How to make choux pastry swans

Inspired by all the baking going on in Bake Off, I really wanted to get baking again, specifically to make some choux pastry swans which is also sometimes called cream puff swans.

I’ve only made choux pastry a couple of times before, just to make eclairs and cream puffs. The last time, I was guided by a friend who had just finished her Cordon Bleu course. That attempt was quite successful as they were delicious but the shapes were awful. Piping choux pastry is quite tricky. 

This time, the team at Tala Kitchenware invited us to a baking masterclass using their high-quality British made bakeware. We were shown, step by step, how to make the choux pastry, how to pipe the shapes for the swan body and head and being super creative, we even made a pond with fondant icing for the swans to swim on. 

If you are feeling a bit creative and need to make some delicate and pretty patisseries for an afternoon tea or party, you must have a go at this. It might look a bit complicated but it is really really easy. 

You can get little helpers to get involved with the decorations too. We went a bit overboard with ours, using all the sprinkles and lots of colour to make our pond. We even sprinkled these edible pearls on our swans. It was like swans in fairyland, a bit kitsch but so fun to create. Our pond was inspired by Monet, with lots of water lilies and golden carp. What do you think? 

Choux pastry swans on a fondant icing pond
Choux pastry swans on a Monet inspired fondant icing pond

About Tala Kitchenware  

Tala is a British kitchenware brand that has been operating since 1899. Today, they are best known for their baking and cake decorating products. Most of their manufacturing is still done in the UK.

For this event, we used the Tala cook’s measure which is a simple cone shaped cup with measures for liquids and dry ingredients marked on the inside. My mum had one of these and it is the most versatile piece of kitchen equipment you can have. It will save you if you don’t have your digital scales handy. 

 We also used some of their cake decorating kits, reusable piping bags and some really fab non-stick baking trays.

Their baking trays are really heavy duty, didn’t need any sort of preparation like butter, flour or baking parchment to prevent the choux pastry from sticking. They also make a range of enamel wear that is made using an old technique involving many layers of enamel. This makes it longer lasting and more durable.  

 

 

 

Choux Pastry Swan Recipe

Using a basic choux pastry recipe, we made up a small batch, enough for about 8 swans. All the equipment you need is listed below. 

What is choux pastry used for?

Choux pastry or pate a choux is used for a variety of pastries and buns. It is made using plain flour, water, butter, milk and eggs. Someimes, sugar is added if you want the pasty sweet. Choux pastry doesn’t need a raising agent as the high moisture content will create steam as it is cooked which causes the pastry to puff up.  The most common pattiserie items made from choux pastry are eclairs and profiteroles. Shops like Maitreux Choux have made it fashionable to create unusual flavours for their eclair fillings which are then beautifully decorated. A Croquembouche, tower of profiteroles dressed with spun sugar is often made as a show stopper for special events. 

Is choux pastry the same as puff pastry? 

Puff pastry, made of flour and butter, is a multi layered light pastry, usually made as a dough with many layers of butter in between. It is used for making pies and pastries, with a variety of sweet and savoury fillings and then baked. Chouox pastry on the other hand is made of flour, butter, water and eggs and is made by boiling the ingredients before baking. The result if a crispy, light and airy shell which is then filled with a variety of cream fillings and adorned with chocolate or sugar. 

 

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Baking equipment used to make these swans.  You can buy them online from Amazon (links below) or at Divertimenti. 

A non stick pan 

silicon spatula

Tala cooks measure

Piping bags with different sized piping nozzles

Tala non-stick baking sheet 

Tala fondant cutter and tools#

Pin this recipe to try later! 

how to make choux pastry swans
how to make choux pastry swans

 

Tala Kitchenware

EatCookExplore was a guest of Tala Kitchenware.

 

 

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