France: Paris-Brest Cake

The PBP (Paris-Brest-Paris) bike race began in 1891, compelling riders to cycle from the French capital to the port city of Brest and back again. Originally taking place decennially, the PBP now happens quadrennially, à la the Olympics. Historical results show that nearly 100 years ago, 53 riders started the race (44 finished), and the winning time was 68 hours and 30 minutes in the saddle. By contrast, in 2023, 6431 started (4866 finished) and the winning time was 41 hours and 46 minutes—a vast improvement on the 1931 results but still far, far too long for those of us who value our sanity (and our crotches).

That’s one day + 13 hours . . . without stopping.
Double it to mimic the actual race.

But what does all this have to do with baking? In 1910 a pastry chef invented Paris-Brest cake to honor the race. Made from pâte à choux—the same humble beginnings as éclairs and cream puffs— and filled with cream, it was designed to resemble a bicycle wheel and in this way pay homage to the resolute riders.

Though the husband will probably never ride a bike from Paris to Brest and back again (or even one way), he has done some impressive cycling in France over the years.  Nearly a decade ago, the husband cycled up Alpe d’Huez in the French Alps.

Why isn’t it written in French?

“I’ll make you a Paris-Brest cake,” I said.

That would be great!” he said.

But I didn’t.

A few years later we returned to France where he ascended Mount Ventoux in Provence.

Two down, one to go.

“I’ll make you a Paris-Brest cake,” I said.

“Awesome,” he said.

But I didn’t.

Recently returned from a third cycling-centered journey to France, the husband has finally checked a long-sought-after goal off his Dust-Farm-Pail List. In scaling Col du Tourmalet by bicycle, he has cycled the three cols he deems Most Iconic in the Tour de France.

At this point, he’s craving beer, not cake.

“I’ll make you a Paris-Brest cake,” I said.

“Yeah, right,” he said.

With my reputation on the line and my trustworthiness in doubt, I decided it was an auspicious time to make a Paris-Brest cake.

Paris-Brest Cake

Recipe Adapted From: joyofbaking.com

Level of Difficulty: low-medium

Time Consumption: low-medium

Kitchen Destruction: low-medium

Wow Factor: medium-high

Likelihood of Mispronunciation: low among French speakers, high among everyone else (it’s pronounced Paree Brest Cake)

Likelihood of Tittering (pun intended) Over the Name: low among people who know there’s a city in France called Brest; for everyone else, high

Ingredients:

Choux pastry:

• 1 C all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ C unsalted butter
• ½ C whole (full fat) milk
• ½ C water
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten

Egg wash:

• 1 large egg
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ½ C shaved/sliced almonds

Chantilly cream:

• 1½ C heavy whipping cream
• ¾ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2-3 TBS granulated sugar, to taste

Garnish:

• powdered sugar for dusting

Special Equipment:

Piping bag with large plain tip (#4) or Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F, placing rack in the center of the oven. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and draw an 8-inch circle on the parchment to use as a piping guide. Flip paper over and make sure you can see the pencil line through the parchment.

Flip over to reduce the flavor of graphite

In a bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Place butter, milk, water, and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and, with a wooden spoon, quickly stir in the flour mixture. Place your saucepan back over medium-high heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick, smooth ball (about 3 minutes). Transfer the dough to an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on low speed for a few minutes to release the steam. 

Once the dough is lukewarm, start adding the beaten eggs in small additions and continue to mix until you have a smooth, thick, shiny paste. (The dough will separate and then come together again.) Continue to beat until you have a smooth thick paste that will fall from a spoon in a thick ribbon.

Transfer the dough to a large piping bag fitted with a #4 plain tip.

I don’t have the required tip, so I’m making do.

Pipe a 1-inch thick ring of dough just inside the 8-inch circle drawn on the parchment paper. Pipe another 1-inch thick ring inside the first ring, making sure the dough rings are touching. Pipe a final ring of dough on top, along the center seam between the bottom two rings of dough.

My smaller tip meant more rings. While it didn’t affect the end product, my hand was about to fall off.

Make the egg wash by mixing the egg with the salt in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, brush the glaze gently on the top and sides of the dough, smoothing the rings as you go. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.

See, to me this says Christmas wreath, not bicycle wheel.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for a further 40-45 minutes or until the choux pastry is golden brown, puffed, and crisp. (Do not open the oven door during baking or the pastry might deflate.) Turn the oven off, leave oven door slightly ajar, and leave the choux pastry in the oven so the shell can dry out further (30-45 minutes). Remove from the oven and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Make the chantilly cream by placing heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar in a large bowl. Using the whisk attachment, beat until stiff peaks form.

To assemble, split the pastry shell in half horizontally and remove any wet pieces of dough.

I worried that this would be difficult with such a thin shell . . .

. . . but it was ridiculously easy.

Spread (or pipe) the chantilly cream all over the bottom layer of the shell.

Is it just me, or does this remind you of a giant bagel with cream cheese?

To avoid cream squeezing out as you cut the cake, decide how many slices you want and then precut the top shell.

Assemble the top pieces over the cream-filled bottom shell.

Like a small, round, edible puzzle.

Not yet, honey. I need to dust it.

Just before serving, dust with powdered sugar, cut along the pre-sliced lines, and serve.

Confessions of an Imperfect Baker: As I mentioned, the right piping tip goes a long way in preventing hand cramps. After making several skinny rings with my too-small tip, I removed the tip and just piped through the large hole at the bottom of the bag. BIG improvement.

Critique of an Imperfect Husband: He contends that the choux should have baked up puffier. To bolster his argument, he’s leaning heavily on his one-time job working in an eclair-producing cake factory (from which he got fired, mind you—see the Black Forest Cake recipe for all the sordid details), but also on his culinary chemistry background. However, I looked at many, many photos of Paris-Brest online and all of them looked just as thin as mine. Others had much thicker cream, which may account for the differences in height. We did agree, however, on the taste of the final product: delectable.