The first time you see a “pièce montée” you might wonder, “How on earth do you serve it?” Then you wonder, “How do you eat it?” and eventually you wonder, “How do you make it?” and someone who has never seen a pièce montée before might say: “Who cooked that up?”
From the French words croque en bouche meaning ‘crunch in the mouth’. A croquembouche is a French cake, a kind of “pièce montée” often served at weddings, baptisms, and first communions. It is a high cone of profiteroles (choux filled with pastry cream) and traditionally dipped in chocolate bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, sugared almonds, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons. Very rich in the pallet, always a marvel to look at and somehow still a centerpiece at a French wedding. In 1760 a French pastry chef named Avice filled the buns with pastry cream and called them profiteroles … and that’s history!
photo above: Croquembouche by Fancy That! www.wedding-cakes.co.uk