Paris-Brest With Praline Mousseline Cream

Quick Summary: Paris-Brest is a classic French dessert made of a crown of choux pastry, filled with praline mousseline cream (crème praliné, a hazelnut praline pastry cream blended with butter), and topped with roasted almonds and icing sugar. The main ingredients are butter, flour, water, eggs, milk, sugar, and hazelnut praline.

This recipe follows Philippe Conticini's version with a crisp craquelin topping, and takes about 3 hours from start to finish.

What is Paris-Brest?

Paris-Brest is a signature French dessert made with choux pastry (pâte à choux in French), filled with praline mousseline cream (praline crème mousseline in French), and sprinkled with roasted almond slices and icing sugar.

Its secret ingredient is Paris-Brest praliné, the nutty paste that sets it apart from every other dessert. And yes, the name reads Paris-Brest, not Paris-Breast: it is pronounced "pah-ree-brest" and comes from a bicycle race, not from anatomy.

Most versions make one large ring of choux pastry, split in half and filled with cream, though some pastry chefs pipe individual-sized circles for a mini Paris-Brest.

French chef Philippe Conticini gave the classic his own twist, building a circle of cream puffs with a crisp craquelin topping. His Paris-Brest is recognized and loved worldwide, and the recipe below is his version.

The family-run pâtisserie Durand still maintains the authentic recipe (Paris-Brest recette in French), which tried to file a patent in 1930, only for the request to be rejected because the dessert had already spread so widely.

Paris-Brest history

Paris-Brest was created in 1910 by French pastry chef Louis Durand to celebrate the famous bicycle race Paris-Brest-Paris. Pierre Giffard, editor-in-chief of Le Petit Journal, asked Mr. Durand to design a dessert to promote the 745-mile (1,200 km) race and boost sales for his Parisian newspaper.

As a result, the cake took on a circular shape representing a bicycle wheel. Square, rectangular, and S-shaped versions also exist, keeping the same taste and flavor but not the round shape.

Over the years, it has become a famous French dessert found in pastry shops all over France and is now made worldwide. If you wonder where to taste it and what the best Paris-Brest patisserie is, here is a list of 11 top pâtisseries in the world, most of them in the French capital.

What is praline mousseline cream?

Praline mousseline cream is the classic Paris-Brest filling. It is a hazelnut praline pastry cream (crème pâtissière) beaten with softened butter until it turns light, fluffy, and stable enough to pipe. The praline paste gives it a deep, toasty hazelnut flavor, while the butter keeps it firm enough to hold its shape when you slice the crown.

Hazelnut praline paste is the flavor backbone of this dessert. It is made from hazelnuts and caramelized sugar blended until smooth. You can use a good store-bought hazelnut praline or make it from scratch at home.

Why you'll love this recipe

• A showstopping centerpiece: also known as a Paris Brest cake, this classic French dessert makes an impressive table centerpiece.

• Easy choux pastry: pâte à choux (choux pastry in English) is quick to make. You need only 15 minutes to prepare it before baking.

• Nutty praline filling: the praline mousseline cream, a combination of hazelnut praline pastry cream (crème pâtissière in French) and butter, will please every hazelnut lover.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

• Butter: The recipe calls for unsalted butter, preferably with 82% fat content. Use butter straight from the fridge for the choux pastry, and softened butter for the craquelin and mousseline cream. So take the butter out of the refrigerator 1-2 hours before you start.

• Sugar: You will need golden or dark brown sugar to make the craquelin and granulated white sugar for the rest of the dessert.

• Flour: The recipe calls for wheat flour, or all-purpose flour (plain flour in the UK).

• Salt is a surprising ingredient in desserts. A pinch of salt enhances their flavor and improves texture.

• Water: Use cold water to make the choux pastry. You can experiment with a 50-50 milk-water ratio, but using only water gives the best baking results.

• Eggs: Use chilled eggs to separate egg yolks from egg whites. Then bring egg yolks and whole eggs to room temperature.

• Milk: Use whole or low-fat milk, as preferred.

• Vanilla bean: Use Madagascar vanilla beans.

• Corn starch is used as a thickening agent when making pastry cream.

• Praline: Nutty praline paste is essential to making the authentic Paris-Brest dessert. You can make French praline paste yourself or use store-bought hazelnut praline.

• Whipping cream with 30% fat content is best for the recipe. You can use heavy whipping cream with 35% fat content or higher, if desired.

• Icing (powdered) sugar: make it at home with a coffee grinder or use store-bought powdered sugar.

Equipment

• Medium saucepan
• Stand mixer with paddle and whisk attachments
• Two or three piping bags with a plain round tip Ateco 809, and an open star tip
• Baking sheet and parchment paper
• Rolling pin and a round cookie cutter
• Serrated knife

How to make Paris-Brest

Step 1: To make craquelin, mix the flour, brown sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the softened butter and knead with your hands for a few minutes to obtain a smooth paste (photo 1).

