For the Love of Baking: Chocolate Eclair Cake

I am feeling a little stressed out with the amount of baking that must be completed by the end of the week, but I am definitely not complaining! I never thought that my tiny online bakery would even experience half the success that it has in its first year and I have all of you to thank for that. 

I used to think that I needed to keep my techniques top secret and my recipes hidden away in a fire proof box, but after many months of researching the online community of bakers, I realized that that is silly! I love the way all of you bloggers, at home and professional bakers out there freely share all of your tips and tricks. Like I have said before, the heart of baking withers when it is solely rooted in business. Baking is all about a cohesion of ideas, flaws and imperfections. After all, how many awesome sweet treats were discovered by accident? The list is endless! Hopefully we can continue to stumble across sinfully delicious treats together...

Speaking of sinfully delicious, this chocolate elcair cake recipe that I found on allrecipes.com was absolutely delicious! If you love chocolate ganache and whipped cream, you will absolutely love this dessert! It was super easy to make and you don't need that many ingredients. I didn't change anything at all about the recipe so go and check it out. Here are some photos of the journey:

Making the pastry was a little bit scary at first as I had never made pastry on the stove. The key is to keep the heat low and constantly stir so that the dough doesn't burn. After melting the butter and water, the addition and incorporation of the flour happens fairly quickly. After the dough was ready, I quickly tossed it into my KitchenAid and incorporated my eggs mixing the dough on medium speed. 

I then transferred the dough into a non-stick baking pan, but I still buttered the pan as I was afraid the pastry would stick (it did slightly so I am glad that I buttered the pan first!) The pastry was so puffy when it came out of the oven. Nothing better than puffy pastry. It's an exciting feeling.

While the pastry was cooling, I mixed the pudding powder with the milk. I then took the pudding and folded it into the whipped cream. So delicious. I am not one to lick my beaters, but I have to admit I did scrape this one clean to make sure every ounce of the whipped cream was salvaged. 

The pastry cooled fairly quickly and I generously spooned on the whipped cream and pudding mixture. Next time I think I will try chocolate pudding to make it a double chocolate eclair cake (did I mention how much I love chocolate?). I already had some chocolate ganache (Lindt dark chocolate ganache) whipped up so I spread it over top of the whipped mixture and popped it into the freezer. I took it over to my fiance's house and the family gobbled it up! 

I may have also indulged in a few slices myself...

Beautiful Baking Sweeties!