This festive take on the classic croquembouche is a delicious and surprisingly simple way to impress a crowd at Easter brunch!

The idea for a croquembasket came to me like a dream at Christmas. My cousin was trying to make a croquembouche and I has just finished watching the episode of Zumbo's Just Desserts on Nextflix where they make a Lovembouche. I sat up in my chair and was like Croquembasket for Easter! Of course, I forgot about it for the next two months. But as Easter is fast approaching and I’m starting this blog, I thought it would be a fun experiment.

Prior to this, I had never made a croquembouche so before even attempting, I did a lot of research. Strangely, most recipes out there don't call for a candy thermometer. But a lot of people also complain in the comments that their caramel is hard as a rock. So, I highly recommend using one and cooking the caramel to 320-340 degrees F (170 C).

By the way, the caramel on this is on point! It’s so good. While I love making Pate a Choux I’m not a huge cream puff fan. They need to be super fresh or else they’re kind of mushy and soggy. I prefer mine with Craquelin to help offset the sogginess but in a croquembouche they are crispy and awesome. Seriously, they are so tasty. I filled my cream puffs with basic Pastry Cream, but you can fill with whatever you want. And for the finished basket I filled with spun sugar, homemade marshmallow easter eggs, and macarons.

Here are my tips:

Get a candy thermometer to ensure your caramel is the right consistency. I cook until about 320-330 and then turn the heat to low. It will still cook a little more and continue to darken in color.
Non- Stick Cooking Spray is your best friend in this process. The caramel can be difficult to work with, and spraying down your tongs, aluminum foil, and basically everything you're resting the croquembouche on makes removing it from the plate and foil so much easier. It makes the whole process go smoothly and makes clean up a lot easier as well.
Make sure to add the water and corn syrup to the sugar when you cook it. This helps the sugar cook evenly. A lot of recipes just call for sugar and corn syrup, with no water, but I've found the sugar doesn't cook as even. Especially if you have a electric oven or uneven heat like I do. Also, the corn syrup helps makes the caramel more stable and less like to get grainy so be sure to add it if you have it.
Wipe down the sides of the pan you’re cooking the caramel with a pastry brush dipped in water and don't touch it while it cooks. This will help prevent crystallization and grainy caramel.
When placing creams puffs on the bowl, start at the bottom, closest to the slipmat (so top of a bowl if it were upright but bottom when it's flipped onto the slipmat). When you flip it upside down that will be top of the basket, and it will ensure you have an even flat top.
If any part seems flimsy, especially the handle, you can just add more caramel to reinforce it. My handle actually broke when I tried to attach it, and I simply redipped in the caramel, reattached, let harden, and no one was the wiser.
When cleaning, I let everything soak in super hot water. It dissolves the hardened sugar after awhile.

For this basket, I double my basic Pate a Choux and Pastry Cream recipe. Depending on the size of the bowl you’re using, it will give you some extra cream puffs but that’s fine. The bigger the bowl you’re using, the more cream puffs and caramel you’ll need. If you want to really make it easy, you can buy frozen cream puffs in the store.