Eclairs are fairly simple. The pate choux pastry is one of the easier types of pastry dough to make. And due to the general nature of the dough, piping it out as eclairs or spooning it out for cream puffs is a rather forgiving task--they'll look rustic and craggy and that's just fine. But, I've seen a lot of Instagram posts where pastry chefs are making the most perfect looking eclairs that are perfectly cylindrical or capsule shaped. I saw one post referring to them as eclair cages. After searching for some recipes and instructional videos--which are not easy to come by--I started experimenting with different "cages" and trying to find a way to replicate some of the ones I've been seeing pastry chefs make. More than anything it involved figuring out just the perfect amount of choux paste to pipe into each cage so that it wouldn't rise outside of the cage or cower down inside of it. Eventually, I found a reasonable amount for a few different types of cages that I was using. The one I liked the best was the capsule shape because it emulated the typical eclair best.
I filled this one with pistachio pastry cream, topped it with a whipped white chocolate pistachio ganache and a dark chocolate disc with a chocolate transfer sheet design etched on top.
The following is what worked for me.
Pate choux (choux paste):
1c water
1 stick of butter
1/2 tsp salt
1c all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter and salt. Over high heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and add the flour all at once and begin to stir it rapidly. Continue stirring--the mixture will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and form a sort of dough/paste mass in the middle. Once this happens continue to cook it while stirring constantly for another minute or two in order to cook off some more of the water. Then, remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool down for about 5 minutes--before you add the eggs you don't want the dough/paste to be too hot or else you'll cook them too quickly but at the same time you want the dough somewhat warm/hot. After your 5 minute cool-down, add each egg one at a time stirring after each addition until the egg is fully incorporated. It might look like the dough is breaking up but just keep stirring and it will come back together. Once you've added in each egg, let the dough cool to room temperature--or again you can place it in the fridge with a piece of plastic wrap over it.
1c water
1 stick of butter
1/2 tsp salt
1c all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter and salt. Over high heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and add the flour all at once and begin to stir it rapidly. Continue stirring--the mixture will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and form a sort of dough/paste mass in the middle. Once this happens continue to cook it while stirring constantly for another minute or two in order to cook off some more of the water. Then, remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool down for about 5 minutes--before you add the eggs you don't want the dough/paste to be too hot or else you'll cook them too quickly but at the same time you want the dough somewhat warm/hot. After your 5 minute cool-down, add each egg one at a time stirring after each addition until the egg is fully incorporated. It might look like the dough is breaking up but just keep stirring and it will come back together. Once you've added in each egg, let the dough cool to room temperature--or again you can place it in the fridge with a piece of plastic wrap over it.
Once the choux paste is completely cooled, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a 7-1/2" x 2-3/4" x 1-3/8" high oval tart ring(s) with a silicone liner and place it/them on a silicone lined baking sheet. Place the pastry cream into a piping bag and pipe 25g of the choux paste into the tart ring(s) in an even layer. Place a second silicone mat on top of the ring(s) and weigh it down with a second heavy baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 60-75 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing each shell from its cage. Repeat with the remaining choux paste as desired.
