Want to really impress your in-laws this Christmas? Go for gold with this Tony’s Chocolate Orange Croquembouche that’ll have you crowned as the family’s top holiday host.

The ultimate celebration centrepiece, the classic croquembouche is a show-stopping French dessert that’s equal parts style and substance. Made with dozens of crisp profiteroles filled with sweet cream or velvety ganache, the croquembouche stands tall with layer upon layer of perfect choux pastry.

Before you run for the hills, there’s no need to be a Bake Off winner to whip up one of these. Once you’ve prepped your profiteroles, all you’ll need to do is stuff them, glue them together and decorate your teetering tower like a Christmas tree.

Are you game? Grab your piping bag and let’s bake.

Chocolate Orange Croquembouche 

Prep time 45 minutes

Total time 2 hours

Serves 8 – 10

Profiteroles 

6 eggs

175g butter

185g flour

450ml water

Chocolate Orange Ganache

200g Tony’s Chocolonely Milk Chocolate

300ml double cream

1 orange

1 tsp sea salt

Caramel  

200g caster sugar

100ml water

Decoration

100g Tony’s Chocolonely Milk Chocolate

Chocolate buttons (optional)

Candied orange peel (optional)

Step 1 Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C fan.

Step 2 Melt your butter and water on medium heat. Add sifted flour and beat the mix with a wooden spoon until a paste forms.

Step 3 Take the pan off the heat and beat in each egg until a smooth batter forms.

Step 4 Add your batter to a piping bag and pipe small rounds directly onto a lined baking tray. Leave a space between each round as they’ll expand while they cook. Dab the tops with a wet finger to flatten any points left from the piping.

Step 5 Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until crisp and golden. To help keep them light, poke holes in the base of each profiterole once they’re out of the oven and then leave them to cool.

Step 6 Time to make your ganache. Heat cream, orange zest, juice and salt on low heat before slowly adding your chocolate. Stir continuously until thickened and fully combined.

Step 7 Once the profiteroles have cooled, pipe in your ganache using another piping bag. Be careful not to overfill them, as you don’t want them to burst.

Step 7 Now it’s time to make your caramel. In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, dissolve sugar and water on low heat. Continue heating the sugar mixture until it turns golden brown, swirling the pan rather than stirring with a wooden spoon.

Step 8 Using gloves, dip your profiteroles into the caramel and stick them together in a ring. Layer by layer, create a tower of profiteroles, using one less profiterole in each ring.

Step 9 Once your tower is built, start decorating. Drizzle with melted Tony’s chocolate, a little more orange zest, candied peel or chocolate buttons.

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