Step 2: Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to about ⅙ inch (4 mm) thick between two sheets of parchment paper. Make sure it fits 8 disks, ⅕ inch (5 cm) in diameter (photo 2). Freeze the dough.

Step 3: Remove the dough from the freezer and let it stand at room temperature for a few minutes. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out 8 disks ⅕ inches (5 cm) in diameter (photo 3). Freeze again until ready to use.

Step 4: To make a choux pastry, preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C). Take a parchment sheet and, using a pencil or a permanent marker, trace a crown pattern made of 8 circles of about ⅕ inch (4 to 5 cm) in diameter. Turn the paper over and put it on a baking sheet.

Step 5: Place the water, salt, sugar, and butter pieces in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.

Step 6: Remove from the heat and add the sifted flour all at once, then mix well with a wooden spoon.

Step 7: Return the dough to the heat for 1 to 2 minutes to dry it; it will start to stick to the bottom of the pan (photo 4).

Step 8: Remove the pâte à choux (choux pastry in English) from the heat and transfer it to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Let the dough cool for a few minutes.

Step 9: Beat the eggs for an omelet in a small bowl, then add them to the dough gradually while mixing slowly. Add just enough egg to reach the right consistency: the dough should be neither too thick nor too liquid and must form a ribbon (photo 5). It is ready when it slowly falls from the paddle or spoon in a V shape and does not run off too quickly.

The test for the right choux dough: the furrow made by a finger-drawn line in the dough must close.

Step 10: Place the choux pastry in a piping bag fitted with Ateco plain pastry tip 809. For a clean crown, pipe 8 touching mounds along the traced circle so they fuse into one ring as they bake. For a smoother, continuous ring, pipe two concentric circles that touch, then pipe a third ring on top, nestled in the groove between them.

Step 11: Arrange 8 choux buns about ⅕ inch (4 to 5 cm) in diameter on the baking sheet lined with the prepared parchment template (photo 6). Take the craquelin disks from the freezer and place them on each choux mound (photo 7).

Step 12: Chill before baking: refrigerate the piped choux for 15 to 20 minutes (or briefly freeze it) before baking. Chilled dough holds its shape and rises evenly, so the crown is far less likely to crack.

Step 13: Bake the round pastry for 35-40 min without opening the oven (photo 8). Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Step 14: To make hazelnut praline paste, roast raw hazelnuts at 300°F (150°C) for 15 minutes, then rub off the skins in a clean towel.

Step 15: Melt granulated sugar in a heavy stainless steel pan over medium heat, adding it in thirds and swirling (never stirring) until it turns a golden caramel, and stir in a pinch of fleur de sel. Pour the caramel over the hazelnuts in a thin layer and cool for about 20 minutes.

Step 16: Break it into pieces and blend in a food processor, first to a powder and then to a smooth, creamy paste. See the full hazelnut praline recipe for details.

Step 17: To make praline mousseline cream, sift flour and cornstarch. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks, then add the flour and cornstarch, and whisk until smooth (photo 9).

Step 18: In a medium, thick-bottomed saucepan, bring the milk with the vanilla bean seeds to a boil. Pour hot milk into the yolk/flour mixture and continue mixing.

Step 19: Pour this preparation back into the pot and bring it to a boil over medium heat again. Whisk constantly until the cream thickens (photo 10).

Step 20: Pour the pastry cream into a bowl and cover with plastic film, pressing it onto the cream. Let it cool at room temperature.

Step 21: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, place the softened butter and whip until smooth. Add the praline and mix it (photo 11). Gradually add the smoothed pastry cream and whisk until homogeneous (photo 12).

Step 22: To make the praline whipped cream, add cold whipping cream to the praline in three batches and whisk with a hand or stand mixer (photo 13). Place the praline whipped cream in a large pastry bag with a medium pastry tip and refrigerate.

Step 23: To assemble the Paris-Brest. First, cut the crown in half horizontally with a serrated knife (photo 14) and gently invert the top onto parchment paper.

Step 24: Transfer the praline mousseline cream to a pastry bag fitted with an open star pastry tip, and pipe it onto the base of each of the 8 cavities.

Step 25: Poach on the praline insert (photo 15), then finish with a second layer of praline mousseline cream. Cover with the crown cap and dust with icing (powdered) sugar (photo 16). Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Expert Tips

• Add flour all at once to the water and butter mixture while making the choux pastry dough.
• Add eggs gradually, beating the mixture with a hand whisk, a wooden spoon, or a stand mixer until smooth.
• Don't open the oven door while baking choux buns.
• Cool the pastry cream at room temperature (please, don't refrigerate).
• Take the dessert from the refrigerator 20-30 minutes before serving.
• Make-ahead option: You can prepare praline paste a few days in advance, also craquelin, and keep it in the freezer. For mousseline cream, you make it the day before and refrigerate it. Take it from the fridge and let it reach room temperature for about 1 hour before assembling the dessert. Whip it and pipe.

