Black Forest Cream Puffs

Black Forest cream puffs are the perfect blend of elegance and indulgence, featuring a combination of cherry curd and chocolate pastry cream that’s truly irresistible.

Recipe At a Glance

This recipe offers my twist on Black Forest cream puffs. I add a streusel topping to the cream puffs for that delightful crunch, then stuff them with cherry curd and a chocolate pastry cream that’s lightened with whipped cream. These delightful cream puffs capture the essence of Black Forest flavors—cherries and chocolate.

While the recipe is straightforward and doesn’t involve complex techniques, the preparation time for the puffs is a bit lengthy, clocking in at over two hours due to the multiple components. It’s not something you’d whip up on a busy weeknight, but it is perfect for a weekend treat that requires some forethought.

Making Black Forest cream puffs for the first time? Read the ingredients notes, step-by-step instructions, and tips. If you’re familiar with the recipe, feel free to jump to the recipe card.

Ingredients Notes and Substitutes

Choux Pastry

• Milk and water. For these puffs, I like the milk and water combo, but you might as skip the milk and go with only water. The puffs will rise higher, but they won’t be as tasty.
• All-Purpose Flour.
• Unsalted butter.
• Eggs.
• Salt and sugar. These turn regular choux pastry (typically pretty tasteless) into something quite good on its own.

Crumb Topping

• Unsalted butter.
• All-purpose flour.
• Brown sugar. You can use white sugar instead.
• Food dye. Great if you want to impress your eaters, but totally optional.

Cherry Curd

• Cherries. As long as they are pitted, all fresh, frozen, and canned cherries work well in this recipe. I typically use frozen cherries because they’re available all year and relatively cheap.
• Lemon. Lemon juice helps bring out the flavor of the cherries.
• Sugar. Regular white sugar works best.
• Eggs. These are crucial for thickening the curd. We use a combination of whole eggs and additional yolks to ensure a rich, creamy texture.
• Unsalted butter. Butter adds richness and helps thicken the curd.

Chocolate Diplomat Cream

• Milk: Whole fat is best.
• Cornstarch: Ideal for its high thickening temperature. Substitute half the amount of potato starch, but allow the cooked milk mixture to cool slightly before adding to the eggs to prevent premature thickening. For more information, see my article on cornstarch versus potato starch.
• Sugar: Regular white sugar is fine, but brown sugar might be an interesting pairing with dark chocolate. Sugar substitutes are also okay.
• Dark Chocolate: Dark chocolate with 60 to 70 percent cocoa solids is what you’re looking for. You could also go with flavored dark chocolate for a slightly different flavor (say, a cherry-flavored one). Combining dark and milk chocolate, or going with milk chocolate only both work, but you should reduce the sugar so it’s not overly sweet.
• Vanilla Extract: Optional but recommended for enhancing flavor.
• Heavy Cream: Go with the brand you use for whipping.
• Powdered Gelatin: Used to stabilize the cream.

How to Make Black Forest Cream Puffs

Given the multiple components in this recipe, having a game plan seems reasonable. Here’s a suggested order of operations, but feel free to adjust it according to your schedule:

1. Prepare streusel topping. While there’s some downtime during the streusel preparation, use this opportunity to start on the curd.
2. Make cherry curd so it has ample time to chill before adding to the puffs.
3. Cook the chocolate pastry cream so it can cool down sufficiently before being mixed with whipped cream for piping.
4. Prepare and bake the cream puffs topped with the streusel.
5. Whip heavy cream.
6. Assemble everything by combining the components and filling the puffs.

Although this might seem like a lot, the process is quite manageable, especially if you prepare the streusel topping and cherry curd beforehand.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Make Crumb Topping

(For more detailed information and tips on crumb topping, check out my article on streusel topping.)

1. Warm up butter. Take the butter out, chop it into cubes, and let it sit at room temperature for about an hour. We want it nice and soft. Skip if you’re in a hurry.
2. Mix dry ingredients. Grab a medium bowl and mix your sugar and flour.
3. Add butter: Add that room-temperature butter to the mix and mix the ingredients using a fork until you achieve a homogeneous mass. A mixer will also do the trick.

4. Add food dye. If using, add the food dye and stir it until well incorporated. Start with a bit and add more if needed. Use gloves if you’re incorporating the dye using your hands (which is probably the best way).

5. Roll out. Sandwich your dough between two sheets of parchment paper or silicone mats, and roll it out thin – aiming for about 1/10 inch or 2 to 3mm thick. When it starts getting tough to roll, peel off the top layer, place it on your work surface, and then flip the dough over onto it. Finish by peeling off and placing the other layer back. Repeat whenever it gets hard to roll.

