L’Éclair de Génie, Christophe Adam · 1850s, reinvented 2012
The éclair
The éclair has been a Paris staple since the 1850s; Christophe Adam, former creative director of Fauchon, made it a collection in 2012 with L’Éclair de Génie: glossy tops, seasonal flavours, an éclair as a fashion object.
Taste profile
Pair it with
A coffee, or a glass of cold milk with the chocolate one.
A finger of choux pastry filled with crème pâtissière and topped with fondant, chocolate or coffee, the éclair was the pastry of every French bakery for a century and a half. Adam, who had made Fauchon’s pastry a design brand, opened his first shop in the Marais in 2012 with one product in twenty flavours: salted caramel, passion fruit and raspberry, vanilla and pecan, with tops decorated like jewellery. The chain spread to Tokyo and Hong Kong, and the éclair was suddenly modern.
The palace pastry chefs followed: Musa’s éclair at the Plaza, Grolet’s at the Opéra boutique. Adam’s salted caramel remains the reference.
The home version · serves 6
Ingredients
- For the choux: 125 ml water, 125 ml milk, 100 g butter, 150 g flour, 4 eggs, a pinch of salt
- 500 ml milk, 5 yolks, 100 g sugar, 40 g cornflour, 100 g dark chocolate for the filling
- 150 g dark chocolate, 80 ml cream, 20 g glucose for the glaze
Method
- Make the choux and pipe twelve fingers of 12 cm; bake at 180 °C for 35 minutes without opening the oven.
- Make a chocolate crème pâtissière: cook the custard, stir in the chopped chocolate, cool with film on the surface.
- Pierce the éclairs from below and fill with the cream through a small nozzle.
- Warm cream and glucose, pour over the chopped chocolate for the glaze.
- Dip the tops, let set, and eat the same day.
Where to taste it
