Paris-Brest

Makes: One 11- to 12-inch cake

Time: About 1 hour

One of my favorite desserts, this celebration of the French cycling race is meant to look like a bicycle wheel. Choux pastry is piped into a round, baked until puffy, stuffed with almond cream, and studded with almonds. Basically, if an almond croissant mated with a doughnut-shaped éclair, a Paris-Brest would be born.

1. Heat the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Scrape the cream puff pastry dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip or a zipper bag with a corner snipped off; a star-shaped tip will give you a great ridged top, but you can also use a round tip. Pipe the dough in a ring, about 9 inches in diameter. (If you don’t want to eyeball it, you can trace a circle onto the parchment with a pencil, then flip the paper so the pencil doesn’t touch the dough.) Pipe another circle immediately outside this first circle so that the rings touch, then pipe a third ring so that it sits atop the first two rings. (If you find yourself with extra dough, feel free to make 3 rings on bottom and 2 on top.)

3. Beat the egg in a bowl with 1 tablespoon water, then brush to cover the rings. Sprinkle the almonds over the top and bake for 10 minutes, then decrease the heat to 375°F and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until puffed and deeply golden. Turn off the oven, crack the oven door, and leave the pastry inside for 15 minutes or so; it should be very crisp and dry when you take it out.

4. Let cool, then carefully cut the pastry in half horizontally, separating the top from the bottom. Pipe or spoon the pastry cream in an even layer over the bottom half; depending on your preferences, you might not use all of it. Top with the other layer and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

INDIVIDUAL PARIS-BREST Start the piping by making circles about 3 inches across. Bake and fill as directed, checking the pastries for doneness at 20 minutes once you decrease the heat to 375°F. Makes about 4 individual pastries.

PARIS-BREST WITH PRALINE CREAM Well worth the extra work: Swap hazelnuts for the peanuts in Peanut Brittle and make ½ batch. Once it’s completely cooled, break it into pieces and grind in a food processor until it’s almost the consistency of nut butter. Make ½ batch of Vanilla Pastry Cream and chill for at least an hour, then gradually add the ground brittle and beat until smooth. Refrigerate the cream while the pastry bakes, then use it to fill the pastry.

CHOCOLATE PARIS-BREST Fill the pastry with Chocolate Pastry Cream; instead of confectioners’ sugar, dust with cocoa powder.

Making Paris-Brest

STEP 1
Pipe the dough in a ring, then pipe a second circle next to the first and a third circle on top to build the pastry.

STEP 2
Slice the baked pastry in half horizontally and pipe or spoon the filling on the bottom half.

STEP 3
Set the top half on the filling.