6. Refrigerate. Pop the rolled-out dough, still between the sheets, in the fridge for about 30 minutes. That’s when you can start working on choux pastry. For best results, place the rolled-out dough on something that will retain a low temperature for longer, like a cutting board.
7. Cut. Once the dough is nice and cold, cut it into disks slightly larger than your puffs. Once all the necessary shapes are cut out, gather the remaining streusel scraps using a pairing knife or an offset spatula, form them into a ball, and roll it out or freeze for next time. Be quick here because the dough softens fast.

8. Refrigerate. Put the cut streusel into the fridge, where it’ll wait until your choux pastry is ready and piped. You can prepare the streusel the day before you need it and refrigerate it overnight, or freeze the disks a couple of days in advance.

Step 2: Make Cherry Curd

(Read my article on cherry curd for more tips!)

1. Puree cherries. Place the pitted cherries in a pot (strain if using canned), add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water to cover the bottom (so they don’t burn), and start cooking them on low heat. Once the cherries begin to release juice, increase the heat to medium and bring them to a boil. That helps soften the cherries. Next, grab a hand blender and process all the cherries to a mash. Finally, strain the cherry mash through a strainer to remove leftover skins, pressing and scraping to extract as much puree as possible. You should end up with about three-fourths of the original weight in puree.

2. Squeeze lemon. Extract the juice from the lemon half.

3. Prep eggs. Crack the eggs into a heatproof bowl, add the yolks, whisk, and stir in the sugar. Set aside.

4. Cook puree mixture. Add the cherry puree and lemon juice to a pot, stir everything, and cook on medium heat until it bubbles. Take off the heat.

5. Temper eggs. Gradually incorporate the hot puree into the egg mixture by adding a few tablespoons at a time while constantly stirring. Continue until you combine at least half of the mixture with the eggs. Continue stirring at all times so the eggs don’t curdle. Pour the tempered egg mixture into the pot and set it on low heat.

6. Cook. Cook the egg mixture while stirring continously until it noticeably thickens. As it cooks, it typically foams, and that foam tends to disappear soon after the curd thickens. Don’t stop whisking, or the eggs will curdle.

7. Add butter. Once thickened, remove from heat, add the chopped butter, and stir until it melts and blends in.

8. Taste test. Check the flavor (be careful; it’s hot), and add more lemon juice or sugar if needed.
9. Strain (optional). For a smoother texture, strain the curd to remove any curdled bits of egg. This step is optional, and I often omit it.
10. Cover. Place plastic wrap directly on the curd’s surface to prevent skin formation.

11. Cool. Let the curd cool at room temperature (covered) until needed. If making it a day or two in advance, refrigerate once it cools to about room temperature.

Step 3: Make Chocolate Pastry Cream

(Read my article on chocolate pastry cream for an in-depth take on the topic.)

1. Bloom gelatin. Whisk gelatin with water in a small bowl and let the mixture sit on the counter.
2. Boil milk. Measure milk into a pot, add vanilla extract and half the sugar. Heat until nearly boiling.
3. Prep yolks. Whisk yolks in a bowl. Mix in cornstarch and remaining sugar. Set aside.

4. Prep chocolate. Finely chop the chocolate and set aside.

5. Temper eggs. Remove milk from heat as it nears boiling. Gradually add hot milk to yolks, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. Repeat 3 to 4 times until all milk is incorporated, stirring continuously.

6. Cook until thick. Return the mixture to the pot. Cook over low or medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens and starts to bubble (2-4 mins).

7. Add chocolate. Remove from heat, add chopped chocolate, and whisk until melted and incorporated.

8. Taste test. Carefully taste the cream and add more sugar if needed.
9. Stir in gelatin. Grab the bowl with the bloomed gelatin and scoop its contents into the pastry cream. Whisk until the gelatin melts and is incorporated.

10. Strain (optional). Strain if there’s unmelted chocolate or curdled yolks. Skip this step if the cream is smooth.

11. Cover and chill. Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface to avoid a skin forming. Let it cool at room temperature until it’s at about 100°F (or 40°C) before you add the whipped cream later on.

Step 4: Make Choux Pastry

(Read my article on choux pastry for a more detailed description and tips on working with choux pastry!)

1. Preheat oven. Start by preheating your oven to 390°F (200°C).
2. Melt butter and bring to a boil. In a pot, combine butter, milk, water, salt, and sugar, then bring the mixture to a boil, ensuring the butter is fully melted.

3. Add flour. Take the pot off the heat, add all the flour to the mixture at once, and stir until it roughly combines. Bring the pot back to the stove and continue stirring with a spoon over low heat. The dough will thicken and clump quickly, but you should continue stirring the mixture for 2-3 minutes, ensuring all the flour is incorporated and no white floury spots are inside. While stirring, scrape the dough from the sides and bottom to prevent sticking. After 2-3 minutes, the dough should be glossy and easy to detach from the pot, and a thin layer, or film, should form on the bottom.

4. Transfer. Move the dough to a mixing bowl and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Spreading it across the bowl can speed up cooling.

