5 Trends in Modern Choux Pastry

Choux pastry has never been so popular.  There are many reasons behind this; first and foremost it is a great tasting dessert or savoury, it is relatively simple and inexpensive to make, it can be flavoured and decorated in an almost infinite variety of ways and because it can be decorated beautifully it looks great on social media.  Its popularity over the last few years has pushed chefs to create new and wonderful ways to flavour and present their choux pastry, both sweet and savoury.

Here we take a quick look at 5 trends in the modern world of choux pastry.

Décor

Much as a well-made classic éclair or profiterole tastes amazing, there is so much more that one can do to decorate your choux beyond dipping it in chocolate or a glaze.  Choux pastry can be decorated with a massive array of ingredients and styles. The variety of decoration is a massive topic in itself and too big to go though in any detail here.  But we can see that there are almost endless possibilities from just looking at what can be done with moulded mousse, piped creams, chocolate shapes, tuilles, jellies, jams, caramels, meringue, candied and caramelised nuts, flowers and many combinations of these.

The list of options could become overwhelming so do not overcomplicate things.  Of course, the decoration has to look good but also it must add to, complement or enhance the main flavours of the choux pastry.

Compressed Choux

Like some modern viennoisserie there has been a recent trend to bake choux pastry in moulds.  What this does is create a choux pastry that has uniformity, clean lines and a very modern look.  The choux pastry can still be decorated in all manner of different ways but it means that the choux pastry itself has a particular look and style.

Fillings

A well-made crème diplomat or mousseline are simple and wonderful ways of getting flavour and smooth fillings into your choux pastry.  There is nothing wrong with a simple choux made this way (but please don’t fill choux with whipped cream!).  What has happened though is that chefs have come up with many weird and wonderful ways to fill choux pastry.  Like decoration, the list is almost endless; anything from a crème diplomat to cremeux, set creams with gelatine and chocolate, fruit crème patissiere or even ice cream / gelato.  There is also the option of adding to these fillings by inserting a caramel, compote or jelly.  All this means that one can come up with an endless variety of different flavours for your choux pastry.

Classics making a return

A return to old favourites and nostalgic dishes is a big trend in food and dining generally.  It certainly applies in the dessert world and in this case the world of choux pastry. Choux pastry is the basis for a long list of classic desserts and savouries including profiteroles, eclairs, Paris Brest, St Honore, Religieuse, Croqenbouche, chouquete, gougeres.  These choux pastries appear regularly on menus and the croqenbouche is a celebration cake that more people are wanting for weddings and other celebrations.  Recent years have also seen chefs take these classics and present them in news ways to give them a modern twist.

On the flip side of this, because choux pastry is so versatile, we have seen chefs taking the flavours of classic desserts, such as Black Forest or Tirmasu, and using those desserts to inspire the flavours and texture of their choux pastry fillings and decoration.

Savoury Choux

The word of patisserie has become a massive influence on the technique used in, as well as the style and presentation of, savoury foods.  Of course, there has always been savoury choux pastry, just think of the classic gougeres! What is interesting to see is choux pastry appearing more and more on savoury menus.  For example, one sees restaurants putting a modern twist on gougeres with interesting flavour combinations, cafés and bakeries selling Paris Brest sandwiches and savoury choux appearing in afternoon teas.  All that has been said above can also be applied to savoury choux; the limitless fillings, the variety of methods and styles of décor, the different shapes and fashion for compressed choux and the use of the classics.