakes to make and eat 🙂 glad you like it xx