5. Prepare eggs. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk them.

6. Make dough. Once the dough has cooled slightly, start mixing it with a hand mixer at medium speed. After 20-30 seconds of mixing, add half the eggs to the dough and mix until incorporated. Repeat by adding half of the leftover egg mixture. Now it’s time to get the dough to the right consistency: you want it thick enough to hold its shape but still pipeable. The V-Shape test is the best way to check for that: Dip your mixer whisks or spatula into the dough and lift it. The dough should slowly fall off, eventually leaving a piece of dough hanging that forms a characteristic ‘V’ shape or a triangle at the end of the whisk or spatula. If the dough is not there yet, continue adding the eggs bit by bit and checking the consistency.

Step 5: Pipe and Bake Cream Puffs

(Check out my cream puffs article for more info on making cream puffs.)

1. Prepare baking tray. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Optionally, draw 2-inch circles on the underside of the parchment as guides, spaced about 1 1/5 inches apart, for uniformly sized cream puffs.

2. Set up for piping. Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a round tip or use a plastic food bag with a corner cut off.
3. Pipe the dough. Start by holding your piping bag with a round tip vertically above the baking sheet. Begin piping by gently squeezing the bag, letting the pastry build into a mound. As you form the mound, lift the bag slowly, still squeezing, to let the pastry stack upon itself. Keep the tip partially in the forming mound, guiding it to expand up and out. Aim for about 3/4 inches in height and 2 inches in diameter. To finish, stop squeezing and smoothly pull the tip up and away, leaving a small peak. You can lightly pat this down with a damp finger.

4. Add streusel. Once the puffs are piped, take the crumb topping discs from the fridge and place one on top of each piped mound, pressing gently.

5. Bake. Place the tray in the preheated oven, then immediately reduce the temperature to 356°F (180°C). Bake for 40 minutes. Open the door a tiny bit (and leave them open) for the last 5 minutes for any buildup steam to escape. If the puffs start to brown before the 35-minute mark, lower the temperature to 320°F (or 160°C).
6. Cool. Remove the puffs from the oven, let them cool for 10 minutes, then carefully detach them from the parchment paper or silicone mat and let them cool on a wire rack for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Step 6: Finish and Fill

1. Whip heavy cream. Whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until needed.

2. Cut tops. Cut the top off of each puff. Make sure the hole is large so it’s easy to pipe and layer both creams.
3. Add cherry curd. Transfer the cherry curd to a piping bag or syringe and pipe a bit inside each puff, between one-fourth and one-third of its height. That’s s enough to make the cherry flavor noticeable but not overwhelming.

4. Prepare pastry cream. Before starting, make sure the chocolate pastry cream is warm to the touch but not hot. As mentioned earlier, 100°F or 40°C is the sweet spot. If it’s still too warm, you can chill it in a cold water bath, stirring every now and then. If it’s much colder and has started gelling, you can warm it up in a double boiler until it’s warm and not as stiff. Whisk the pastry cream well before adding whipped cream.
5. Make diplomat cream. Add about one-third of the whipped cream to the pastry cream and stir it together. That helps loosen it up before adding the rest. Repeat with the second and third portions of the whipped cream. When folding, be gentle, as you don’t want to deflate the whipped cream or overbeat it.

6. Pipe. Scoop the cream you just made into a piping bag or syringe and fill the puffs to the brim. Replace the tops.

7. Refrigerate. Tuck the filled puffs and the remaining cream into the fridge for about an hour. That should be enough time for the cream to firm up. If it’s still a bit wobbly, give it another half hour to an hour in the cold.
8. Decorate. When the cream is set, give it a quick whisk to make it smooth and workable again, then pop it into a clean piping bag. Add a swirl of cream on top of each puff and crown it with the top you cut off.

9. Serve or refrigerate.

Variations

Here are some ideas for modifying this recipe according to your needs and time constraints.

Simplify

• Replace cherry curd with jam. Instead of making the curd from scratch, opt for your favorite store-bought or homemade cherry jam or preserve. If it’s too thick to pipe, gently warm it in a double boiler until it softens enough to be pipeable.
• Skip whipped cream and gelatin. It’s not necessary to whip and lighten the chocolate pastry cream. You could forego the cream and gelatin and use the pastry cream as is. Without these additions, you should have enough pastry cream to fill the puffs without decorating them. Overfill them slightly and replace the tops immediately; this will help hold them securely.

Elevate

• Decorate with chocolate shavings. For an extra touch of elegance, garnish the puffs with chocolate shavings. White chocolate is a great choice for its striking contrast against the dark chocolate cream.

Storage

These cream puffs can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days in a tightly sealed container to prevent them from absorbing any odors.

Remember, cream puffs with a streusel topping are crispiest on the first day; they tend to soften after a night in the fridge. Therefore, they are best enjoyed the day they are made.

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