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Dessert

Eclairs Au Cafe

A pastry filled with coffee custard and topped with coffee icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Eclairs Au Cafe

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the paste

  1. Combine milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Mix cornflour and all-purpose flour in a bowl.

  4. Stir the flour mixture into the boiling mixture.

  5. Cook while stirring until the mixture forms a soft paste that pulls away from the pan.

  6. Remove the mixture from heat.

  7. Add vanilla extract.

Add eggs and batter

  1. Gradually mix in the eggs, reserving one egg white.

  2. Beat the mixture well for a few minutes.

  3. Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip.

Pipe and bake

  1. Pipe even shapes onto a lightly buttered baking sheet, spacing them about an inch apart.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

Fill and ice

  1. Once cooled, slice the eclairs open.

  2. Fill each eclair with a teaspoon of moka custard.

  3. Dip the tops in coffee icing.

  4. Place the eclairs on a wire rack to set.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vanilla + coffeetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the liquid base that turns the paste moist and tender.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
Cornflour
Thickens the paste and gives it a softer, more delicate texture.
All-purpose flour
Provides structure so the paste holds its shape when piped.
Eggs
Add moisture and structure, and help the eclairs rise and set in the oven.
Caster sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Cook the paste until it pulls away from the pan. Cooking the flour mixture in the hot liquid gelatinises the starch and drives off excess moisture. If it is undercooked, the paste stays wet and the eclairs may collapse or spread when baked.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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