Recipe variations

Over the years, chefs worldwide created their cake interpretations and modern takes on the classic recipe.

• French chefs Pierre Hermé and Cyril Lignac, and American chef Daniel Skurnick, lighten the cream to make crème légère.

• Sébastien Bouillet adds hazelnut nougatine to the dessert, while Ludo Lefebvre sprinkles his Paris-Brest with chopped hazelnut nougatine.

• Pastry chef Michelle Palazzo fills her dessert with pistachio buttercream, while another chef, Julie Elkind, uses caramel mousseline cream.

• Gabriel Rucker, the owner of Le Pigeon in the USA, created his unique strawberry-coconut version of the famous Paris-Brest. He adds coconut flavor to the cream and sprinkles the dessert with freeze-dried strawberries.

• James Beard Award-winning chef Gabriel Rucker finally brought a roasted-peach version of Paris-Brest.

International inspirations for Paris-Brest

Paris-Brest became the first dessert as a gourmet symbol of the cycling race between the two French cities.

• American chef Thomas Keller created his Paris-New York dessert, which he flavored with peanuts instead of hazelnuts.

• Another Paris-New York pastry was created by Noémie Tessier, executive pastry chef of Angelina Paris, USA, who added pecan flavor to the classic mousseline cream.

• Chef Eunji Lee, born in South Korea and trained in Paris, invented his New York-Seoul dessert while working in New York City, USA. He topped his dessert with brown rice craquelin and filled it with hazelnut-pecan praline and brown-rice cream.

• Michelin-star pastry chef Guillaume Godin created the Paris-Londres cake, a dessert shaped like a bridge "to represent unity and as a nod to famous bridges in London and Paris." But he went beyond choux pastry, combining pâte sucrée with mousse, apple tatin, and Chantilly cream.

• French chef Eric Frechon, inspired by a bicycle ride from Paris to Deauville, created his pudding cake, Paris-Deauville. He kept the round shape from Paris-Brest but ultimately changed the recipe.

Storing & freezing

Store Paris-Brest pastry in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 48 hours.

Can you freeze it? While some may say 'yes' to the freezing of Paris-Brest, it is best to avoid it. However, you can freeze craquelin and choux pastry dough for up to 3 months. To thaw, refrigerate the choux dough overnight.

You can also freeze the unfilled baked choux ring or crown. Wrap it with plastic film and freeze it for up to 1 week. Thaw at room temperature, then crisp in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 10 to 15 minutes. Let the pastry cool before assembling.

Troubleshooting Tips

The choux dough is too runny to pipe.
You most likely added too much egg or mixed the flour in too slowly. Add eggs gradually next time and stop at the ribbon stage. You cannot fix it by adding flour, so start the dough again.

The choux ring deflated after baking.
It was probably underbaked, or the oven was not hot enough. Bake longer and do not open the oven door during the first 30 minutes.

The mousseline cream is too runny.
The butter and pastry cream were likely at different temperatures, or the cream was overwhipped. Bring both to room temperature, and stop whipping as soon as they are fluffy and pipeable.

Recipe FAQ

Why is it called a Paris-Brest?
The Paris-Brest dessert was named after the Paris-Brest-Paris cycling race, and its round crown shape represents a bicycle wheel.

How do you pronounce Paris-Brest?
It is pronounced "pah-ree-brest." It has nothing to do with the English word it looks like; the name comes from the bicycle race.

What are the main Paris-Brest ingredients?
The core Paris-Brest ingredients are butter, all-purpose flour, water, eggs, milk, sugar, salt, a vanilla bean, cornstarch, hazelnut praline, whipping cream, and icing sugar. Craquelin adds brown sugar to the choux topping.

What is praline mousseline cream?
Praline mousseline cream is a hazelnut praline pastry cream (crème pâtissière) beaten with softened butter until light and pipeable. It is the classic filling that gives Paris-Brest its nutty flavor.

What is another name for Paris-Brest?
Paris-Brest is also called pâte à choux with praline crème mousseline, Paris-Brest pastry, choux ring cake, and Paris-Brest cake.

What is the difference between a Paris-Brest and an éclair?
Both use choux pastry, but a Paris-Brest is a round crown filled with praline mousseline cream, while an éclair is a long, straight shape usually filled with vanilla or chocolate pastry cream and glazed on top.

Can you make Paris-Brest in advance?
Yes. For the best results, bake the choux crown up to 4 hours in advance, keep it unsliced at room temperature, and assemble the Paris-Brest about 2 hours before serving.

How do you serve Paris-Brest?
Take the Paris-Brest from the fridge 20 to 30 minutes before serving so the mousseline cream softens and the choux stays tender.

Love choux pastry? Try these next!

• Chouquettes (French Sugar Puffs)
• Cream Puffs Dessert
• Gruyère Cheese Puffs (Gougères)
• Browse all the Choux Pastry Recipes

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The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was adapted from cuisine.journaldesfemmes.fr. It was originally published on April 23, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos.